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 English Corner |
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English Corner |
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Eurovision Last week, and for the fifteenth year in a row, we sat to yet another version of Eurovision, the European Song contest. As a Portuguese-American, it did not take long to understand that in the wide intereuropean competition, there is a lot of what European division is about. These yearly contests often times cover nationalistic, ethnic, north versus south, south versus north sentiments, or a certain degree of self or national passion, as each participating member practices a desire to stand in terms of points above the next country - all of this by mutual agreement and a seemingly democratic process. Rarely is music alone the sole contributing element to the final decision. As a Portuguese, I watched the show rooting for our country, not so much to see it win, and be above all other proud and self-assured European musical eagles, but actually to see how further away from the bottom it would get. It so seems that the developed European countries have a set of ulterior criteria, which the Portuguese seem not to be reading, as they, every year bring their soul and heart types of music with a religiosity that will always end up being ignored or miserably ciphered in terms of points in the final part of the show, making Portugal with its musical naiveté, a country that will always in such contests be forever placed near the bottom. That the contest honors the uniqueness of each country’s music is definitely not the case, as the songs that obey a more Friday and Saturday night disco taste will in the end be better accepted and showered with points. The more American, English, Rock-and-roll type of music, the better valued will it be. The German participant, for example, this year, got better points than the Portuguese and other participants by merely entertaining the audience with his odd behavior, a parody, which imitated any hard rock singer of the Michael Jackson type or any other entertainer of the night club scene anywhere in the World. As the orientation is to present music that satisfies this night club scene taste of Europeans, and not really music for music sake, or European music in its uniqueness in terms of sound and language, and respect for national diversity, the chances that Portugal could get many points for the group’s Gaelic bagpipe instrument and a very Portuguese style song where the sea is mentioned, of course never stood a chance. Another idiosyncrasy of this European contest, which Portugal seems not to want to recognize, is that countries will band together according to ethnic background. England will always share many of its points with Ireland, the Scandinavian countries and other points North. Germany will share many of its points with Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and other neighboring countries, this year with Turkey - with so many Turkish Gastarbeiters, that was a very wise political decision. Norway, Denmark and Sweden will do the same amongst themselves. Portugal, ignoring this very down to Earth reality, will continue ignoring Spain, and other Southerly countries, to band with the illustrious Northern or Atlantic countries--- to no avail. When will we learn? That this Eurovision Song Contest is more like a football or soccer match among many countries, there is no doubt. The winners are those contestants who conform to songs that please a kind of night club public, who do not accept the traditional, the unique and different. Only songs with a Rock-and roll, pop, modern, with a simple and repetitive refrain will be honored with the grand prize. This year it happened to be Israel - who surpassed the melodious voice of the participant from Malta, and other worthy entries for obeying the night club rules, a luxurious, luscious "Viva!" from a transsexual. Way to go, Europe! Silvério Gabriel de Melo Vogelbach, Germany |
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