Mystical Song Contest 36

The Mystical Song Contest #36 (also known as MSC 36) was the thirty-sixth edition of the Mystical Song Contest. It took place in Tórshavn, 🇫🇴 Faroe Islands after VSJ won in Baku, 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan.

It was confirmed that 48 countries participated in the 36th edition. No countries debuted, 🇧🇷 Brazil withdrew and 🇲🇦 Morocco returned.

The top 6 of last edition 🇫🇴 Faroe Islands, 🇮🇹 Italy, 🇬🇧 United Kingdom, 🇳🇿 New Zealand, 🇨🇿 Czech Republic and 🇨🇦 Canada were automatically pre qualified for the Grand Final of this edition. The 42 other countries that participated were split into 2 semi finals.

The running orders were made by the supervisor of the contest ESC Thømås.

Tórshavn
Tórshavn ( Faroese: [ˈtʰɔuʂhaun]; lit. 'Thor's harbor'; Danish: Thorshavn, pronounced [ˈtsʰoɐ̯ˀsˌhɑwˀn]) is the capital and largest city of the Faroe Islands. It is in the southern part on the east coast of Streymoy. To the northwest of the city lies the 347-meter-high (1,138 ft) mountain Húsareyn, and to the southwest, the 350-meter-high (1,150 ft) Kirkjubøreyn. They are separated by the Sandá River. The city itself has a population of 19,165 (2019), and the greater urban area has a population of 21,078.

The Norse established their parliament on the Tinganes peninsula in AD 850. Tórshavn thus became the capital of the Faroe Islands and has remained so ever since. All through the Middle Ages the narrow peninsula jutting out into the sea made up the main part of Tórshavn. Early on, Tórshavn became the centre of the islands' trade monopoly, thereby being the only legal place for the islanders to sell and buy goods. In 1856, the trade monopoly was abolished and the islands were left open to free trade.

It is not known whether the site of Tórshavn was of interest to the Celtic monks who were probably the first settlers in the Faroes. The Viking settlers in the 9th century established their own parliaments, called tings, in different parts of the islands, it being the tradition in each case to hold the ting at a neutral and thus uninhabited place, so no one location gave anyone an advantage. The main ting for the islands was convoked in Tórshavn in 825, on Tinganes, the peninsula that divides the harbour into two parts: Eystaravág and Vestaravág.

The Vikings would thus meet on the flat rocks of Tinganes every summer, as the most central place on the islands, although there was no settlement at Tinganes at that time. The Færeyinga Saga says: "the place of the ting of the Faroese was on Streymoy, and there is the harbour that is called Tórshavn". The Viking age ended in 1035. The ting was followed by a market which gradually grew into a permanent trading area.

All through the Middle Ages, the narrow peninsula jutting out into the sea made up the main part of Tórshavn. It belonged to the outfield of two farmers. Unlike other Faroese villages, Tórshavn was never a distinct farming community. During the 12th century, all trade between Norway and the Faroes, along with other tributary islands to the west, became centralised in Bergen.

In 1271, a royal trade monopoly was established in Tórshavn by the Norwegian Crown. According to a document from 1271, two ships would sail regularly to Tórshavn from Bergen with cargoes of salt, timber and cereal. Tórshavn therefore had more contact with the outside world than did the other villages. Under the Norwegian, and then Danish rule, government officials made Tórshavn their home. All of these things, combined with the fact that Tórshavn was the seat of the ting of the islands, influenced the town's development.

Host of the show
On May 15, 2020 it was announced that Eivør Pálsdóttir was the host of Mystical Song Contest 36.

Eivør Pálsdóttir (pronounced [ˈaivœɹ ˈpɔlsˌdœʰtəɹ]; born 21 July 1983), known professionally as Eivør, is a Faroese singer-songwriter with a distinctive voice and a wide range of interests in various music genres spanning rock, jazz, folk, pop, and European classical music. Her musical roots are in the Faroese ballads.

Many of her songs are in Faroese, some are in Icelandic, Norwegian, Danish and Swedish, and the most recent are in English.

Eivør was born in Syðrugøta, Faroe Islands. At 13 she had her first performance on Faroese television and won a national singing contest the same year. In 1999, at the age of 15, Eivør joined the rock band Clickhaze.

One year later, in 2000, she released her first album, Eivør Pálsdóttir. It is a mixture of classical Faroese ballads accompanied only by guitar and bass with jazz influences, and songs based on texts by famous Faroese writers, together with songs written by Eivør herself. By this time she was already a professional musician.

In 2001 she won the national Faroese band contest with her band Clickhaze Prix Føroyar. In 2002 Eivør moved to Reykjavík to study classical and jazz music. A mentor of the Faroese music scene, Kristian Blak, asked her to be the lead singer for the jazz group – Yggdrasil, which released its first album the same year.

Well known as a jazz performer, she released a rock album with Clickhaze the same summer, thus again proving her wide range. Clickhaze made a very successful tour of the Faroes, Sweden, Denmark (Roskilde Festival), Iceland and Greenland.

After her second solo album, Krákan, there occurred possibly the most important event in her career with her nomination in 2003 for the Icelandic Music Awards in no fewer than three categories. She was awarded best singer and best performer – normally only given to Icelandic artists.

Educated as a classical vocalist, Eivør also sings with the Faroese symphony orchestra and sang solo in Kristian Blak's 2004 opera Firra.

Her album eivør from November 2004, featuring the Canadian Bill Bourne, sold well in the U.S. and Canada. Bourne's contribution with acoustic guitar gave the project an American country flavour, with Eivør contributing several songs in Faroese. In Iceland it was again in the charts, and was nominated for the Icelandic Music Award, together with an album by Björk, though neither was successful.

Debuting/Withdrawing
On May 13, 2020 it was announced that 1 country won't participate in the 36th edition.


 * 🇧🇷 Brazil : Globo, the Brazilian broadcaster, stated that the country won't participate in the 36th edition because "it's time for the country to withdraw" said the head of delegation. The last participation of the country was in the 35th edition.

Returning Artists
Here is the list of the returning artists for the 36th edition.

Semi Finals
On May 16, 2020 the supervisor of the contest ESC Thømås revealed the running order of both semi finals.

The big 6 members were assigned to a semi final where they had to vote.

A total of 21 countries competed in each semi final and 10 countries qualifiied in both.

Semi Final 1
In this semi final 🇬🇧 United Kingdom, 🇳🇿 New Zealand and 🇨🇦 Canada had to vote.

Semi Final 2
In this semi final 🇫🇴 Faroe Islands, 🇮🇹 Italy and 🇨🇿 Czech Republic had to vote.

Grand Final
On May 24, 2020 the supervisor of the contest ESC Thømås revealed the running order of the Grand Final.