Trine Skei Grande, the Norwegian Culture Minister has stated that the Government will provide financial support to host the 2019 contest if Alexander Rybak wins.
As the bookmakers favourites to win the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 continue to publicly discuss where and how they could host the 2019 contest. The Norwegian Government has become the first to state that they’d be able to provide financial support to host the competition.
Speaking to VG, Trine Skei Grande, the Norwegian Culture Minister explained that should Alexander Rybak win, they will be giving NRK financial support to aid with the competition. She added that Alexander Rybak has helped a generation of children;
I’ve been following you since you were little. You have ensured that many kids have a musical ideal that they can stretch for, but who also manage to explain that making music is fun but also a lot of work.
The Director General of NRK responded to the Ministers comments by saying;
For now we should concentrate on preparing on Alexander for the show, leaving the music as the focus and then starting the planning of Eurovision in Oslo if he wins.
NRK already began discussion the feasibility of hosting the competition at the start of this week, read more here.
Alexander became popular globally when he won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2009 with his song “Fairytale”. He holds the record for the most amount of points using the older voting system, finishing the contest with 387 points, 169 points ahead of runner-up Iceland. After the contest was over, he released his first album “Fairytales”, and went on to tour Norway and Europe. In the years after his victory, he released many singles, and composed several entries for Eurovision national final participants including Belarus’ Milki, and Malta’s Franklin Calleja.
Alexander Rybak will represent Norway at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest this May. He was selected after he won Melodi Grand Prix 2018 with “That’s How You Write A Song”.
Source: VG
Norway debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1960, and have won the contest three times – in 1985, 1995 and 2009. The country has the dubious record of finishing last the most times, eleven in total, and have received nul points four times. Norway last won the contest in 2009 when Alexander Rybak broke all records with his song “Fairytale”. He scored 387 points in the final, receiving 16 sets of 12 points and scoring points from every country.
