“It’s incredible!” said Ukrainian singer Ruslana, the victor of the 2004 edition of Eurovision, in a Facebook post.
Advertisement
Ukraine’s victory in Saturday’s Eurovision Song Contest has caused wails of complaint from the Kremlin and on Russian media, with mutterings that Russia may boycott next year’s contest if, as expected, it is held in Ukraine.
Jamala’s entry – which stirred controversy over perceived veiled criticism of Russia’s recent annexation of Crimea – scored 534 points, closely followed by Australia’s Dami Im with 511 points, the juries’ favourite.
“So if this helps their morale I think we should be prepared to accept second place”.
Other Russian lawmakers branded Jamala’s “1944” as “anti-Russian” and “politicized”.
Jamala, real name Susana Jamaladinova, told the Guardian before the contest: “Of course it’s about 2014 as well”.
Ms Tips is sad to tell readers that, as of this year, watching Eurovision for the geopolitics got a bit harder.
In a show known for its playfulness and camp, 32-year-old Jamala struck a sombre tone with her lyrics about strangers coming to “kill you all”, in reference to the forced removal of ethnic Tatars by Josef Stalin during the Second World War.
The Ukrainian singer, below, insisted it did not break Eurovision’s ban on political songs as it was a tribute to her great-grandmother.
She said her great-grandmother was one of the Crimean Tatar victims of Stalin who deported the group en masse to Central Asia after accusing them of sympathising with Nazi Germany. Of course I can’t do that.’ But on this occasion, the contest organisers allowed “1944” to be performed, despite protests from Russian Federation. However, Russia did come top among the public – no doubt heavily influenced by the song’s spectacular staging – pipping Ukraine and comfortably beating Australia among viewers.
Event organiser, the European Broadcasting Union, ruled 1944 did not contain political speech, although some commentators drew parallels with Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.
Tatars, a Muslim people indigenous to the Black Sea peninsula, now number about 300,000 in a population of 2 million.
Her fans say they hope times will change.
Advertisement
In this year’s contest, national juries from the 41 participant countries as well as viewers were eligible to vote. According to Billboard, Alexey Pushkov, chair of the Russian Duma (parliamentary) foreign affairs committee, declared that “the politicization of the contest is the beginning of the end for Eurovision”.
