This is [not] the story of Hurricane...
May. 16th, 2024 06:01 pmSay what you will about the Eurovision song contest, it does not lose its ability to surprise.
We watched the finals on Saturday; we did not watch the semi-finals, feeling that four hours of Eurovision froth was quite enough for us. In fact, I don't need more than three hours, and went to bed after the songs;![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
durham_rambler is made of sterner stuff, and stayed on through the voting. The favourite won, which I always find disappointing.
Israel, having won their semi-final, came 5th, and I have no idea how to interpret that. The contest is in theory apolitical, but there are few things as political as an institution which makes a point of being apolitical, so it was inevitable that the Israeli presence would cause a fuss. Their initial entry, October Rain was rejected as too political, but a revised version was accepted: it starts with an appeal to "Writer of my symphony" rather than "Writers of the history", and declares that "I'm still broken from this hurricane" instead of "I'm still wet from this october rain", which looks to me like a case of censorship forcing the writer to come up with something better, but what do I know? Inevitably, it allowed Eurovision to claim that it had taken a stand, but did not satisfy the people calling for Israel to be excluded (for what it's worth, I'd rather see an end to arms sales than a cultural boycott, but never mind). What was unexpected was that the Netherlands should manage to get themselves excluded instead (no apparent connection, although the atmosphere can't have helped cool things down, to say the least...).
Some years I become partisan about one particular song, but not this year. On the other hand, there was one piece of staging I found both absolutely dazzling and completely baffling, and would have loved to see again. My plan was to use the official participants listing to revisit that, and a number of other details. Well, up to a point. The list is a wonderful resource (especially as a source of lyrics) but the official videos it offers are, for better or worse, not the competition performances. For those, I'd presumably have to replay the whole show - and that is not going to happen. Some random thoughts, then, which turn out to be even more random than I expected:
The entry I would have liked to see again was Ukraine, who made extensive use of background images wrapped around the two singers, on walls and floor. Their official video is much more restrained, and doesn't really cast any light on the mystery. Instead it plays up the duality of their song Teresa & Maria ("Mother Teresa and Diva Maria" - oh dear!), performed by two solo performers brought together for the occasion, one to deliver the classic Eurovision big ballad, one to rap in counterpoint (I find rapping much improved by being delivered in a Slav language).
On the other hand, Norway's official video does make some connection between the stage performance (for which I was proposing a special I didn't see that coming award) and the lyrics as given in translation:
The stage show seemed to depict a ship in a storm at sea: there was water everywhere. But the video suggests a wild storm whipping up a peaceful lake, around a witchy central figure (Ireland also entered a witch, so perhaps witches are having a moment). The band's name, Gåte, means 'riddle' (according to Wikipedia), which figures.
The song features a nyckelharpa, which makes Norway runners up in the most obscure instrument category. The winners, though, were Estonia, who had something which I think is a talharpa. Like Ukraine, they also went for two bands appearing as one, with a song - I discover from the lyrics - about a drugs bust. Also, with so many performers wearing nothing but a few sequins, you have to applaud a band of blokes in big full-length black coats.
On the night, I interpreted Armenia's entry as another piece of dualism, the woman in a miniskirt version of traditional dress singing her 'modern' pop at - rather than to - the male instrumentalist who played in a more traditional style. Their video brings them both together in an over-the-top version of a tourist board advertisement. You could compare it, as a tongue-in-cheek version of traditional (peasant) life, with Croatia's official video in which Baby Lasagne (probably the best band name - sorry, Finland's Windows95man) plays the country boy leaving the farm. I coveted Baby Lasagne's waistcoat, not the one in the video, but the one he wears for rehearsals and performance, a fancy embroidered version of traditional national costume as saved for best.
Finally: since I've talked about the inscrutability of some of the staging, I should add that if there were a prize for most transparent staging, which there isn't, it would go to the UK. With the subtlety for which we are famous, we apparently recognised that Eurovision is a very gay event, and put Tom of Finland in charge of the choreography. We came in 18th, beating Estonia, who finished twentieth, which is what usually happens to my favourites.
