Het Grote Songfestival

Het Grote Songfestival
Logo since 2017
Also known as	Songfestival HGSF
Genre	Song contest
Presented by	Various
Country of origin	Hennehouwe
Original language(s)	Hennish
No. of episodes	58 editions
Production
Production location(s)	Various Concertzaal, s'Holle (1975-1987, 1990-present)
Running time	1 hour 30 minutes (semi-finals) 2 hours 45 minutes (final)
Production company(s)	Hennish National Broadcasting (HNO)
Release
Original network	De Eerste
Picture format	4:3 576i (SDTV) (1961-2001) 16:9 576i (SDTV) (2002-2007) 1080i (HDTV) (2008-present)
Original release	24 February 1961 (1961-02-24) – present
Chronology
Related shows	Euclovision Song Contest Het Junior Songfestival
External links
Official website

Het Grote Songfestival (The Great Song Contest, often shortened to Songfestival or its acronym HGSF) is an annual music competition organised by the Hennish public broadcaster Hennish National Broadcasting (HNO). Broadcast almost every year since its inception in 1961, it is broadcast live simultaneously on television, radio and the internet. For much of its history, the competition has been the most-watched non-sporting programme on Hennish television, with the final regularly attracting an audience of five million people, around 40% of Hennehouwe's population.

Originally created for the purpose of selecting the Hennish entry for the Euclovision Song Contest, the festival has grown into its own phenomena within Hennehouwe and is one of the most popular televised events in the country. It regularly includes a broad line-up of music genres: predominantly pop, ballads, rock and schlager music, as well as more recently emerging genres including hip-hop, indie music and rap. Artists, songwriters and songs are derived from both direct invitations from HNO as well as open calls, with selection panels used to ensure the final line-up is of a high standard. The festival features both successful artists and newer, previously unexposed artists competing at the same level. It has launched the careers of many Hennish artists, with many viewing participation as a channel through which to promote their music and expand their reach. The competition has a major impact on the domestic music industry, with many songs placing high in the charts for weeks following the programme.

The contest is aired on HNO's main television and radio networks, De Eerste and Radio A respectively, every year over the first four Saturdays of March. It is also broadcast with Gaullican commentary and with Hennish sign language, as well as on HNO's internatonal service De Wereld. Since 1990, and previously from 1975 to 1987, the festival takes place in the Concertzaal in s'Holle. The winning song is determined by a combination of jury panels from each of the ten regions of Hennehouwe, and since 1998, public telephone voting.

The contest has faced routine criticism for its musical and artistic quality, the featuring of novelty acts and accusations of 'dumbing down' the domestic music industry. In response to these criticisms, HNO has made a number of changes to the format in recent years. Notably, the competition has shifted away from primarily acting as a selection show for Euclovision, instead offering the winner the right of first refusal to compete rather than obligating them to do so. These changes has led to a renewed increase in interest from already-established artists and songwriters and from record labels.

Origins

The winner of the first Songfestival, Bregje Lopers with "Mijn hart is voor altijd van jou" in 1961.

Hennehouwe was one of the participating countries at the inaugural Euclovision Song Contest, held in Kesselbourg in 1959. For the first two years of participation, the public broadcaster Hennish National Broadcasting (HNO) opted to select its entries internally. Following the initial success of the contest, HNO commissioned its director of light entertainment programming, Hans in 't Veld, to develop a similar format with the purpose of publicly choosing the Hennish entry for the 1961 contest. The first contest, under the title of Het Hennische Songfestival (The Hennish Song Contest), took place on 24 February 1961 from HNO's studios in s'Holle. A single, anonymous jury selected the winning song, which was "Mijn hart is voor altijd van jou" (My heart is yours always), sung by Bregje Lopers. It finished sixth at Euclovision that same year.

The contest took its current name in 1967, and adopted a regional based voting system the same year. In 1968, it was held in the Albertpaleis theatre, the first time it was not held in HNO's studios. The location was moved to the Concertzaal in 1975 and has been, with the exception of the 1987 and 1988 finals and the semi-finals from 2003 to 2010, the home of the competition ever since.

