In other cultural news...
May. 24th, 2026 06:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomust... last Saturday wasn't just about great novels, it was also the Eurovision Song Contest - a somewhat depleted contest (and no, I have nothing useful to say about the boycott that caused that) but still quite long enough. And that's just the Grand Final, we don't watch the semi-finals: we may be missing somew good stiff, and feel free to point me towards it (was that really Boy George representing San Marino?) but three nights of Eurovision in one week? I don't think so!
I was intrigued by Croatia's entry, and "ethno-pop group" called Lelek, whose song Andromeda was staged in a way that suggested they were aiming to found a new religion. The BBC crib sheet says:
Looking now at the translated lyrics, this makes sense - but suggests no-one is hoping to lure Turkiye back into the contest.
Talking of "ethno-pop", all credit to UKraine, for its use of traditional instrument the bandura, and for keeping bandurist Yaroslav Dzhus on stage throughout. "His costume," it says here, "references Cossack-era musicians as keepers of oral and musical tradition," though that is too subtle for me to have picked up even if he hadn't been in the dark most of the time. (More about this on Instagram.)
I have a soft spot for Greece's offering. It has the best knitwear, and includes someone actually knitting. Can you combine rapid, video game themed glitz and sentimental shout-outs to mother? Greece will give it a try, and throws in a couple of statues (one golden, one marble white) for good measure. I thought it deserved to do better han 10th, but what do I know?
As witness, I didn't mind the UK entry. Going hard for quirky is a gamble, and it didn't pay off (we came last, with one vote, from the Ukrainian jury). Whereas the song I actively disliked was Bulgaria's - which naturally won, and not only won, but topped both popular and jury votes and set a new record for the margin by which it won. I thought it was loud and brash and - well yes, very Eurovision. "brilliantly unhinged and full of sass," says that BBC guide.
Very Eurovision now, anyway. T he interval act looks back over 70 years of Eurovision, and has fun reimagining some classic entries in a contemporary style. Don't miss Lordi taking on Papa Pingouin, Papa what? Oh, I'm so glad you asked:
I was intrigued by Croatia's entry, and "ethno-pop group" called Lelek, whose song Andromeda was staged in a way that suggested they were aiming to found a new religion. The BBC crib sheet says:
Performed in beautiful close harmonies by ethno-pop quintet Lelek, it discusses the suppression, abduction and forced marriage that Christian women endured in the Ottoman empire, and how they'd protect themselves by tattooing their bodies with symbols of the cross.
Looking now at the translated lyrics, this makes sense - but suggests no-one is hoping to lure Turkiye back into the contest.
Talking of "ethno-pop", all credit to UKraine, for its use of traditional instrument the bandura, and for keeping bandurist Yaroslav Dzhus on stage throughout. "His costume," it says here, "references Cossack-era musicians as keepers of oral and musical tradition," though that is too subtle for me to have picked up even if he hadn't been in the dark most of the time. (More about this on Instagram.)
I have a soft spot for Greece's offering. It has the best knitwear, and includes someone actually knitting. Can you combine rapid, video game themed glitz and sentimental shout-outs to mother? Greece will give it a try, and throws in a couple of statues (one golden, one marble white) for good measure. I thought it deserved to do better han 10th, but what do I know?
As witness, I didn't mind the UK entry. Going hard for quirky is a gamble, and it didn't pay off (we came last, with one vote, from the Ukrainian jury). Whereas the song I actively disliked was Bulgaria's - which naturally won, and not only won, but topped both popular and jury votes and set a new record for the margin by which it won. I thought it was loud and brash and - well yes, very Eurovision. "brilliantly unhinged and full of sass," says that BBC guide.
Very Eurovision now, anyway. T he interval act looks back over 70 years of Eurovision, and has fun reimagining some classic entries in a contemporary style. Don't miss Lordi taking on Papa Pingouin, Papa what? Oh, I'm so glad you asked:
