The Kalush Orchestra won the Eurovision Song Contest with hip -hop – for the first time in the history of the competition. The show in Turin brought other surprises.
Ukraine won the Eurovision for the third time. The song “Stefania” performed by the Kalush Orchestra would have won if there had been no war, it’s hard to say. Thus, the national jury gave the Ukrainians “only” in fourth place. Viewers also rated the group’s best performance in competition week higher.
The political side of Ukraine’s victory at Eurovision 2022 is a topic for a separate commentary. As for its musical part, then, as Oleg Psyuk, the band’s frontman, said: winning the competition was the first time in hip-hop.
Audience favorites who voted “Eurovision-2022”
A mixture of techno and Ukrainian folk at Eurovision 2021 in Rotterdam brought Go_A a high fifth place in the overall standings and second place in the audience vote. This year, Ukraine bet on the same card, replacing hip-hop techno. In combination with laconic, but very expressive graphics, the Kalush Orchestra number looks great on stage in Turin.
The bet turned out to be win-win: both in the national selection and at Eurovision, spectators gave “Stefania” the first place.
Spectators catapulted Serbian performer Konstrakta (5th place), Moldovan band Zdob Zdub & Advahov Brothers (7th place) and Subwoolfer from Norway (10th place) in the top ten of Eurovision 2022. Their numbers are what many viewers expect from Eurovision on Saturday night.
It is unlikely that many, despite the subtitles, have reached out to criticize the inflated public ideas about beauty and health, which resonate in Serbian in the composition “In corpore sano”. But the performer who doesn’t get up from his chair, who now and then washes his hands in a basin of water, will certainly fall into Eurovision records.
Similar to the yellow “wolves” from the Subwoolfer group. This electro-pop project should generally be treated as a whole piece of contemporary art. This is the position of the Norwegian delegation in Turin.
Not much of a concept, although externally simpler, is the Moldovan collaboration Zdob si Zdub & Advahov Brothers. During the speech of the Moldovans, not only the auditorium stood by its ears, but also the journalists in the press center began to dance.
The main surprises of Eurovision 2022
Without underestimating the importance of Ukraine’s victory, it is worth noting the second place of Great Britain and the third place of Spain. In recent years, both countries – including Germany – seem to be fighting for the last places in the competition.
But in Turin, Great Britain succeeded as a real curiosity. Sam Ryder meticulously staged the song “Space Man”, reminiscent of Elton John’s songs in style, and the BBC didn’t take an expensive scene. In the end, Sam Ryder won the national jury vote.
Spain and the jury, and the audience gave the same place. “Bronze” at “Eurovision” – an incredible victory for the Spaniards. Since 2005, the country has barely “crawled out” from the twentieth position. But this year he decided to revive the traditions of the music festival in Benidorm and sent to Turin its winner – a native of Havana Chanel with an incendiary composition “SloMo”.
Germany should also consider changing the concept of national choice. Almost every German journalist recognized at Eurovision thinks so. Germany took last place – after two consecutive penultimates. Deprived of any originality, the composition “Rockstars”, performed by Malik Harris, did not arouse any interest in either the jury or the audience.
Another victory for Sweden, Italy and Greece
An example of the fact that a serious choice is fruitful is the next victory of Sweden and Italy. In Sweden, the Eurovision candidate was chosen as a result of a multi-day telethon. This time it was won by Cornelia Jacobs with the song “Hold me closer”.
In Turin, he finished fourth. And the charismatic Mahmoud and Blanco, the winners of the Italian festival in San Remo, performed the beautiful ballad “Brividi”, which took sixth place.
The representative of Greece also entered the top 10 this year. Amanda Georgiadi Tenfjord’s vocal abilities did not raise any doubts, as did the performance of the ballad with the melodramatic title “Die Together”.
It is noteworthy that this year, as in the past, Greece sent a compatriot living abroad to Eurovision. In the case of Amanda, in Norway. The high marks received by the jury vote also helped him to get the 8th spot in the overall standings.
A strong backlog of these points was left in the top ten and the singer Maro from Portugal. Modern fado “Saudade, saudade” he, along with his backing vocalists, performed unusually harmoniously.
The theme of the war in Ukraine at Eurovision
The organizers of “Eurovision” do not tire of repeating that this is not a political contest. But this year, neither the European Broadcasting Union nor some of the participants could avoid the subject of war in Ukraine.
“Kalush Orchestra” soloist Oleg Psyuk appealed directly from the stage of “Eurovision” with an appeal to help Ukraine, Mariupol and “Azovstal”. German Malik Harris also called for peace, showing the reverse side of his guitar with a sticker in the form of the Ukrainian flag, and a member of the Systur group from Iceland.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) regarded these appeals not as political, but as having a humanitarian nature. Judging by the speed with which the EBU responded to a written request from a colleague from the German news agency dpa, the comment was already prepared in advance.
After all, Italian singer Laura Pausini, co-host of the contest, which closes Eurovision 2022, exclaimed: “All we want is peace!”
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Source: korrespondent
