Eurovision Song Contest

I know this contest is known throughout the world but one has to be European, I believe, to be so dedicated to watch it from the beginning to the repetitious  points scoring finale. I never was a great lover of the event but this year my European soul woke up. Mind you, I was influenced by my Aussie friend who after visiting Poland was in a hurry to join a party in Slovenia to watch and celebrate the European Song Contest. Since I have not seen the contest for some years now, I thought it may be fun to see it this time. So I watched for many hours till the bitter end. I was not glued to the TV set, I watched it while reading my emails.

 Not much has changed since the times I attended my first and only ESC party. It was in 1965. I still remember the winner song sung by France Gall from Luxemburg. The song was popular for some time after the contest.

The next memorable song was the 1974 winner - Abba’s Waterloo. This, actually, was a good song,  a rare occurrence. I was particularly keen on the song as the Swedish chapter on my life was than in progress.  I still love Abba.

 Then I left for Australia and was too busy and not really interested to follow the contest for many years. Until yesterday.

There was Polish contestant  this year and listening to the commentary I expected a reasonably good song. And then it came. I was really embarrassed, not so much by the musical value of the song, the ESC songs are rarely brilliant , but by the sexy content of the performance. The song title is “We are Slavic”. Jumping up and down a mediocre soloist  had an entourage including two “working women”. One was washing cloth using a washboard and the other was churning butter. I  suppose the idea was to show typical jobs of Slavic women. The breasts of both of the girls were impressive and on display. Their well manicured nails seemed to be  showing that Slavic women never forget to take care of their looks no matter what’s the occupation. I was wondering what Slavic talents were so cleverly presented to the whole Europe and beyond. Then, maybe my sense of humour  was not working too well. Make your own judgement.

The Austrian winner of the contest a drag persona Conchita Wurst was also controversial, in my opinion. The song and the performer were telling us that they dream of a society where sexuality does not matter. I agree with the message however finesse and subtlety was not a strong point of this performance either. Conchita/Tom has a strong voice though.

                            

I seem to be a bit too critical even if I enjoyed the show. My favourite was the song from The Nederland’s.