Mösikalifestivali

**Years active** | 2016 – present

***Mösikalifestivali*** (English: *Festival of Music*) is an annual song contest organized by Lashardian public broadcaster Lasda Radio-Televiża (LRT). Since its inception in 2016, it has become the most popular television program in all of Lashardia, with over half of Lashardia's population watching the 2016 final.

Traditionally, winners and high-placing songs go on to become massive hits in Lashardia, and sometimes even abroad. While it is traditionally for artists not to compete with songs that are singles off of their albums, songs are often included as bonus tracks on participants' upcoming albums. Many famous Lashardian musicians often take part in the competition.

## Participation

The only rules regarding participants in *Mösikalifestivali* is that all participants must be at least 16 years of age, and speak fluent Lashardian. The latter of the two rules was enacted so that ethnic Lashardians not residing in Lashardia who may not hold citizenship can still compete. There are no rules regarding what ethnicity songwriters must be, although the majority of songwriters involved are Lashardian.

Since the 2016 contest, there have been 24 contestants per year, six performing in each of the four semi-finals. There is no specific quota regarding how many songs must be performed in Lashardian, but producers typically look for at least five Lashardian-language songs in order to diversify the field. Each year, a CD is released featuring all 24 contestants and their songs.

*Mösikalifestivali* is known as both a launchpad for upcoming artists and a way for established artists to further connect with their fans. While typically upcoming artists have a much harder time succeeding in the contest compared to established acts, there are still several who've qualified to the final over more well-known performers. The international juries are instated in order to dismiss voting purely on name-value, and to focus on the quality of songs.

## Selection of contestants

*Mösikalifestivali* selects its contestants through two different methods. For unknown acts, performers can submit a song to LRT producers during the specified submissions period. For established acts, performers are either personally invited by producers to take part, can submit an application asking to be given a song for the contest, or can submit themselves along with a song that doesn't have to be within the submission window.

Typically, about half of the contestants are upcoming acts selected through the former method, while the other half are established acts selected through the latter.

## Hosting

It is traditional for each show to be held in a different Lashardian city. The venues for each year of *Mösikalifestivali* are revealed over the summer, long before the songs and participants are revealed. It is traditional for the final to take part at Ubenmoor Arena in Ubenmoor, but all other shows take part in various Lashardian cities with varying levels of recognition. However, it is common for shows to take part in other large cities such as Beck, Kesa, or Vershando.

## Televised rounds

*Mösikalifestivali* lasts for six weeks; four weeks of semi-finals, one week of the second chance round, and one week of the final. Six songs compete in each semi-final, eight songs compete in the second chance round, and ten songs qualify for the final; two automatic qualifiers from each semi-final and two qualifiers from the second chance round.

### Semi-finals and second chance

Semi-finals are broadcast at 21:00 on consecutive Sunday nights, typically in January. Six songs compete in each show, with two qualifying to the final, two qualifying to the second chance round, and two being eliminated.

The songs are performed live, and following the sixth song, voting lines are opened for the Lashardian public. International juries vote the night before during dress rehearsals. Following the closure of the voting lines, the top five songs are announced, and the song in sixth place is automatically eliminated. Then, interviews with the contestants typically occur, before it is announced which songs advance to the final, which to the second chance round, and which song is eliminated. The two that advance to the final are performed again.

The second chance round (Lashardian: *Köma broket*) takes place the week after the final semi-final. During this, the ninth and tenth songs competing in the final are decided. There are two rounds of voting in the second chance round. In the first, all eight songs are performed, and then voting lines are opened. Like in the semi-finals, the international juries vote during the dress rehearsal. After the voting lines are closed, the top four vote-getters advance to round two, while the bottom four are eliminated. The top four are then divided into two separate duels, and perform again. The voting lines are then reopened. The international jury votes from round one are typically reused for round two, due to a time constraint in having them vote again. Then, the winners of each of the duels is announced and they move on to the final.

### Final

The final takes place at 20:00 on a Sunday night in February. Ten songs compete in the final; two from each semi-final and two from the second chance round. The running order is decided by producers a week before in order to ensure that similar artists and songs are spread apart, to avoid repetition. The final attracts significant levels of tourism, with many people visiting Ubenmoor from outside the city, and some from even outside the country.

After the results are revealed, the winner receives the *Mösikalibastajenkal* (English: *Archangel of Music*), a trophy designed for the winner. Each year, the winner passes on their trophy to next year's winner. At the end of the broadcast, the winner performs their song once again.

## Voting

The current voting system consists of a 50/50 mix of SMS voting from the Lashardian public and votes international juries. The international juries are made up of music professors, songwriters, and music technicians. Producers have made it clear that they do not allow professional musicians on any international jury due to the possibility of bias. Typical countries that send international juries to the contest are Lashardia's neighbors Adoriam, Pesa, and Consensum, while Rentusca, Populus Poetarum, and Sodrax have also sent juries at least once.

In the semi-finals, each international jury awards songs 6 points to 1 point, from their favorite to least favorite song. In addition to that, the songs also receive a certain amount of points based on what percentage of the SMS voting they received. The two scores are added together for a total, and the countries with the highest totals advance. In the second chance round, the juries award 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, and 2 points to their top six songs. They top six songs based on SMS voting also receive this set of points. They are added together and the top four songs move on to the second round of voting. They are paired against each other and there is another round of voting. Then, the juries and public both have 100 points to give in each duel. The 100 points are split between both songs in each duel based on how the juries and public voted, with the winners of each duel advancing to the final. In the final, the juries each award 12, 10, 8-1 points for each song, while each song receives points based on what percentage of the SMS voting they won. The points are added together, and the winner is revealed.

## Presenters

In 2016, it was revealed that Lashardian television presenter and actress Katia Ninömeyer, had signed a five-year contract to host the program. She has stated in interviews that she'd host the contest every year she's asked to.

## Rules

While *Mösikalifestivali* likes to pride itself on having very few rules for its participants and songwriters, in reality there are a few that they must follow.

The most prevalent rule is that songs cannot be released before their respective semi-finals. A snippet of each artist's rehearsal is shown the week of their semi-final, while the songs are revealed in full via LRT's website the morning of the semi-final. If an artist releases their songs prior to this or the song leaks on the Internet, *Mösikalifestivali* producers are allowed to disqualify the song and replace them with someone new. However, this has never had to happen.

Another rule for the contest is that no acts can have more than eight performers on the stage at once. This normally does not cause any trouble due to backing singers not being necessary because of the allowance of backing vocals on backing tracks.

## Musical styles

*Mösikalifestivali* has been criticized for featuring too many Lashpop songs, and not diversifying its roster. Producers have countered this criticism by stating that Lashpop is the prevalent genre in the contest because that's what a majority of Lashardians listen to, and what a majority of Lashardian musicians are playing. They also stated that each year there are a myriad of different genres being performed, from Lashpop, to alternative, to rock, to hip hop.