10 acts win a place in the Eurovision final but 5 are sent home as the music contest heats up

BASEL – Competition in the 69th Eurovision Song Contest kicked off Tuesday, with sauna-loving Swedish entry KAJ gaining a place in the final and five countries going home after the first of two semifinals of the pan-continental music extravaganza.

Performers from 15 countries battled it out in front of thousands of fans in Basel, Switzerland for 10 spots in Saturday's final, with the result decided by viewers' votes.

Betting market favorites KAJ, a trio of Swedish-speaking Finns, performed “Bara Bada Bastu” – a catchy ode to steam and heat whose title translates roughly as “just take a sauna” – accompanied by dancers dressed as lumberjacks and clad in towels.

Joining KAJ in the final is another favorite with oddsmakers, 21-year-old Dutch singer Claude with soulful, Parisian-style ballad “C’est La Vie.” Claude hopes to win for his country after the Netherlands’ 2024 contestant, Joost Kein, was kicked out of Eurovision last year over a backstage altercation.

Others voted into the final included Icelandic brother duo VAEB with a rap song about rowing, “Róa,” Norwegian singer Kyle Alessandro’s “Lighter” and two uber-Italian songs that aren't from Italy: DJ Gabry Ponte, representing San Marino with the upbeat “Tutta L’Italia” and the highly caffeinated “Espresso Macchiato” by Estonia’s Tommy Cash.

Ukraine, Portugal, Poland and Albania also made the final. Azerbaijan, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus and Slovenia were eliminated.

Music fans across Europe and beyond have traveled to the northern Swiss city of Basel, which is hosting Eurovision because Swiss singer Nemo won last year’s contest in Sweden.

Canadian chanteuse Celine Dion, who won Eurovision for Switzerland before she became a mega-star, sent a video message that was played before some of last year’s competitors performed her 1988 contest-winning song, “Ne partez pas sans moi.”

Viewers were also entertained with a comic song performed by hosts Hazel Brugger and Sandra Studer celebrating Swiss inventions, including the Swiss Army knife, muesli, processed cheese – and Eurovision, first staged in Lugano in 1956.

Tuesday’s showdown and a second semifinal on Thursday will narrow the field of 37 nations down to 26 who will compete in Saturday’s grand final. Twenty finalists will be decided by viewers’ votes, while six countries automatically qualify for the final: the host, Switzerland, and the “Big Five” who pay the most to the contest — France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K.

Eurovision was founded partly to foster unity on a continent scarred by World War II, and its motto is “United by Music.” But political divisions often cloud the contest, despite organizers’ efforts to keep politics out. Officials say more than 1,000 police officers are on duty in Basel this week, and organizers are expecting protests against Israel’s participation because of the country’s conduct of its war against Hamas in Gaza.

A demonstration against antisemitism is also planned on Thursday, the day Israeli singer Yuval Raphael performs in the second semifinal.

Raphael is a survivor of Hamas militants’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people. More than 52,800 people in Gaza have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive, according to the territory’s health ministry.

Following tensions over Israel’s participation and Klein’s expulsion last year, the European Broadcasting Union that organizes Eurovision has tightened the contest’s code of conduct, calling on participants to respect Eurovision’s values of “universality, diversity, equality and inclusivity” and its political neutrality.

Audience members will be allowed to wave Palestinian flags inside Basel’s St. Jakobshalle arena, after a contentious ban last year. Participants, however, can only wave their own national flag onstage or in other on-camera areas. Some delegations have protested that effectively bans LGBTQ+ pride flags from an event with a huge gay following.

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Lawless reported from London.

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An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the first Eurovision contest was in Lucerne. It was in Lugano.