The ABU Song Festivals are non-competitive song concert galas based on the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

. The format consists of two shows, a Radio Song Festival and TV Song Festival, organised by the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU). Participating countries that have full or additional full ABU membership are invited to submit a

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

to be performed in front of a live

audience An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called "readers"), theatre, music (in which they are called "listeners"), video games (in which they are called "players"), or ...

. The radio festival was a competitive show with a panel of judges determining the top-5 prize winners and is broadcast via

live radio Live radio is radio broadcast without delay. Before the days of television, audiences listened to live Drama (film and television), dramas, Comedy, comedies, Game show, quiz shows and Concert, concerts on the radio much the same way that they n ...

that later transitioned to a non-competitive gala format. The television festival which is a non-competitive, musical gala presentation, is live recorded so that each of the national broadcasters may add

subtitles Subtitles are texts representing the contents of the audio in a film, television show, opera or other audiovisual media. Subtitles might provide a transcription or translation of spoken dialogue. Although naming conventions can vary, caption ...

in their native languages.

History

Our Sound - The Asia-Pacific Song Contest

In 2008, the

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; , UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations in countries within the European Broadcasting Area (EBA) or who are member states of the Council of Europe, members of the ...

(EBU) proposed a partnership with ABU on the establishment of an ''Asiavision Song Contest'', however these talks did not produce any result, and in September 2008 it was announced that the

format for Asian production had been sold to a private company from

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, Asiavision Pte. Ltd. The original name intended for that event was ''Asiavision Song Contest'', but it was later changed to ''Our Sound - The Asia-Pacific Song Contest'' following a request from the ABU, who uses the Asiavision name for their news exchange service. Initially, the contest (which was supposed to be a two programme live broadcast TV show with public voting) was set to premiere in 2009, but it was later rescheduled for March 2010 in

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

and then for November 2010 in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

, at the end being postponed indefinitely "due to the ongoing issues between the organizers and EBU". As of now, it is still uncertain if there will ever be such a contest.

Development

The

Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU or APBU), formed in 1964, is a non-profit, professional association of broadcasting organisations. It currently has over 288 members in 57 countries and regions, reaching a potential audience of about 3 b ...

(ABU) had already run an international song contest for its members inspired by the

in 1985 – 1987, called the '' ABU Popular Song Contest'', with 14 countries of the Asia-Pacific region competing. The show had a similar concept to the current radio song festival with winners being chosen by a professional jury.

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and Australia celebrated victories in this competition. In 1989 – 1991 ABU co-produced the ''ABU Golden Kite World Song Festival'' in Malaysia with the participation of Asia-Pacific countries, as well as

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

and

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. Shortly before launching the ABU Song Festival, the ABU had been considering the possibility to organize the ''ABU ASEAN TV Song Festival'' in Thailand. Historically,

ASEAN The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, commonly abbreviated as ASEAN, is a regional grouping of 10 states in Southeast Asia "that aims to promote economic and security cooperation among its ten members." Together, its member states r ...

song contests had been organized in periods between 1981 and 1997, however, since 2011 the ASEAN Festival had been organized between local Radio stations as ''Bintang Radio ASEAN''. The ABU outlined a plan about a "television song festival" based on the style of the

following the cancellation of ''Our Sound''. Kenny Kihyung Bae, chosen as the project manager, attended

Eurovision Song Contest 2012 The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was the 57th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, following the country's victory at the with the song "Running Scared (Ell & Nikki song), Running Scared" by Ell & Nikki, El ...

Baku, Azerbaijan Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

to learn more about the contest before putting it to work. In November 2011, the ABU announced that they would organize its own TV and Radio Song Festivals to take place in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, the South Korean capital, in time with 49th General Assembly in October 2012. The name ''Asiavision Song Contest'' was initially mentioned as a possibility, but they were later officially titled '' ABU TV Song Festival'' and '' ABU Radio Song Festival''. According to the ABU, the deadline for participation applications for ABU TV Song Festival 2012 was 18 May 2012.

