Eurovision Song Contest…Light Your Fire...and the winner is…..
Every year, the Eurovision Song Contest is broadcast by the
European Broadcasting Union all over Europe.
Each country submits an original song to be performed by an artist or
artists from the respective country. A
jury of specialists, like American Idol, rates the songs to be sent on to the
Grand Finale, which then is voted on by viewers all over Europe, and as far
away as Azerbaijan. Each year the huge
television production is held in the country of the previous year’s winner. And so it was, with great pride after winning
the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest, that Azerbaijan, known as the Land of Fire, hosted this year’s
competition last weekend, with the theme and motto--Light Your Fire. An elaborate
new hall—the crystal hall palace in Baku—was built just for this event. This Eurovision television spectacular was already
a big event during the years that Bill and I lived in Germany in the 1960’s and
1970’s, and I remember well watching the shows every year to see which country
would win—it brings pride and jubilation to the winning country, and after
winning last year’s competition, throngs stormed the streets of Baku
celebrating, as though they had just won the World Cup!
Because it must be shown during prime time in Europe, the
semi-finals and the Grand Finale couldn’t start until midnight local time here
in Azerbaijan. But watch we must! And so we had our own little PCV viewing
party at the home of good friend of all Peace Corps Volunteers, Gulnaz.
Some chose to boycott the Song Contest in Azerbaijan, and
others used the event to point out political issues that plague Azerbaijan’s
reputation on the world stage. Armenia,
with a decades-long dispute over contested territory which they now occupy and
on-going war with Azerbaijan, did not send an entry nor attend. Other human rights organizations hoped to
draw attention to the civil and human rights violations of a country known for
imprisoning hundreds of journalists who oppose government policies and a
country accused by others of corruption throughout many facets of society. On international rankings of corruption and
human rights violations, Azerbaijan scores poorly relative to the rest of the
world, and especially relative to the rest of Europe. Moreover, located in a strategically important part of the world, Azerbaijan reportedly thwarted numerous terrorists plots, which were designed to disrupt the Eurovision events.
But none of that seemed to dampen this year’s celebration
which turned out to be quite a Baku party.
The city polished up its attractive and historic core, and put on the
glitz and glamour that would rival any pop-culture show anywhere in the
world. And the winner—and host of next
year’s competition…Sweden! But I must
admit, my favorites, the ones that I was rooting for, were—the pleasant German
entry, the local favorite—Azerbaijan, the singing babushkas from Russia (came in 2nd place), and
the fancy feet of the group from Malta…ah, well…
Have a view:
Don't miss the singing Babuskas enticing everyone with "Party for Everybody":
No comments:
Post a Comment