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.
