Hallå, Guten Tag, bonjour and G'day mate from Europe (and Australia, for some reason) as the Eurovision returns this spring and you can catch all the action at a screening party in Toronto.

Far pre-dating American Idol and the like, the Eurovision Song Contest has been the world's most popular and long-running singing competition since 1956.

This year's competition is as fierce as ever, with as many as 41 countries sending a singer or singing group of their choice to represent them.

For obvious reasons, Canada is not eligible to participate, but that didn't stop our unofficial Head of State, then 20-year-old Celine Dion, from representing Switzerland in the 1988 competition, singing "Ne partez pas sans moi".

Rules vary depending on the country, with singers sometimes required to be of that nationality. In the case of Dion, the songwriters, Nella Martinetti and Atilla Şereftuğ, needed to be Swiss, but not the singer.

All the blood, sweat and tears of this year's Eurovision is going down at Striker Sports Bar in the Church Wellesley Village each night of the contest from May 12 to 16.