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Rating: Last year, I began my review of the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow with a quick consideration on the history of the festival in the Old Continent, finding it astonishing how it had landed right in Moscow, the capital of the "former" Soviet Empire: a year later, I find myself commenting, perhaps with even more amazement, the return of the event to Western territory.
For many years now, the Eurofestival has been the monopoly of Eastern countries: Riga, Tallinn, Kiev, Belgrade are just some of the cities that have recently hosted the event, granting only a few glimpses to the West with Istanbul, Athens, and Helsinki, but always with a crushing supremacy of former Soviet bloc countries in the final rankings.
Already last year, Norway's victory with Alexander Rybak was a half-surprise. I say half because Rybak is an adopted Norwegian: he was born in Belarus and was already known and appreciated throughout Eastern Europe.
The real novelty has been this year, in Oslo. But let's go in order.
Given the economic crisis (and the much less pompous attitude of the Norwegians compared to the Russians), the organization was much more frugal compared to the 2009 edition. A nice stage, a great arena, but certainly less dazzling than a year ago: the crisis affects everyone, so much so that since the fall of the Wall, 2010 has been the edition with the fewest participating countries. Apart from Italy and Luxembourg, which have not participated for an immemorial time, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Austria, Monaco, Andorra, and Montenegro gave up precisely because of the severe economic problems facing their respective national TVs. Until the last moment, even the participation of Macedonia and Greece was at risk, which fortunately did not have to renounce what is the most-watched media event in the world after the World Cup final.
Georgia returns, however, after last year's withdrawal (not without controversy) due to the tense situation with the host country (let us remember the Russian military occupation of South Ossetia and Abkhazia).
As every year, about a month before the start of the event, a double CD containing all the competing songs is available in stores, allowing the public to familiarize themselves with the songs and vote more consciously.
The big favorites this year are Azerbaijan, which, since it first entered the ESC three years ago, has always been in respectable positions (third last year), with the young Safura and her "Drip Drop". The performance is cute, the girl very beautiful and does not fail to pay homage to the late Michael Jackson. Safura does not dance but wears a blue sequined glove (Jackson's was white), and just like in the video of Billie Jean, the floor lights up as the young woman passes. The song is nice, her voice powerful and trained. Had she won, I believe no one would have had any complaints.
Other big favorites are the Romanian Paula Selig and Ovi with "Playing With Fire". Although Romania has never once won Eurofestival, it has always placed very well: always within the top ten. The duo's song is fun, catchy, danceable. The Romanians thus confirm themselves as great stars of Euromusic.
Historically very strong is also Turkey. Lately, the trend of countries with a great musical tradition (United Kingdom, Israel, France, Spain) is to choose representatives who are talent-show winners or emerging artists to give them a chance to become known at the continental level. Turkey, however, goes against the trend. Despite being one of the top producers of rock and pop music on a European level, it never chose a singer or a group as its representative who wasn't already well-established. Throughout 2009, there was even talk of the possibility that the great, very great Tarkan, already a world star, could participate this year, but then TRT opted for maNga, winners of the MTV Turkey Music Award. The choice was spot on, given the final placement.
France opts for the young Jessy Matador, a young Creole whose "Allez, Ola, Olé" promises to become the summer hit in France and beyond. The song has Afro-Caribbean rhythms, the lyrics are simple ("it's a beautiful day - this is the sound of the year"), the performance is fun and if anything, brings a breath of freshness: enough of the all-French old-fashioned style of recent years (which has indeed always been paid with a last place in the rankings).
Germany responds with the young, very young Lena Meyer-Landrut and her "Satellite". I must admit that from the first listen, I thought "let's see if this year Germany pulls off the coup". I didn't think she could win, or at least it seemed too difficult given the usual situation with Eastern countries voting for one another, cutting Western countries out of the top ranks. The song is nice, she's fresh, shy but fun, and her delightful accent makes the song even more special.
I must say that this year there was a general awakening of the West: even Belgium, which in recent years hadn't even made it to the final, makes an excellent choice with Dom Dice and his "Me And My Guitar", the same goes for the Cypriots Jon Lilygreen and The Islanders and their "Life Looks Better In Spring", who after an immemorial time reconquer the final for the island of Venus.
