The broadcaster responsible for the Hungarian participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, MTVA has announced that they are accepting song submissions for the upcoming 2021 edition of the contest. But there is of course a catch however. There is no mention of Eurovision at all in the literature and terms and conditions.
A Dal and Eurovision
A Dal translates to “The Song”. This will be the 10th anniversary of the Hungarian music contest. Furthermore it has been used as the selection process for their representatives between the years of 2012 and 2019. But still went ahead in 2020 despite on two counts. Count one being Hungary’s withdrawal from the contest and count two being A Dal went ahead in 2020. This is in stark contrast to the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 that, due to the Covid_19 pandemic did not go ahead.
Of the eight out of the nine times A Dal was used as a selection method, the winner qualified. It has in addition produced three top ten placings. The first came in 2013 when ByeAlex performed “Kedvesem”. The second came a year later in 2014 when Andras Kallay Saunders performed “Running”. This Drum ‘n’ Bass entry came in fifth and was a favourite to win in Copenhagen. This was also the second best ever finish for Hungary. The last top ten came in 2017 when Joci Papai sung “Origo”. The romani ethnic inspired electronic song came in eighth place.
In addition Joci is their most successful A Dal participant. He won twice with the aforementioned “Origo” and “Az en apam”. Unfortunately he had contrasting outcomes as n 2019 he did not qualify in Tel Aviv, Israel.
A Dal in 2021
The prize of A Dal 202 is simply the following.
The winner of A Dal 2021 will have the opportunity to record and record a video, among other things. What is new, however, is that in the anniversary show, not only the final winner, but also the four contestants judged to be the best by the jury among the finalists will receive support for the development of their musical production.
The rules are as follows.
The competition is open to songs with a maximum of three minutes in Hungarian that have not yet been commercialized, or have been commercially available after 30 March 2020 at the earliest, on a media surface (television, radio, Internet) or in a public performance. Up to ten people can take part in the performance during the production. The deadline for submission is on 10th November 2020.
One thing that is interesting to point out is that entries can’t have been made available before 30th March 2020. This is in contrast to the Eurovision date of 1st September 2020. But on the other hand it does mention that the songs must not exceed three minutes in length, the same as the Eurovision rule.
A Dal is the only program that contributes to the birth of new Hungarian light music works. The success of this year’s anniversary production is evidenced by the fact that the authors publish their songs year after year to meet the competition requirements and be part of the multi-week song selection show. In recent years, so many high-quality entries have been received for the call that The Song can present 40 performers in 2021
Balázs Medveczky, channel director of Duna Television
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Hopefully the Hungarian people will beg MTVH to send the winner to Rotterdam next may. BTW, has anyone started such a petition on Facebook?