Category: georgia

Eurovision 2009: More Drama as Georgia Withdraws

I really like and respect Georgia. Despite my usual sarcasm showing in the past few post, I think it’s a great country with an impressive history. Its problem is its unfortunate geopolitical situation: It is very difficult to be a small neighbor of Russia these days. Russia wants it to be obedient (and share some of the territory), and another superpower wants to use it to put pressure on Russia. Having seen Ukraine deal with a similar predicament, I can’t help but feel sorry for it.

Georgia has participated in the Eurovision only twice before. So when Georgia pulled out of this year’s contest yesterday, I felt bad for it. But what is the deal with all the hypocrisy?

Here is what MSNBC quotes Georgia’s representative as saying:

“Our song … does not contain political statements and the public broadcaster is not going to change the text of the song and refuses to go to competition in Moscow,” the head of production at Georgia’s state broadcaster, First Channel, George Chanturia, told a news briefing.

Many countries in the past expressed and enforced their political views through using or banning popular music. National anthems are composed to sound grand and solemn to inspire patriotism. The Russian’s use of the old Soviet score for theirs was a definitive political choice. But politics and music intertwine more often than an average Russian hears the anthem: Presidential candidates everywhere enlist pop singers to campaign for them. Western Ukraine banned playing songs in Russian in public places a few summers ago (all other languages were fine). The Beatles were banned in the USSR at some point — as a propaganda tool of the “decaying capitalism.  I have seen North Koreans study Britney Spears CD’s as a way of learning about America’s culture.

There is nothing wrong when a band from a country that feels oppressed performs a song that claims they don’t want a president of the oppressing country. I mean, North Korea does it with George Bush. Wait, that’s a bad example. All similar ones I can think of right now were written by the Communist propaganda masters.

Anyway, there is also nothing wrong when that song gets distributed worldwide through the wonder that is YouTube. But it is somewhat strange when that song gets entered into a competition that is supposed to be non-political by nature, that will be held in the ‘oppressing country’s’ capital, — and when the official representatives claim it is clearly non-political and act all indignant.

If there were no rules in place that ban songs of political nature to be performed at Eurovision, I would not mind ‘We Don’t Wanna Put In being performed this year. Freedom of speech is a jus cogens to me. Truth be told, Eurovision is a very politicized events, and the way voting is structured allows countries to block against other countries etc.

Judging aside, from a political scientist viewpoint, I think that this song situation did not work in Georgia’s favor. Georgia knew what the rules were, it knew that everyone would hear ‘Putin,’ not ‘Put In’, it could probably predict the song would be banned by the Eurovision organizers. I would guess that it was looking for some sort of political martyr reputation, but instead, it came across as being petty. Georgia just needs a new political strategist.

Russia: The Eurovision Drama Unfolds

In my last post, I blogged about Georgia’s tongue-in-cheek anti-Russian song for this year’s Eurovision. The Eurovision drama just got more like a Mexican soap opera: the Russians made their pick to represent Russia. Get this: it’s a Ukrainian (but a Russian citizen). Singing a song in both Russian and Ukrainian. It totally warms my heart, as I can actually understand the lyrics. But hey, Russia and Ukraine are in the state of a miniature Cold War, so that’s an achievement.

The song’s title is “Mamo,” which is how one addresses one’s mother in Ukrainian. It’s a regular sentimental song, but at least it’s not politics-laden. Now, that’s refreshing.

The best part of Russia’s choice is that the lyrics were written by an Estonian, and the music was composed by a Georgian.

Here is the song:

Here is a link to a YouTube video of what I think is a TV screen record, with the actual performance.

Although I can’t be bothered to look up the statistics (I am on the spring break, after all), I believe around 13% of Russians, myself included, are actually ethnic Ukrainians. A Ukrainian has as much of a right to represent Russia as a representative of any common ethnicity in Russia. As a Russian-Ukrainian, I am absolutely ecstatic (plus Eurovision falls on my birthday this year).

I was semi-expecting more political gestures at this year’s Eurovision, but this is actually a gesture of goodwill. Take that, Georgia.

Georgia’s Eurovision Song: We Don’t Wanna Put In. And We Don’t Wanna Putin.

Eurovision, the all-Europe song annual song contest, has always been somewhat politicized. While in the past, most post-contest arguments pertained to what nation voted for what candidate, recent developments indicate a new Cold War in Europe: that between Russia and some of it’s post-Soviet neighbors.

In 2007, Ukraine’s Verka Serduchka sang what s/he claimed to have been “Lasha Tumbai” (a meaningless combination of sounds, really), but everyone heard “Russia, Goodbye.”

In 2008, Russia responded with Dima Bilan, who sang alongside an Olympic golden medalist Yevgeniy Plyushchenko to the accompanying Hungarian violist Edvin Marton. Dima Bilan became the first Russian to have won the Eurovision (Ukraine has two victories under her belt).

As the preparations for the 2009 contest are on the way, things are getting political. While most countries have not held the qualifying finals for their participants, Georgia announced its candidate, the band Stephane&3G that was specifically tailored to enter Eurovision. The country has only been participating in the Eurovision since 2007. Here are some of the lyrics:

We don’t wanna put in

The negative move

It’s killin’ the groove

There is a really awesome YouTube video of this song:


It certainly has a Eurovision winner potential: it is catchy, clearly inspired by American pop bands, and it has three girls with an exotic accent in tight PVC tops and mini-shorts. And it mentions drinking moonshine. That, along with the song’s message, will probably guarantee it many votes from the amused Western Europe and Russia-hating Eastern European countries.

Ironically, this year’s Eurovision will be held in Moscow (Russia’s Dima Bilan won last year), so “We Don’t Wanna Put In” will sound even more provocative. If the Eurovision organizing committee does allow this song to be performed (there were questions raised as to its appropriateness), I wonder what the Kremlin’s reaction will be.

I can see why the Georgians are so tongue-in-cheek regarding their behemoth neighbor, but that’s a petty way to deliver a protest, isn’t it? Georgia, if you are still mad over Abkhazia and Ossetia, go to a court of law, not the performance stage.