By Becky
Lately, there has been a lot of talk about the Eurovision Song Contest, an internationally televised songwriting competition, organized by the European Broadcasting Union and featuring participants chosen by EBU member broadcasters to represent their countries from across Europe and beyond. For more information about Eurovision, check out their website. This made TBP wonder what types of books we have in our collection that feature song contests.
First, there is Catherynne Valente’s SPACE OPERA (DB 94674). A washed-up glam rock singer is selected to be Earth’s representative in an intergalactic music contest. The consequences could be dire—this is Earth’s chance to be declared sentient rather than be eradicated. But it’s a funny book, often described as “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy meets Eurovision.”
Next up is YEAR ZERO by Rob Reid (DB 79694). Humanity is the only species in the galaxy that can produce music—and all the others are deeply addicted to it. They’ve been listening to all our music obsessively since 1977. Unfortunately, according to intergalactic law, everyone who has been listening to our music owes royalties. Some lawyers show up on Earth to talk to an entertainment lawyer, and it turns out that they owe earthlings so much money that it might be better if our planet met with an unfortunate accident. Our entertainment lawyer has to find a way to balance their laws, our laws, who gets paid the royalties, and how to save the world.
Not all of them are science fiction, though. VIOLIN CONSPIRACY by Brendan Slocum (DB 106851) features an African American man who gets into a violin contest. He finds out shortly before it starts that his great-great grandfather’s fiddle is actually a Stradivarius. Then it is stolen on the eve of the competition, and he has to find it.
MUSIC WARS by Gordon Pape (DB 24225) is more of a cold war spy thriller. A Jewish American man enters the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in the mid-1980s. He has to decide whether to assist dissidents or just concentrate on the competition. There are also KGB agents, journalists doing their thing, and the competition.
In LIGHT FROM UNCOMMON STARS by Ryka Aoki (DB 105930, BR 24241), a woman makes a deal with the devil for music success. She has to deliver him seven souls and thinks she’s found her final candidate. Then she meets a retired starship captain.
Set in a New Orleans where magic is real, BALLAD OF PERILOUS GRAVES by Alex Jennings (DB 112356, BR 24787 IN PROCESS) features a main character Perilous Graves (Perry) who knows something is off. The Great Magician is seen in odd places and nine songs of power are missing—without them, the city may fall apart. And the Haint of Haints is awake (which sounds bad).
We also have titles on this topic for young adults.
In I’LL BE THE ONE by Lyla Lee (DB 103532), a young woman enters a music contest, hoping to become a K-Pop star. She encounters fatphobia and deals with fame from being on the show alongside her attraction to one of the contestants. But she must persevere if she wants to achieve her goal.
Another novel centered around K-Pop is K-POP CONFIDENTIAL by Stephan Lee (DB 115467). A Korean American teenager secretly enters a global competition to be in a girl group. She has to navigate getting permission from her strict parents to go, the strict rules of the contest, learning Korean fluently, and all the usual teenage angst and drama.
In CROOKED KIND OF PERFECT by Linda Urban (DB 66730), Zoe longs to play the piano, which she views as elegant and dignified. Instead, she plays a wheezy old organ for her parents. Then she starts practicing for the Perform-a-Rama organ competition.
One of the young adult titles features fantasy. In SOFI AND THE BONE SONG by Adrienne Tooley (DB 108276), a girl loses a music contest and sets out to prove her rival cheated by using magic. What she finds out changes everything she thought she knew about music, magic, and her rival.
It’s not all fiction. Here are some nonfiction titles about music competitions in our collection.
This is a book about a piano competition that takes place in Fort Worth, Texas: IVORY TRADE: MUSIC AND THE BUSINESS OF MUSIC AT THE VAN CLIBURN INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION by Joseph Horowitz (DB 34313).
Although it’s not about music competitions, THIS IS WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE: WHAT THE MUSIC YOU LOVE SAYS ABOUT YOU by Dr. Susan Rogers (DB 116750) is a fascinating look at why your favorite songs move you.
If you enjoy watching or participating in music competitions, or if you’d like to try reading about them, give one of the books above a try.