Very particular and in my opinion excellent is also the piece by the Estonian Malcom Lincoln titled "Siren". It would have deserved the final and a good placement, but it doesn't go beyond the semifinal. Gently polemical are the Lithuanians InCulto with their "Eastern European Funk" giving a slight scolding to the pompous Westerners by singing "we build your houses and wash your dishes", reminding us that they too are part of the European Union. In my opinion, also appreciable are the Latvian Aisha who sings "What For", the Maltese Thea Garrett with "My Dream", the Croatian Feminem with "Lako Je Sve", unfortunately all cut out of the final.
Other good performances include the Bosnian Vuksin Brajic and his "Thunder and Lightning", the beautiful and enchanting Armenian Eva Rivas with "Apricot Stone", the talented Georgian Sopho Nizharadze with "Shine" (the young singer recently played Esmeralda in the musical "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" by our own Riccardo Cocciante) and the Israeli Harel Skaat and his "Milim" (Words).
As every year, there are no shortage of kitsch and trash performances, such as the Serbian Milan Stankovic and his "Ovo Je Balkan" (These Are the Balkans) - the Serbs never fail to let their annoying ultra-nationalism seep out even at a cosmopolitan event like the Eurovision Song Contest - and the Dutch Sieneke and her "Ik Ben Verliefd" (I'm in Love). The first will pass the round and reach the final (at the expense, in my opinion, of much better pieces like the aforementioned Latvian Aisha or the Macedonian Gjoko Taneski and his "Jas Jam Imam"), the second will be cut off with a last place in the semifinal.
The final on Saturday, May 29, is as always, a great celebration. Once the various performances are over, to give Europeans time to vote, space is given to various numbers and performances. It was especially thrilling to see how, in connection with major European squares (obviously no Piazza del Duomo, Piazza di Spagna, or Piazza San Marco), young people from all over Europe performed simultaneously in the same (simple) dance to the notes of a dance piece by a Norwegian DJ: this is precisely what is meant by the expression "music unites". A nice message, perhaps a bit obvious, but certainly impactful.
The televote and jury data are processed and the real final phase of the show begins, when the presenters connect one by one with the various participating countries that communicate their votes, from 1 to 12.
The very young German Lena starts off great immediately, in disbelief. The Danish N'Evergreen and Chanée, who had just performed with "In a Moment Like This", and the 'usual greats' Turkey, Romania, and Azerbaijan are also doing very well. Armenia is also doing very well, and it's surprising to see how Belgium and France keep up as well. But Lena's freshness, sympathy, and, if we want, sweetness conquer Europe. It quickly becomes clear that it is a head-to-head between Germany, Turkey, and Denmark. Occasionally, there are attempts at recovery from Azerbaijan, Romania, or Belgium, but they can no longer catch up with the three, which then become two, when Denmark is also cut out of the race for victory. It's a challenge solely between the Turks and the Germans: the maNga do not show much emotion, they just wave their national flag and smile, while Lena is incredulous: she follows the progress of the voting sitting wrapped in the German tricolor, motionless, with her hands on her head and wide eyes fixed on the monitor. She is at the top of the ranking and begins, slowly, to detach from the Turks. Germany hadn't won a Eurofestival since 1982, when only Western countries were participating (plus then-Yugoslavia), and it was much easier to win given the scarce competition. It's also the first victory of Unified Germany, and Lena is the architect of it.
Even this year, "cross-votes" are not missing: Turkey gives its 12 points to Azerbaijan, which returns the favor (but in this case, it is impossible to say if it's just votes given based on ethnic affinities, since the position of the two pan-Turkish countries will end up being second and fourth place, proving the good performance of their representatives), Greece gives 12 points to Cyprus, which does the same with the Hellenic cousins and so on for Russia and Ukraine, Norway and Iceland and so on. But the German supremacy is increasingly marked as we go forward. In the end, Lena triumphs with 246 points against the maNga's 170.
When the German victory is finally confirmed, the young girl is stunned, dazed: when the microphone is brought closer for a statement, she can only mumble "Mein gott" and "dankeschön"; when reminded that, as the winner, she has to offer a new performance, she seems to fall from the clouds and asks "Do I really have to sing now?". Lena Meyer-Landrut is likeable: natural, cute, bewildered, and very excited: also for this reason, perhaps, she conquers the hearts of Europeans and brings the Eurovision Song Contest to Berlin, after almost thirty years.
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