The kitchissime musical rendezvous that is Eurovision will once again take a political turn in May in Italy. Russia has indeed been excluded from the competition, while Ukraine is the big favorite.
Eurovision has often ventured onto the front line of geopolitical tensions agitating the Old Continent. And the 2022 edition is a tragic textbook case against the backdrop of the current conflict in Ukraine.
The hit “Stefania” by the Kalush Orchestra, a lullaby mixing rap and traditional music, will defend the colors of Ukraine during the competition, the final of which will take place on May 14 in Turin, Italy. “I will always find my way home, even if all the roads are destroyed,” says the title.
Two weeks before the big night, Ukraine has a 42% chance of winning, far ahead of the Italian duo Mahmood and Blanco (14%) and the Swedish Cornelia Jakobs (10%), according to the eurovisionworld.com site, which aggregates the major online betting sites.
Not a first
The war in Ukraine will hang heavily over the event but “it’s not new”, recalls historian Dean Vuletic, researcher at the University of Vienna and author of books on the geopolitics of Eurovision.
In 1975, Greece boycotted the competition to protest against the invasion of Cyprus by Turkey, then in 1992, the wars resulting from the dislocation of Yugoslavia were invited on stage. In 2004, Ukraine won the competition and the following year, after the “Orange Revolution”, they presented themselves with a song that was very political but which was finally accepted.
Finally last year, the European Broadcasting Union excluded Belarus on the grounds that the lyrics of its song attack head-on the democratic opposition to pro-Russian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Eurovision is the reign of kitsch, here Tix, the winged representative of Norway in 2021. [Vladimir Astapkovich/Sputnik – AFP]
votes of sympathy
While Ukraine should receive a large number of sympathy votes, its victory is not assured.
“Musically, the Ukrainian contribution is solid but there are others. The public will surely show strong support for Ukraine, but that does not mean that they will win. In 1993, Bosnia and Croatia did not finish very high” while these countries were under fire from Serbian troops, remarks Dean Vuletic.
Slobodan Todorovic, editor-in-chief of Eurovision fan site Evrovizija.rs in Serbia, believes that Eurovision should not be just a political arena: “A victory for Ukraine [pour des raisons politiques] would cast a shadow over Eurovision and the values it stands for, neutrality, independence of politics, respect and promotion of diversity”.
afp/ox