Eurovision: a political and poetic echo chamber
Let's brush up on our Italian: " Vivere la vita/E'un gioco da ragazzi/Me lo diceva mamma/E io cadevo giù dagli alberi." Which roughly translates to: "Living life/Is child's play/My mom used to say/And I would fall from the trees." These are the lyrics of Volevo Essere un Duro by Lucio Corsi. In poetic style, they encapsulate the essence of the 69 th Eurovision Song Contest, which is set to hold its final round on Saturday, May 17, in Basel, Switzerland. Long regarded as a friendly entertainment program, the musical contest show has become caught up in political laws of gravity.
Beneath all the layers of kitsch that have always characterized Eurovision, the political fractures that run through the Western world have become increasingly visible. This year, this is evidenced by the excitement surrounding the Israeli candidate, Yuval Raphael. On October 7, 2023, the young woman was among the crowd at the Nova Festival near Kibbutz Re'im. That day, she hid under corpses for hours to escape the Hamas terrorists. That fact did not prevent a spectator from mimicking a throat-slitting gesture in her direction on May 11, while she participated in Eurovision's opening parade through the streets of Basel, according to the Israeli media outlet Kan. It also did not deter 72 of the song contest's former participants from calling for a boycott against Raphael, as a protest against the crimes her country has committed in the Gaza Strip. Yet the protest was in vain: According to bookmakers, her song, "New Day Will Rise," is tipped among the favorites to win in the finals.
Another war, another tone: The Ukrainian band Ziferblat is set to play their song "Bird of Pray," playing on the English homonyms "prey" and "pray." The trio took its name, Ziferblat, from a café in Kyiv where they performed their first concert, in 2015. The fact that the restaurant chain's parent company is based in Russia will be seen as a sign of hope by some, and as a provocation by others. Moreover, the Armenian candidate, Parg, grew up in Russia. With barely veiled words, his song, "Survivor," reopens other wounds – those left by the genocide perpetrated against Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, from 1915 to 1923.
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