THE SONG ENDED UP IN THE "MINORITY"

The 52nd Eurovision song contest is already over, but emotions are still running high. Some people are unhappy that their country's representative did not get the place he deserved and others are outraged by the success of their unlovable neighbours… And we can only comment on all this from the sidelines.

Surprises on the podium

About 150m people, in all parts of the world, voted for the participants in a great show which long ago moved from being a review of vocal talent (although it has not lost this function) into a demonstration of political affiliations. Judging by the number of points that a singer gets from this or that country, you can always clearly identify "who is friendly with whom". There are also traditional examples of "fraternal love" that have not changed for decades. Sometimes it is even serious friendship without the inverted commas, but more often it is a result of the activities of national minorities. Although against the background of one or another political situation, Eurovision sometimes gives you a real surprise…

One refreshing surprise was the maximum number of points that the Russian group Serebro got from Estonia. Is it that they decided to sugar the pill - to pay a kind of "moral compensation" for the Bronze Soldier? In any case, Serebro did not get even the "silver"… Although, with such a large number of contestants, even a "bronze" is a great achievement if you take into account the fact that the group had been knocked together especially for Eurovision.

A couple of other bombshells dropped at Eurovision-2007 as well. We are talking about the two other placings. Serbian singer Maria Serifovic showed that, thank God, Eurovision has not turned into a totally political event, and votes still play the main role here, even if the singer looks more like an "opera diva" than a "pop star". In any case, to keep those who love to watch Eurovision happy, the "fritter-looking" star had only the standard 90-60-90 chicks around her. Maybe this is the recipe for success in this contest: skilful pandering to the tastes of real music-lovers and to those who look on pop music as a kind of show, something that looks nice…

However, if we look at Verka Serdyuchka, this recipe is far from perfect. The second place at Eurovision went not to a real person, but to a fictitious character. It is rather like awarding the 1965 Nobel Prize in literature not to Mikhail Sholokhov, but to Grigoriy Melekhov. Although in this case, since he was more of a humorous character, comparison with Granddad Shchukar would be more accurate… Nonetheless, he took the silver. If we consider Eurovision within the context of Russian-Ukrainian relations, the Ukrainian song is quite interesting. As we know, it contained words like "Goodbye Russia". Before the contest, the Russians persuaded Verka Serdyuchka not to sing these words from the European stage. But it turned out that the character did not keep his promise. This means that Russian pop music, which actually nurtured Verka Serdyuchka, is now closed to him.

But the most interesting thing is that most of the Eurovision "prize-winners" this year are representatives of sexual minorities - true European "observance" of human rights. It is quite an important recipe for success nowadays.

Thousands of representatives of the sexual minorities came to the Finnish capital to support them. An official fan club was opened for them in Helsinki. It is no surprise that visitors to the club placed their bets on Dima Koldun, Verka Serdyuchka, the transvestite from Denmark, Peter Andersen, and the Swedish bisexual group, The Ark, whose soloist is being hailed as the new Freddie Mercury. The song that won the contest - the Serbian "Molitva" - is now seen as the new anthem of sexual minorities.

Looking at neighbours

Analyzing the sources of the highest points gained by the singers who took the first three places in the contest, we can say that another real recipe for success (and not only at Eurovision) is to have a healthy situation in the region and good relations with neighbours. It is notable that Serbia and Ukraine received the highest number of points from their neighbours. This rule is true for Russia as well: all three countries that gave it the highest number of points are "close at hand" - Estonia, Armenia and Belarus.

Of course, "the current moment" is also important: even bearing in mind that "the Slavic attack" on the Eurovision stage was the trend this year, we still have something to think about - How could the same Verka Serdyuchka get onto the podium with his shocking "lyrics" (close and meaningful only to people of the post-Soviet area), while Dmitriy Koldun did not get anywhere, despite a sound and looks which could drive crazy not just teenaged girls, but ladies of any age, in any country? Maybe the reason is that, unlike Ukraine, Belarus is not a country where many interests converge.

On the other hand, Eurovision-2007, as always, demonstrated a whole number of examples of the permanency of certain feelings. One of them is the list of countries that awarded Armenian singer Ayko the highest number of points in this year's contest. In many respects, this list is quite traditional… Turkey and Georgia gave him the highest number of points (12). There is nothing strange about this - what is strange is that France and Russia were behind them (10 points). (We have to say here that Armenia itself did not omit to make a deep overture to its northern neighbour and gave Serebro 12 points). It is no surprise that Ayko got eight points from Cyprus and six points from Greece, not to mention the countries that do not fit into the category of "historical mutual aid". As a result, Ayko made his way into the top ten. 

We do not know whether Ayko was welcomed on his return to Armenia, as was Koldun in Belarus (he also made his way into the top ten with an even better result - sixth place): with a red carpet from the plane, congratulations from the president and the title of official national hero. What is more important to us is that the representative of one of the countries of our region (this same Ayko) gained 138 points and took eighth place and the representative of another (Sofo Khalvashi) from Georgia gained 97 points and took 12th place. If we keep looking at our neighbours, we will be even more annoyed: Russia got onto the podium, though with just a "bronze", while Turkey came very close to it - Kenan Dogulu gained 163 points and took fourth place. As for us? We are only commenting…

What are we to do and who is to blame?

We can only sadly guess why Azerbaijan does not participate in this international event despite its rich music culture. We have Public TV, which has been covering Eurovision for two years already (the existence of such a TV station in a country and its coverage of the contest are one of the conditions for accepting its application). And the fee, though it is too high, will hardly frighten our well-to-do state.

So what is the problem? If we talk about the songs themselves - do we have so few wonderful composers and song-writers? Perhaps the problem is with the singers… Azerbaijan has given many wonderful voices to the world in the past, including pop music. If classical traditions in this sphere continue successfully, those who select and send a representative from Azerbaijan to Eurovision (if it ever happens) will have to act like Diogenes: carrying a torch and hopelessly shouting "I am looking for someone!"

Well, we can win classical art contests. But when it comes to pop music, it seems that we do not have it at all. When we need someone to sing at a wedding party, there are lots of various types of "stars" for this, but when it comes to Eurovision, there is no-one to send there. However, if we think more about this, we can name several worthy candidates. But we will not name them, because the ones we do not name will immediately come out and start another squabble up to the next contest before which everyone will become as quiet as a mouse again. In this regard, it would be good to choose a rock singer as an alternative candidate for Eurovision. Unlike our favourite pop music, rock has been cornered into jazz clubs and bars, but is progressing at an incredible pace! Maybe we should examine such an option?

Either way, we would like to hope that Azerbaijan will participate in Eurovision in the foreseeable future, because what is important for us at the moment is not to get on the podium (it is unlikely that we will be able to do it from the first time), but to be involved in such an important event. Before it is too late, it is important to participate in a gigantic annual event, which awards singers and at the same time, forms the image of every country. This is very important, first of all, in the eyes of young people - the generation whose tastes and world outlook will soon become dominant. So we should not miss this contest… and what is more, it would be good to know how our neighbours look at us through the prism of Eurovision.