If you enjoy listening to music from around the world, you may want to turn your attention to Thailand next month because a big competition is about to take place.
What is Eurovision?
Eurovision is an international music competition organized by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Each participating country (most in Europe, but not all!) sends one performer or group of performers to present one song, and both a jury of professionals and the public vote to determine the best one.
Sounds fun, right? But let’s face it: If it was ALL fun, we wouldn’t be talking about it here. Believe or not, Eurovision actually began with something terrible: World War II.
“In the aftermath of World War II, the [EBU] sits down among their members and goes, ‘We can’t let that happen again,’” said Dimitry Pompée, one of the hosts of the Eurovangelists podcast. So in an effort to promote cultural understanding and unity, the EBU came up with a series of programs that all of Europe would be able to watch or listen to on the radio. One of those programs was the Eurovision song contest, and the first one was held in Switzerland in 1956.
“Everyone who heard it absolutely loved it,” Pompée said. “So they decided, let’s do Eurovision again. And they just kept doing it because it kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger.”
So what does this have to do with Asia?
If you’ve paid attention in school, you surely know that Europe and Asia are two different continents. So how could Asia have Eurovision? There are a few answers.
First, 2026 is the 70th anniversary of the Eurovision song contest. So the EBU decided to expand to Asia in celebration of that milestone. It’s not a completely new idea either. Several countries that aren’t in Europe have been participating in Eurovision for years. In fact, 2027 will see Canada sending its first entry into the contest. The EBU also tried in 2022 to hold an American Song Contest with entries from each of the 50 states, but it was not successful and hasn’t happened again since.
The contest will be held on November 14, 2026 in Bangkok, Thailand and include songs from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Philippines, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.
You might be wondering why the contest is called Eurovision Asia instead of, simply, Asiavision. The answer is simple: That name is taken! The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) runs a service called Asiavision that allows its members to share video news coverage with each other.
As this post is being written, most of the performers and songs have been chosen through a process called national selection, often (but not always) a competition in the country. The final entrant, from Cambodia, will be chosen October 17.
I’m in! Where can I watch?
If you’re in the United States, your best bet for watching Eurovision Asia is on the Eurovision Song Contest’s official YouTube channel. That’s also a good place to check out all the songs in the contest.
So will Eurovision Asia be a hit, or will it go down in history as something, well, terrible? Watch on November 14 and let us know what you think!