Celebrating Diversity with the ESC?



Everybody has a guilty pleasure and one of mine is the European Vision Song Contest. I phrase it like this because the kind of music played there is mostly not my cup of tea and it seems to me that some countries (Germany included) compete in, who sends the most embarrassing or most spectacular act. So, even if the music isn’t always the best in this contest, it is highly entertaining and I always watched it with friends or family.

This year’s slogan of the contest was „Celebrate Diversity“ and therefore I was excited to listen to songs that reflect the languages and cultures of their respective countries. During the years the regulations of the contest were changed several times. Sometimes contestants had to sing in an official language of their country, in other times they could choose freely. Since 1999 there are no restrictions regarding the language, which led to most singers and bands just singing in English.

Of the 26 countries in the 2017 finals, only six performed at least partly in their national language: Belarus, France, Hungary, Italy, Portugal and Spain. All the other songs were in English and often you couldn’t hear anything distinctive to the respective cultures of the countries represented. For me, that’s not celebrating diversity, but actually the opposite of it. Let’s look at the songs, that were actually performed in other languages than English.

Belarus

Naviband: Historyja majho žyccia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElqbLPcTHAI

This is the first time in the history of the ESC that a song was sung in Belarusian. What I find interesting about the status of Belarusian is this: „Belarus's two official languages are Russian and Belarusian; Russian is the main language, used by 72% of the population, while Belarusian, the official first language, is spoken by 11.9%. […] It is however, worth noting that although it is not in as widespread use as Russian, Belarusian is the mother tongue of 53.2% of the population, whereas Russian is the mother tongue of only 41.5% of the population.“(Wikipedia)

More on the song: http://wiwibloggs.com/2017/02/03/historyja-majho-zyccia-lyrics-navi-belarus-eurovision-2017/171088/

Italy

Francesco Gabbani: Occidentali's Karma
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj6tVGKzfhU

This song was one of the favourites and is sung mainly in Italian with a little bit English („singing in the rain“), Greek („panta rhei“), French („allez“) and Hindi („namaste) mixed in. The dancing gorilla provides the freak factor.

More on the song: http://wiwibloggs.com/2017/02/15/occidentalis-karma-lyrics/174193/.

France

Alma: Requiem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Koi36aeRv7I

A beautiful song sung mainly in French and a little bit in English.

More on the song: http://wiwibloggs.com/2017/03/28/requiem-lyrics-alma-france-eurovision-2017/181321/.

Hungary

Joci Pápai: Origo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LflrKXL022U

Finally a song that really embraces diversity. The singer is the first Roma taking part in the contest. The song mixes Roma and modern rap culture and is sung in Hungarian and Romani.

More on the song: http://wiwibloggs.com/2017/02/21/origo-lyrics-joci-papai-hungary-eurovision-2017/176201/.

Spain

Manel Navarro: Do it for your lover
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jO32_trJq4

This song is sung in Spanish and English, but it couldn’t win over the audience and landed on the last position. Right after Germany, which always ranks on the last positions in recent years...)

More on the song:http://wiwibloggs.com/2017/02/28/lover-lyrics-manel-navarro-spain-eurovision-2017/178278/.

Portugal

Salvador Sobral: Amar Pelos Dois
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymFVfzu-2mw

That's this year's winner. A beautiful song in Portuguese. But honestly, I have to admit, that I don't like the singer so much. I would have preferred, if his sister Luísa, who wrote the song and had to stand in for him during the rehearsals, would have been the contestant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugoknoMf3lI.

More on the song: http://wiwibloggs.com/2017/03/18/amar-pelos-dois-lyrics-salvador-sobral-portugal-eurovision-2017/181079/.

And ok, I like when songs are sung in other languages than English, but this English cover of Amor Pelos Dois by Alexander Rybak is quite captivating: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNd3tyY7CcA.


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