Het Grote Songfestival has taken place 58 times since its inception, only ever not taking place three times in its history. The competition was not held in 1962, with HNO opting to internally select Bregje Lopers to compete once more. In 1973, a technicians' strike forced HNO to abandon the contest just two weeks before it was due to take place. Six years later, in 1979, another industrial dispute between HNO management and employees led to last minute changes in the contest's format and staging which angered the competing artists and songwriters, who subsequently withdrew en masse. The competition took place in 1994 despite Hennehouwe's relegation from Euclovision that year due to its previous poor result, with the winning entry instead receiving a financial bursary package.

Selection of contestants

Under the current format, 24 entries are selected to compete in the contest. Methods for selecting entries have varied over the history of the festival, with the majority being directly selected by HNO through invitations to record labels, songwriters and producers. A number of songs are also chosen via a process of open submissions, though the proportion of entries chosen via this method has decreased in recent years to the perceived poor quality of submissions. HNO has also organised pathways for new artists and musicians to compete via online platforms and pre-selection competitions.

Songs

HNO opens its online submission portal for songs during the preceding summer. During this time, the broadcaster also begins scouting for songs directly from songwriters and record companies. Songs must not exceed three minutes and thirty seconds in length (further shortened if the song goes to Euclovision) and must be sung in either Hennish, Gaullican or Estmerish. In recent years, allowances have been made for songs which feature some lyrics in other languages on a case-by-case basis, but songs must still be predominantly sung in one of the aforementioned languages.

The initial stage of evaluating songs consists of entries submitted via the open call process. An internal panel of contest organisers, HNO staff and members of the Hennish Music Academy (EMA) sifts through these songs and reduces them down to a shortlist of approximately 100. These entries are joined by the shortlist of invited submissions, which are put forward to a wider panel that included members of the public as well as from groups in the first stage. This panel determines the final shortlist of entries, which are then sent to the contest's production team for final approval and cross-checking. The names of the competing entries are usually published two months in advance of the competition in January. Prior to 2018, the songs were publicly released weeks in advance of the competition. However, since 2018, an embargo has been placed on the release of the songs until they are broadcast during the semi-finals.

Artists and songwriters

Esmee Bloeme, pictured here in 2017, is the most recent winner of Het Grote Songfestival.

HNO directly engages with artists and songwriters on potential participation in the contest and allows for others to submit entries via the open submission, both in tandem with the song selection process. The broadcaster may also request for songs to be given to different artists than from the original submission, particularly in the case of open submissions.

The vast majority of finalists originate from direct invitations by the broadcaster, most of them being popular artists and well-known songwriters. In the 2017 contest, 20 of the 24 participating entries were derived from direct invitations. This has attracted accusations of 'collusion' from amateur singers and songwriters, who claim they are put at a significant disadvantage. HNO has argued that the reduction in shortlisted entries from the open process is due to the declining quality of submissions.

Between 2008 and 2010, HNO organised an online competition entitled VoordatFestival, where members of the public could submit and vote for entries to compete at the Songfestival. Entries were verified by production, ensuring joke entries and non-compliant entries could not advance. In each year, two entries from the VoordatFestival were selected to compete at the main contest. The online competition was cancelled in 2011.

In recent years, HNO has utilised its Project Vitrine, a platform for supporting unsigned and undiscovered Hennish talent, to give artists the opportunity to compete in the contest. Since 2018, at least four of the 24 entries must be first-time participants selected through Project Vitrine.

Format

The Songfestival has undergone many changes in format throughout its history. Between 1961 and 2002, the contest consisted of a single live final. With the introduction of a semi-final format in 2003, the contest expanded to take place over several weekends and in 2005 a 'wildcard' round was introduced, though the latter was abolished in 2011. Between 2003 and 2010, the final was held in the Concertzaal in s'Holle, whilst the semi-finals were held in venues in other cities across Hennehouwe. From 2011 onwards, all shows take place in the Concertzaal.

There is a limit of nine people on stage during each performance. This limit was six until 2009, in line with Euclovision rules, when it was increased following the change in rules regarding Euclovision entry. A live orchestra, the Hennish National Orchesta, has been used throughout the contest's history. It was removed in 2003 to coincide with the introduction of semi-finals, when backing tracks became used instead. However, following a long-running outcry, the live orchestra was reinstated for the final from 2006 onwards and later extended to the semi-finals following their permanent relocation to the Concertzaal in 2011. Participants can choose to use either the live orchestra or a backing track for their performance, or both. All vocals must be performed live; pre-recorded vocals are forbidden.

In July 2008, HNO announced that Het Grote Songfestival would no longer be explicitly used as the Hennish selection for the Euclovision Song Contest, and that instead, the winning entry would have the right of first refusal to compete. If the winning entry refused to take part in Euclovision, the opportunity would be passed to the runner-up, and so on until the offer was accepted. This change was made following domestic criticisms of bloc voting in the Euclovision Song Contest, and the perceived reluctance of established musicians to compete in the local contest under the condition of having to take part in the Euclean contest. Since 2009, the winner of Het Grote Songfestival has agreed to take part in Euclovision on nine of thirteen occassions. In all other cases, the offer was accepted by a top three entry.

Current format

The current Het Grote Songfestival format consists of four live shows: three semi-finals, in which eight songs compete; and a grand final. Twelve songs comprise the final, with four from each semi-final qualifying for the final. The shows take place over the first four Saturdays in March and are broadcast live from the Concertzaal in s'Holle.

Semi-finals

In each semi-final, eight songs compete. The allocation of songs for each semi-final is usually done in a manner which evenly spreads out entries on the basis of their method of selection, music genre and quality. The running order for each semi-final is determined by a random draw.

From the eight songs that compete, four qualify for the final. The first three qualifiers are determined by public televoting, whilst the fourth and final qualifier is selected by a ten-member jury, one member from each region of Hennehouwe, whose earlier votes determine the final qualifier from the remaining five songs. The placement of songs according to the televote and jury, and this the identity of which songs qualified via either the televote or jury, is not revealed until after the final.

Final

Main Hall of the Concertzaal, the venue for Het Grote Songfestival since 1975.

The final consists of the twelve songs that qualified from the three preceding semi-finals. As with the semi-finals, the allocation draw for the final is determined by a random draw. The final is much longer in length than the semi-finals, regularly lasting for around 2 hours and 45 minutes including advertising. The final is colloquially referred to as the Gala, due to its more formal nature in comparison to the semi-finals and as an ode to the traditional hosting of the event as a gala event. Allocation of tickets for the final is also much more restrictive for the 3,500-seater auditorium as most of the seating is pre-reserved for invited guests. Prior to the 2019 final, ticket resalers were reportedly asking for as much as €1,500 for tickets. During the final, there are usually a number of local and international special guests who appear during the interval between the song performances and the voting.

The voting system in the final is a positional voting system, and is similar to the voting system used in the Euclovision Song Contest. It consists of two parts, each weighing 50% of the overall vote: regional jury voting, and public televoting. During the interval, the voting window opens for the public to cast their votes and closes after the jury results have been announced. Viewers can vote either by SMS (up to five times), or since 2014, via an app (up to five times). Votes cast by SMS cost money, of which 50% of each vote is directed to a number of charities. Votes cast via the app are free.

Under the 50/50 jury/televote system, the total value of votes is 2 x 550 points. The jury vote consists of ten juries, each corresponding to the ten regions of Hennehouwe. Each jury is made up of ten members balanced by age, gender, education and music taste. Each jury awards its points from 10 to 1, with 10 points being awarded to the jury's favourite song, whilst 1 point is awarded to the jury's tenth-favourite song. The eleventh and twelfth placed songs of that jury receive zero points. The 550 points of the televote are allocated proportionally based on the vote share of each song.

The song with the most points is declared the winner of Het Grote Songfestival. If there is a tie for first place, the song that received the higher amount of votes from the public televote is declared the winner.

Winners

Hennehouwe has won the Euclovision Song Contest four times, all of which were selected via Het Grote Songfestival. Hennehouwe has the third highest number of wins of any country at Euclovision, only Gaullica and Soravia have won the contest more. The following table lists those entries that finished fifth or higher at Euclovision:

Year	Artist	Song	Place at Euclovision
2021	Esmee Bloeme	"De Boulevard"	5th
2022	KENES	"Alles wat je doet"	4th