Jul 23, 20213 min read

BENIDORM EUROVISION CAPITAL

All the national and international media have echoed this news, Benidorm will choose the Spanish representative for Eurovision 2022 by holding a musical contest. An unbeatable setting, the skyline of the tourist giant and the beach silhouette of its island will be a perfect background postcard.

The Benidorm City Council, the Generalitat Valenciana and RTVE have agreed to celebrate the Spanish preselection in the tourist capital of the Costa Blanca in order to make it the annual reference city for national music as it was in the past with its mythical 'Benidorm Song Festival' .

This great event will be held in early 2022 and will consist of two semi-final galas and a grand final, which will be broadcast live and in which the representative of Spain will be chosen for the 66th edition of the 2022 'Eurovision' contest.

Amalia Martínez de Velasco, Toni Pérez, Ximo Puig, Ruth Lorenzo, José Manuel Pérez Tornero y María Eizaguirre

In the presentation ceremony, regional and local political authorities met, as well as the main directors of RTVE. Day enlivened with a performance by the great artist Ruth Lorenzo, Spanish representative in the 2014 contest.

Both Valencian and Benidormense manatarios have thanked the selection of the city of Benidorm, a town that "evokes reunion and friendship" and which has been described as "hospitable, open and European", adjectives that undoubtedly more than meets due to the large number of visitors of all nationalities that it receives throughout the year.

Ruth Lorenzo made her mark by performing at the opening ceremony.

This intimate relationship between Benidorm and music is not something new, traditionally the town has celebrated the 'Festival de la Canción', an emblem among festivals, whose first edition was no less than 1959, taking place annually until 2006.

16 years later the Festival returns to Benidorm, and to stay, since the idea is to hold it annually as has been tradition.

Broadcast on TV according to the time on TVE or Telecinco, with the Benidorm Festival figures such as the Dúo Dinámico, Raphael or Julio Iglesias rose to fame and established artists such as Karina or Víctor Manuel passed through it. And in this new event there will be room for both established artists and "amateurs", so the formula for selecting candidates will be "as open as possible" to accommodate "singers or composers, and give preference to talent."

Raphael in one of the Benidorm 'Festivales de la Canción'

Undoubtedly this news generates enthusiasm and hope after the crisis situation that we have experienced during these years due to the pandemic, and in the words of the President of the Generalitat Ximo Puig: "Benidorm has never stopped being Benidorm and it will be much more Benidorm with this festival".

Eurovision is undoubtedly the most important and popular music event in Europe, and Spain now wants to modernize itself more than ever and win this event again.To achieve this change, it has been announced that a permanent working group is being set up with experts from the public entity, "especially in relation to musical direction" so that the Benidorm contest is a success. "The objective is to undertake a long-term strategy with annual planning, because the Eurovision Song Contest has to be prepared from the day after the previous edition is held and it has to have a strategy throughout the year." "We are going to take care of it, make it grow, give it focus, desire and a lot of ambition, because we want to place ourselves at another level," said the Director of Contents, who made it clear that RTVE wants to make Eurovision take off.

Excellent news for both Benidorm and the Spanish music scene. Well, as we have said, Benidorm has always been the cradle and quarry of great international stars, and its values have historically represented evolution, culture, modernity and hospitality for any visitor.