Sunday, March 11, 2012

ARTICLE: Eurovision opens new wounds in the Caucasus. By Onnik Krikorian (balcanicaucaso.org)


Already notorious more for its political block voting than even its kitsch and glitzy musical entries, nothing could have prepared anyone for the controversy surrounding the three countries of the South Caucasus in this year's Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision opens new wounds in the Caucasus
In February, the international song contest was already off to a bad start when Georgia, still fuming over the August 2008 war with Russia, decided to enter a retro disco track into the competition scheduled to be held in Moscow.
The song, 'We Don't Wanna Put In' by Stefane and 3G, mocked the Russian prime minister and was naturally considered unsuitable for the contest. Eurovision's organizers requested that the lyrics be changed, but Georgia refused. Besides, the country had initially considered boycotting the competition and the song had anyway enjoyed considerable international media exposure. Georgia instead decided to stage its own "alternative" music festival which was held concurrently in Tbilisi last week.

No comments: