User:Lyonsland/sandbox
| 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 | 55 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 – present |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | |
| 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 four million people, around one-third 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
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 twice in its history. 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 1995 despite Hennehouwe's relegation from Euclovision that year due to its previous poor result, with the winning entry instead receiving a financial bursary package.