OVSC15

## OrbisVision Song Contest #15  *Climb your own mountain!*

 "In The Hall of the Mountain King" from Henrik Ibsen's "Peer Gynt", composed by Edvard Grieg. Performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by David Parry.

## Participants

### Debuting

 The Gambia
  Ghana
  Jamaica
  Singapore
  Sudan

### Returning

 Belgium
  Brazil
  Cyprus
  Finland
 Honduras
  India
  Kazakhstan
  Morocco
  Netherlands
  Nigeria
  North Macedonia
  Poland
  Romania

### Withdrawing

 Armenia
  Australia
  Bangladesh
  Christmas Island
  Cocos Islands
  Cuba
  Israel
  Jersey
  Latvia
  New Zealand
  Pakistan
 Portugal
  Puerto Rico
 Réunion
  Serbia
  Slovakia
  Slovenia

## Voting

### System

Each country awards a set of 1 - 7 points, followed by 8, 10 and 12 points for their top 3 favourite songs

### Winner

 Russia
 "Biryuzovaya" by VADÁ

After their win in Sydney, the Norwegian capital of Oslo hosted the 15th OrbisVision Song Contest!

This was the first time the contest has been to Norway and the fourth time a Scandinavian country has hosted. It was also the seventh time it's been to Europe.

The contest consisted of 3 shows, 2 semi-finals and a Grand Final.

44 countries have confirmed their participation.

The winner was Russia, making this their first ever victory and the first time a Eurasian country has won, the sixth time a European country has won and the fourth time an Asian country has won (if you consider Russia to be part of either Europe or Asia).

Their winning song was "Biryuzovaya" by VADÁ.

## Location

### Host city

Oslo is Norway's capital and largest city, with 700,000 citizens in the city proper and about 1.5 million inhabitants in greater Oslo. It is in the East of the country in the Oslofjord, extending over an inlet of the Skagerrak strait.

It is spaciously laid out and surrounded by green hills and mountains and includes 40 islands and 343 lakes. Oslo offers ski slopes for alpine skiing and ski trails for cross-country skiing in the winter.

In the summer, the temperature in Oslo may make it comfortable to swim.

There are several well-visited beach resorts. Oslo is one of the world's northernmost capitals and so gets only 6 hours of sunlight in the winter.

In high summer, sunlight hours soar to 18, making its climate markedly different between seasons, with cold yet relatively dry winters.

A relatively compact city squeezed into a thin strip of land along the shoreline, Oslo prides itself as one of the world's most sustainable cities.

Central parts of the city are compact, but Oslo as a whole is relatively spacious. While it holds an array of historic monuments, Oslo is perhaps most famous for its modern architecture, including striking and daring projects launched at the turn of the millennium.

Oslo's economy is powered by the maritime industry, high-tech and clean energy sectors. In 2010, Oslo was ranked as the world's most expensive city to live in by the Swiss wealth management company UBS AG.

Oslo is Norway's economic and demographic centre, as well as the hub for most domestic and international transport.

Despite Oslo's population, density there is never more than a 300 meters' walk to a park or green area from any residence in the city.

The history of the city can be traced back to at around year 1000. Oslo was according to the ancient saga founded by king Harald Hardråde in 1048, and became a diocese in 1070.

The city became the capital of Norway around 1300, but lost its privileges during the Danish-Norwegian union from 1348 to 1814.

In 1624, a fire devastated old Oslo, and the city was moved some kilometres west to gain protection from the fortress at Akershus.

The new city was built in a strict grid plan that still appears modern, this area is now within downtown Oslo (between Akershus fortress and Oslo cathedral) and known as Kvadraturen.

The expanding city Christiania was built on the land of the Aker estate so the river and the oldest church are "Aker" river and church respectively.

Christiania developed west of the Aker river, while Old Oslo became a backwater between Alna river and Ekeberg hill.

In 1814 Christiania became the capital of the new state under the Swedish crown. The city was still a small town with a few thousand inhabitants, notably smaller than Bergen.

During the 1800s Oslo expanded rapidly to become a big city. In 1850 there were some 30,000 people living in the city, by 1900 this had grown ten-fold, and by 1950 Oslo had more than 500,000 inhabitants.

In the 1800s cities in Norway were largely built from wood. From around 1850 Oslo became Norway's only masonry city. Buildings in expanding city was modeled after major European cities, notably Berlin and other German cities.

