Eurovision Final Tonight

In a little over three hours the final of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest will kick off in Belgrade, Serbia. Now, normally I have no interest in the international song contest which at best has always bordered on the comical, but for the first time ever I’m actually excited by the opportunity of meeting up with some friends at an outdoor cafe in central Yerevan to watch the entire show from start to finish.

In part, it’s probably because for the first time ever, all three South Caucasus republics will be taking part and as we know, international politics plays as much of a role in determining the outcome as musical talent. In fact, The Times makes just that point in an article published last week.

We recently learnt that, back in 1968, General Franco bribed juries around Europe to secure top place in the Eurovision Song Contest for Spain’s entry, La La La - thus condemning our own Cliff Richard to second place with the bitterly ironic, as it turns out, Congratulations. This raises several questions.

First, of course, is: how could any statesman be so wrongheaded as to imagine that Eurovision victory would reflect well on his country? […]

Of course, it’s true that the English aren’t too keen on Eurovision given that while the rest of the world sends some of its top performers, we don’t. On the other hand, perhaps the rest of Europe and in particular the newcomers from the former Soviet Union take it far more seriously than they should. Again, the question of how international relations affect the outcome also takes center-stage in another Times article.

An event conceived five decades ago to show off the new technology that was “Eurovision” - the ability to broadcast the same thing to several different countries simultaneously - has outlived its initial raison d’être.

But, of course, tonight, as with every other Eurovision night, it won’t be the technology we’ll be marvelling at. It’ll be the absolute lack of any correlation between the songs’ musical merits and how well they do.

It’s nothing new, of course. One early memory involves sitting in the front room and naively gasping at the coincidence that entailed Greece and Cyprus giving each other 12 points each.

A year later, I was even more amazed when they did it again - especially given that Greece’s song, a repulsively jaunty jingle about hitch-hiking - is still one of the five worst songs I’ve ever heard in my life.

Of course, when Greece and Cyprus did it, it seemed like a bit of fun. These days, it’s a reminder that Western Europe has been reduced to the role of bystander in a mutual Eastern European back-scratching exercise. Serbia, Ukraine, Latvia and Estonia have all benefited in recent years.

It was for this reason that this year’s Eurovision was split into two semi-finals with the aim of preventing countries voting for their neighbors or their strategic partners. No surprise, therefore, to find Armenia and Azerbaijan — still in a state of war over Nagorno Karabakh and unlikely to vote for the other — in the first semi-final and Georgia in the second.

The final, however, will be pretty much the same as ever with strong votes expected from those countries politically, culturally, ethnically or historically close to others. Armenia, for example, will likely award its 12 points to Russia and Azerbaijan fill marks to Turkey with the favor being returned. in the case of the latter.

A BBC Reporter’s log says that politics has still not disappeared from Eurovision and also comments on the Azerbaijani and Georgian entries.

Perhaps, naively I was shocked to hear Albania being booed on stage. I thought all political problems might have been left at the Eurovision front door.

[…]

Georgia (I’m still loving the magic even if one of the dancers failed to get his jacket off in time) has a lot of support in Belgrade.

Even before the song had finished, fans draped in Georgian flags and specially made t-shirts were making their way down the front to parade around the arena.

Uncertain is how I would describe the crowd’s faces as Azerbaijan sang their hearts out - it seems the male singer belting out his number may not be everyone’s cup of tea.

Even so, everyone is still waiting with eager anticipation to discover who will win and where their countries are placed in the final results. Although the BBC recently predicted a win for Sweden, it now says Russia’s Dima Bilan is the favorite at the bookmakers, but various Eurovision bloggers are not so convinced.

All Kinds of Everything for Eurovision reckons that Portugal will win, for example, with Armenia not even making the top ten despite strong betting odds in its favor. The Nul Points Eurovision Blog disagrees and thinks Serbia will win the competition for the second time in a row. PlayLifeMania offers Iceland as its choice for the top with Azerbaijan in sixth place.

And while Scot goes Pop seems to think that Russia will win, followed by Ukraine and Serbia, The Oikotimes has published a list of what Eurovision journalists in Belgrade think.

Portugal
Serbia
Ukraine
Sweden
Greece
Israel
Iceland
Russia
Turkey
Georgia
Azerbaijan
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Armenia
Norway
Albania
Romania
Poland
Spain
France
Germany
Finland
Denmark
Latvia
Croatia
United Kingdom

As you can see, there appears to be no accounting for taste in Eiurovision, but it does appear that disappointing live vocals from Armenia’s Sirusho has made people consider her less likely to come out on top or even in the top ten. Still, Armenian Eurovision pundits such as Unzipped: Gay Armenia think it unwise to write her off.

[…] although Sirusho’s chances to win declined following the semi-final performance, she is still considered among top favourites both in betting agencies and Eurovision fan polls. According to the reports on final rehearsals from Belgrade, she looked fantastic on the stage, her performance improved, but vocally there was still “some room for improvements until the final”. It remains to be seen if she will deliver the expectations. Any place lower than or equal to No. 8 would be considered as disappointment, as she is the best Armenian entry to date. If not winning (miracle?!), I wish her to be in top 5.

Personally speaking, because of her persona, a catchy song regardless of the live vocals, and ethnic Armenian communities spread throughout Europe and the CIS, The Caucasus Knot will not be surprised to see Sirusho in the top ten. A good performance from the young star might even land her in the top five. In a few hours we’ll know. For sure, the outcome of the contest is still uncertain.

Photo: © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008