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Rating: May 2008; Belgrade, Serbia.
Everything is ready in the Beogradska Arena, Europe's largest theater, for the 53rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, which landed on Serbian soil thanks to the victory last year of Marija Šerifovic.
From Iceland to Israel, from Russia to Portugal, there are forty-three countries in the competition, all those with a public television network, except Italy (which has not participated since 1997), Slovakia, Austria (which took a year off), the Principality of Monaco, and Kazakhstan, which is not yet part of the European Broadcasting Union; the viewers number seven hundred million worldwide.
This year's novelties include two new entries: Azerbaijan and the small Republic of San Marino.
Given the high number of participants, the format of the event has slightly changed: no longer two nights but three: two semifinals, from which the top ten (based on a televote) automatically advance to the final on Saturday, May 24 along with the Big Four (UK, France, Spain, and Germany, who bear most of the production costs) plus the host nation, in this case, Serbia.
About a month before the event, the double CD containing the competing songs is released, allowing the public to familiarize themselves with the pieces and vote more consciously.
With sparkling lights, celebrations, and psychedelic scenographies, the show begins.
Almost all musical genres explored: from Finnish hard rock to Icelandic dance, passing through melodic ballads presented by Portugal, Albania, and Moldova. This year again there are trash performances, like the Irish entry, presenting a decidedly bad song performed by Dustin The Turkey: an animated puppet. The elimination is, fortunately, almost immediate.
A piece of Italy is present again this year: Switzerland is represented by Paolo Meneguzzi with his "Era Stupendo" [sample], a typically Sanremo-style piece, which, however, will not pass the semifinal (much to the chagrin of those who claim that Italian melodic music is loved worldwide). Meneguzzi is the first singer in eleven years to participate in both Sanremo and the Eurofestival in the same year. With poor results. Another Italian in the competition is Roberto Meloni, Sardinian, who, like last year, represents Latvia, equaling Domenico Modugno, who participated for two consecutive years in the festival. Obviously also the San Marino group Miodio sings in our language: a very mediocre melodic piece (and a really bad execution) titled "Complice", they too were eliminated in the semifinal.
For Russia, the handsome Dima Bilan returns, winner a few years ago of the Russian version of "Amici," now the idol of Eastern Europe's teenagers. Two years ago, he placed second with "Never Let You Go"; this year, he's trying again with "Believing" [sample]. He is the big favorite; with him on stage is Evgeni Plušenko, an Olympic champion of ice skating, but the two have to contend with other strong and equally favored representatives: the beautiful Ani Lorak, for Ukraine, performs "Shady Lady" [sample], an energetic dance piece that overwhelms the audience both with vocal power and the singer's robust beauty. Greece counters with the very young Kalomira Saranti and her "Secret Combination" [sample]. The young woman has grit and is a mix between Beyoncé Knowles, Shakira, and Jennifer Lopez: she struts and winks, reconfirming Greece as one of the countries that in recent years has presented the best songs.
This year, the Georgia presents the blind artist Diana Gurstkaya, who performs a beautiful piece titled "Peace Will Come" [sample]. The Caucasian artist is perhaps one of the best performers of this edition. Israel also presents a very beautiful song: Boaz Mauda performs "Ke'ilo Kan" [sample], a beautiful ballad with typically Hebrew rhythms, written by none other than Dana International, Israel's diva, who triumphed in the 1998 edition with "Diva." In reality, the song was supposed to be a duet between the two, but in the end, Dana generously opted to leave the emerging Mauda with the honor and burden of interpretation to give him more visibility. Norwegian Charlotte Perrelli returns after nine years, already a winner in Jerusalem in 1999, interpreting "Hero", showcasing a noticeable facelift, which surely stands out more than the piece itself.
Also quite charming are the proposals from Denmark, with Simon Mathew and his "All Night Long" [sample] (an English style rock), and Norway with Maria Haukaas Storeg performing a song titled "Hold On, Be Strong" [sample]. Among the big four, worthy of note are Germany's No Angels with "Disappear" [sample] and the English Andy Abraham, with a delightful piece titled "Even If" [sample]. Notable is Spain's choice to be represented by comedian Rodolfo Chikilicuatre, who delivers a fun reggaeton titled "Baila El Chiki Chiki" [sample]. Unfortunately, the interpretation is poor, and his placement in the ranking is decidedly low.
Contrary to past years, this edition is characterized by many artists choosing to sing in their language: we thus have songs in Slovenian, Serbo-Croatian, Albanian, Finnish, Greek (Cyprus), Hebrew, Portuguese, and several other languages.
After the performances, the final proceeds with a quarter of an hour dedicated to televoting, in which the audience from all over Europe can vote for their favorite song (excluding the competitor from their own nation); afterward the hosts (in this case, Želiko Joksimovic and Jovana Jankovic) connect with the various countries, which report the results of the internal televote by awarding points, from 12 to 1.
This voting system has, for several years, aroused great controversy: it is now clear that the public does not award votes based on the best song, but on cultural affinities between countries. In other words, Ukraine gives 12 points to Russia, which reciprocates. Cyprus does the same with Greece, Azerbaijan with Turkey, and so on. This year is no different.
The contest starts strong with Turkey: for the first few minutes, it looks like Mor ve Ötesi are bound to win with "Deli" ("crazy") [sample]. It’s a head-to-head with their ancient rival, Greece. Also, Armenia and its young and charming performer Sirusho, who sang the song "Qele Qele" ("come, come")[sample], seem threatening, climbing up the ranking, soon reached and surpassed, however, by Ukraine and Russia.
An approximate ranking soon emerges: Armenia and Turkey are dethroned. Dominating the scene are, as usual, Russia, Ukraine, and Greece, contending for first place, and it’s no surprise Dima Bilan's victory; instead, what is new is that, after several years of the top ten positions being occupied exclusively by countries from the former Soviet bloc (except Greece and Turkey, always at the top), this year Norway ranks remarkably well with a respectable fifth place. Notable are also Portugal and Iceland which, for the first time since the festival is held over several nights, reach the final. Serbia, Israel, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Georgia also did well.
Things went very badly for the United Kingdom, Poland, and Germany, tailing at the bottom with only 14 points against 272 for the winner Russia. Dima Bilan, under a shower of sparkling confetti, is awarded by Šerifovic, offering the audience a second interpretation of the winning song.
See you in Moscow in May 2009
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