Oslo was for some time known as Little Berlin because of the similarity in architecture. The city council made masonry mandatory and the city was developed with compact blocks and four to five levels.

This was a radical departure from traditional Norwegian style with small wooden buildings. Architects were trained in Germany and Danish and German craftsmen took part in the boom.

The late 1800 masonry buildings and style are largely retained and much better preserved than in Berlin (largely because of the destruction during World War 2). Some 3000 blocks from that period gives Oslo a unique character.

Key areas within central parts Oslo are still dominated by this style. For instance Grünerløkka, Frogner, Majorstua, St. Hanshaugen and around the Royal Palace.

During the rapid expansion during the 1800s previous farmland outside the city gates belonging to city dwellers was included in the city.

Enclosed farmland or gardens were called løkke and neighborhoods in these areas kept these names for instance Rodeløkka (named after Fredrik Rode) and Grünerløkka (named after Friedrich Grüner).

When Oslo became Norway's capital, several building and city development projects began to host national institutions. The striking result is the upper part of Karl Johan street where the parliament building and the royal palace sits at either end.

The government building complex in Akersgata were added later perpendicular to the Karl Johan axis. The supreme court building is next door. When the railway age came to Norway, Oslo got one station in the east (the current central station) and one in the west.

Trains now run in a tunnel under the centre and the west station building now hosts the Nobel peace centre at the entrance to Aker Brygge.

Modern competitive skiing was developed in Oslo. Ski jumping, cross-country skiing and downhill/slalom races have been held in Oslo since 1866. Downhill/slalom were further developed in the Alp region and then got the name "alpine skiing".

This strong tradition is visible in the imposing Holmenkollbakken (a ski jumping venue) and a fine network of cross-country tracks throughout the Oslo forest, as well as the skiing museum.

Since 1947, Oslo has given a big Christmas tree to London in gratitude for the help and support to Norway during World War 2. The tree is prominently displayed on Trafalgar Square and decorated in Norwegian style.

While Oslo has been a safe city in modern times, the government district was hit by a terrorist bomb blast in 2011, killing eight people.

The damaged buildings have not been replaced (as of 2020).

### Venue

    After Norway's victory in Sydney, NRK unanimously decided the capital of Oslo would host OVSC15, with the Telenor Arena chosen as the host venue.

The Telenor Arena, commonly referred to as the Fornebu Arena, is a multi-purpose indoor arena located at Fornebu in Bærum, outside Oslo, Norway.

It serves as a venue for a variety of events, including concerts, exhibitions, action shows, family shows, TV and sport.

It has a capacity for 15,000 spectators for sports and 25,000 for concerts, including 40 luxury boxes and club seating for 1,200. The venue has a fixed roof and an asphalt floor.

The venue was opened ahead of the 2009 Norwegian football season as a replacement for Nadderud Stadion, the current home venue of Stabæk football club.

It cost 585 million Norwegian kroner (NOK) to build, of which NOK 300 million was for the sports venue.

The arena will host the 2025 World Men's Handball Championship with the rest of Norway, Croatia and Denmark including the final.

During the 2000s, Nadderud was below standards for play in the top national league. Fornebu was at the time undergoing an urban redevelopment; after several years of negotiations and public grants, Stabæk football club secured a lot in 2004. Construction started in 2007.

In 2010, a disagreement arose between the club and venue-owner, Kjell Christian Ulrichsen, with the latter demanding that the team leave the venue to allow for more event revenue, meaning their three-year stay at the arena was a short-lived one.

They eventually starting using the venue that the Telenor Arena was intended to replace, the Nadderud Stadium, once again soon after.

Telenor Arena has hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, as well as concerts by artists and bands of international fame, such as Madonna, Britney Spears, Tina Turner, Adele, Muse, Foo Fighters, Roger Waters (the Wall tour), Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Metallica, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, The Rolling Stones, Justin Bieber, Celine Dion and Drake.

Norwegian multinational telecommunications company and one of the largest in the world, Telenor holds the naming rights.

## Participating countries

### Semi-final 1

Norway, South Korea and Bonaire will vote in this semi-final. Qualifiers are marked in blue.

### Semi-final 2

The United Kingdom, Japan and Russia will vote in this semi-final. Qualifiers are marked in blue.