National Finals and national singers

In this article on Ell and Nikki from Azerbaijan, someone in the comments wonders the following:

maybe it would have been better for them to sing an Azeri song in the ceremony because it's a bit strange that the people who won azerbaijans people of tge year award is doing a performance in English! Don't they ever sing any other songs together? Preferably in Azeri? 

Remember of course that Ell and Nikki don't spend any other time together (I'm not convinced they even like each other). They were only put together for that song, and have other careers going on, so naturally, they only ever sing that song. By this point, they must be glad that their victory lap is almost over and they can stop singing that song. 

But it raises an interesting question in the current eurovision climate. Where swedish songwriters are everywhere, where everyone sings in english, where the producers are big American hotshots, how 'national' is your nation's entry? 

It seems that for most nations the nationality of the performer matters. Ell and Nikki sang an English language song written by a Swedish/American team, but they still represented Azerbaijan, because they are from Azerbaijan. (Even if Nikki lives in London.)

If you're in the UK and you were a hardcore geek you might have watched that abysmal channel 5 documentary in2010 where Justin Lee Collins wanted to sing in the Eurovision, but not for the UK. Not surprisingly, he never got to. He tried his chances with Estonia, Andorra, and Ireland. Estonia would only allow an estonian citizen to enter. Andorra just didn't want to enter. 

It was his chance with Ireland where it got most interesting. It was suggested to Justin that he'd have a better chance with Ireland because they were closest to the UK, and they always had lots of singers from the UK. 

Technically, that's true. Dana was Ireland's first winner in the Eurovision, and she's from Derry, in Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK. HOWEVER, someone in Channel 5's production needed a lesson in politics and geography. Northern Ireland, and being Irish or English is a bloody minefield. They're not called The Troubles for nothing!  The only UK people to represent Ireland at the Eurovision are Northern-Irish people, who presumably define themselves as Irish. Justin was on a hiding to nothing, since he's not remotely Irish.  I always thought the runner-up in Ireland's 2009 national, the Latvian Kristina Zaharova did quite well to come second. In the current form of the Eurovision where performers are the only symbol for the nation, it so matters what it says on their birth certificate. (Hence, it concerns me that Jedward represent Ireland!)

With the announcement of Željko Joksimović for Serbia, it seems fairly certain that once again they are retaining a very specific national sound, with a Serbian performer of ethno ballads. If you look at the rest of former Yugoslavia, all have chosen a  performer who is specifically born in their country, or in one of those tetchy disputed regions like Kosovo, as Rona Nishliu is. 

In fact, so far the only country that doesn't have a singer who was born in their country is the country that's usually very sensitive about their nationality is France, who have Anggun, who lived in Indonesia till she was twenty. Of course it's still very French.