Beginning Over, 16. Non-Politics, Non-Song, Nonsense.

Saturday night was yet another edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. As was more or less predictable, Ukraine won by popular vote. Their song was not one of my favorites, but I think people judged more on the situation than on musical merits. 

Which is really ironic, because this contest is supposed to be apolitical. In the past twenty years, Ukraine has had its wrist slapped repeatedly for introducing politics with its Russian neighbor into their songs. This year, when they ended their song, they called out for people to support Mariupol and help out those trapped in the Azovstal works. But, this year was different from previous ones, and it was ignored by the judges. The song itself, ostensibly about the singer's mother, could as easily be extrapolated to the Motherland of Ukraine. In other words, nothing on this earth is apolitical; music, especially. The festival itself began with staged people singing Give Peace a Chance in Turin, where the festival was held.

Spain, amazingly, came out third. I would have liked that if it weren't for the song they chose to represent us. It's called Slomo, by a singer called Chanel, whom I'd never heard of before. The song is supposedly sung by a woman who is proud of how she makes men feel when they look at her body, specifically her bum. Really? Aren't there enough songs out there objectifying women's bodies? It says a bit about the society that chose it, and those who voted for it. We may have come a long way, but we still have a long way to go. I can only imagine that, if it had been about a man's body, either it wouldn't have elicited such a positive response, or it may even have been rejected outright. Which is what happened to Latvia's chosen song, about which I can only rejoice that it was not accepted to go to the finals. It's opening lyrics are: "Instead of meat, I eat veggies and pussy / I like them both fresh, like them both juicy."  In the middle, the lyrics go, "I'm a beast instead of a killer, forget the hot dogs (what?) / 'Cause my sausage is just bigger / Three, two, one, all the girls go eco / If you want your man's tongue longer than a gecko's."  That is not acceptable, but showcasing a woman's "hot" body is. Both are just wrong.

Germany, which had a pretty decent song this year, wound up last; France, with a Breton pop and folk fusion song, wound up way down the list; and Switzerland, with another decent one, did not get any (or enough to count for a point) of the popular vote. Moldova's was fun, got low points from the professional judges, and a huge boost from the popular vote. There's no accounting for tastes, professional or otherwise. 

For the past few years, Australia has been invited to participate, even though it is not within the purview of European television broadcast, which is the barometer which measures which countries can participate. Some Americans don't seem to understand that, and feel left out for not being included, it seems. So much so, that the United States is now going to have an American Song Contest. Of course, like the baseball World Series, which must be called that only because it includes teams from Canada, it's not really going to include the Americas. It's going to be a parochial event, with one singer from each state, territory, and the District of Columbia. So, not much of a copy of Eurovision, and another instance of American society looking only at its belly button. How much richer it would be if it included the different cultures and musics present in the Americas. 

The idea behind Eurovision was to promote knowledge of the different countries amongst each other, as one of the ways to prevent another European war out of ignorance and fear. Therefore, politics has always been a no-no. But that rule has proven to be about as fragile as the attempt of the European Union to bring together the different countries in a shared purpose. Music is an expression of society, and it will express political views. A song may be about a specific thing, but, like a poem, analogies can be interpreted according to how one perceives the author's original message. So, politics will always be present, even if only subliminally.  

Life continues.