We watched the finals on Saturday; we did not watch the semi-finals, feeling that four hours of Eurovision froth was quite enough for us. In fact, I don't need more than three hours, and went to bed after the songs;
durham_rambler is made of sterner stuff, and stayed on through the voting. The favourite won, which I always find disappointing.Israel, having won their semi-final, came 5th, and I have no idea how to interpret that. The contest is in theory apolitical, but there are few things as political as an institution which makes a point of being apolitical, so it was inevitable that the Israeli presence would cause a fuss. Their initial entry, October Rain was rejected as too political, but a revised version was accepted: it starts with an appeal to "Writer of my symphony" rather than "Writers of the history", and declares that "I'm still broken from this hurricane" instead of "I'm still wet from this october rain", which looks to me like a case of censorship forcing the writer to come up with something better, but what do I know? Inevitably, it allowed Eurovision to claim that it had taken a stand, but did not satisfy the people calling for Israel to be excluded (for what it's worth, I'd rather see an end to arms sales than a cultural boycott, but never mind). What was unexpected was that the Netherlands should manage to get themselves excluded instead (no apparent connection, although the atmosphere can't have helped cool things down, to say the least...).
Some years I become partisan about one particular song, but not this year. On the other hand, there was one piece of staging I found both absolutely dazzling and completely baffling, and would have loved to see again. My plan was to use the official participants listing to revisit that, and a number of other details. Well, up to a point. The list is a wonderful resource (especially as a source of lyrics) but the official videos it offers are, for better or worse, not the competition performances. For those, I'd presumably have to replay the whole show - and that is not going to happen. Some random thoughts, then, which turn out to be even more random than I expected:
The entry I would have liked to see again was Ukraine, who made extensive use of background images wrapped around the two singers, on walls and floor. Their official video is much more restrained, and doesn't really cast any light on the mystery. Instead it plays up the duality of their song Teresa & Maria ("Mother Teresa and Diva Maria" - oh dear!), performed by two solo performers brought together for the occasion, one to deliver the classic Eurovision big ballad, one to rap in counterpoint (I find rapping much improved by being delivered in a Slav language).
On the other hand, Norway's official video does make some connection between the stage performance (for which I was proposing a special I didn't see that coming award) and the lyrics as given in translation:
I was a very fine and beautiful maiden
With an evil stepmother. My mother had died.
She transformed me into a sword and a needle
And sent me off to the King’s estate.
The wrath of my stepmother grew
When all the fine people loved me most.
She gave me the hide of a grey wolf
And forced me to go into the woods alone.
And I would never be whole and good
Before I had drunk of my brother’s blood.
The stage show seemed to depict a ship in a storm at sea: there was water everywhere. But the video suggests a wild storm whipping up a peaceful lake, around a witchy central figure (Ireland also entered a witch, so perhaps witches are having a moment). The band's name, Gåte, means 'riddle' (according to Wikipedia), which figures.
The song features a nyckelharpa, which makes Norway runners up in the most obscure instrument category. The winners, though, were Estonia, who had something which I think is a talharpa. Like Ukraine, they also went for two bands appearing as one, with a song - I discover from the lyrics - about a drugs bust. Also, with so many performers wearing nothing but a few sequins, you have to applaud a band of blokes in big full-length black coats.
On the night, I interpreted Armenia's entry as another piece of dualism, the woman in a miniskirt version of traditional dress singing her 'modern' pop at - rather than to - the male instrumentalist who played in a more traditional style. Their video brings them both together in an over-the-top version of a tourist board advertisement. You could compare it, as a tongue-in-cheek version of traditional (peasant) life, with Croatia's official video in which Baby Lasagne (probably the best band name - sorry, Finland's Windows95man) plays the country boy leaving the farm. I coveted Baby Lasagne's waistcoat, not the one in the video, but the one he wears for rehearsals and performance, a fancy embroidered version of traditional national costume as saved for best.
Finally: since I've talked about the inscrutability of some of the staging, I should add that if there were a prize for most transparent staging, which there isn't, it would go to the UK. With the subtlety for which we are famous, we apparently recognised that Eurovision is a very gay event, and put Tom of Finland in charge of the choreography. We came in 18th, beating Estonia, who finished twentieth, which is what usually happens to my favourites.