Format

Andreas Gerlach, CEO of Asiavision Pte. Ltd, stated that "''the format is highly suited to the Asia region and its people who love popular music and have a strong national pride. Asia today is all about competition, economically and politically. The Song Contest is a friendly competition between cultures. Like in Europe, the universal language of music will help to bring people closer together and nurture mutual understanding in the region.''" The festivals are divided into two versions, ABU Radio Song Festival and ABU TV Song Festival. Twenty-six songs from sixteen nations competed at the Radio Song Festival, held in the South Korean capital,

on 14 October 2012, while seven nations competed in the ABU TV Song Festival. Countries eligible to participate in both of the ABU Song Festivals must have full or additional full ABU or ASBU membership.

ABU Popular Song Contest

ABU Radio Song Festival

The ABU Radio Song Festival is a concert performance for musicians, who are not under contract with any

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product. Labels are most often affixed to packaging and containers using an adhesive, or sewing when affix ...

. The ABU recommends its members to introduce participating musicians and their songs on radio.abu.org.my
ABU Radio Song Festival
Every participant is chosen by one national radio broadcaster. A jury represented by ABU members chooses 15 finalists from 26 submissions. The finalists perform during the general assembly of the ABU. Another jury awards the best artists.abu2012seoul.com

*Note 1: Due to the death of King

Bhumibol Adulyadej Bhumibol Adulyadej (5 December 192713 October 2016), titled Rama IX, was King of Thailand from 1946 until Death and funeral of Bhumibol Adulyadej, his death in 2016. His reign of 70 years and 126 days is the longest of any List of Thai mo ...

, the 2017 ABU Radio Song Festival, initially scheduled to be held on 27 April 2017 as part of the 2017 RadioAsia Conference, was cancelled

ABU TV Song Festival

The ABU TV Song Festival is a concert performance for professional musicians, who according to the organiser are well known in their country of origin. The event is not meant to be competitive. The festival will be recorded and is meant to be broadcast by participating ABU members first. Non-participating ABU members and non-ABU member broadcasters will be allowed to broadcast the festival for a fee at a later stage.abu.org.my
1st ABU TV Song Festival - General Guidelines
(

PDF Portable document format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe Inc., Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, computer hardware, ...

-Datei)abu.org.my
ABU TV Song Festival available for broadcast
, 14. September 2012 Every musician will be selected by a national broadcaster being member of the ABU. The participants perform during the general assembly of the ABU. At a press conference held on 18 July 2013 it was announced that

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

were submitting a bid to host the ABU TV Song Festival 2015. In recent editions, the TV Festival has been held in the host city of the ABU General Assembly, with

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

being the host to such assembly in 2015. If the bid were to be successful it would be the first time that the TV Festival would have been taken place away from the host country of the General Assembly. However, it was announced in August 2014 that Indonesia were making plans to host the ABU TV Song Festival 2016 instead.

's début at the 2014 Festival had led to speculation that they were hosting the 2015 festival alongside the ABU General Assembly, which took place in Istanbul. It was further confirmed in October 2014 that Turkey were indeed the hosts of the 2015 festival, which took place in Istanbul on 28 October 2015. Indonesia's hosting of the festival took place on 22 October 2016 in Bali.

ABU International Dance Festival

The ABU International Dance Festival will be a new event organised by the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, with the début festival scheduled to take place in

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The date was originally scheduled to take place in November 2016, But was later postponed and took place on 12 to 15 January 2017. The festival was proposed by Prasar Bharati to be a contest.

ABU Song Contest

The ABU Song Contest is a competitive televised song contest that was first discussed in 2015 by the ABU, with the first contest having been planned to be held in 2017, which however did not take place that year. In August 2018, it was announced that the ABU has been in discussion with the Chinese national broadcaster to host the first edition. The host city would be

Qingdao Qingdao, Mandarin: , (Qingdao Mandarin: t͡ɕʰiŋ˧˩ tɒ˥) is a prefecture-level city in the eastern Shandong Province of China. Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, Qingdao was long an important fortress. In 1897, the city was ceded to G ...

. The contest was originally due to be held from 17 to 19 October 2019 but was delayed to 16–18 April 2020 to allow for more time to prepare the contest. After China implementing entry ban of other countries during the COVID-19 pandemic on 28 March 2020, ABU is yet to announce the fate of the contest.

References

External links

ABU Official website

ABU Radio Song Festival website

ABU TV Song Festival website
{{ABU Radio Song Festival Song contests Music festivals established in 2012