Comments on: Caucasus: Eurovision Countdown

By: Global Voices Online » Caucasus: 2008 Blog Review

Global Voices Online » Caucasus: 2008 Blog Review — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 17:48:22 +0000

[...] But even though opposition protests continued after the state of emergency was lifted, attendances were small. The inauguration of the new president, Serge Sargsyan, was held under tight security while relatives of those protesters killed on 1 March mourned their loss 40 days later on 9 April. Besides, Armenia, along with its two neighbors, Azerbaijan and Georgia, were already preoccupied with the Eurovision Song Contest. [...]

By: Emin Huseynzade

Emin Huseynzade — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 06:10:04 +0000

Actually it is very interesting, that there are a lot of Armenians listening and liking Azerbaijani song in Eurovision. As for English and other things, my opinion may be the same, but I just liked music and did not listen to find soemthing bad. Hope most people doing the same.
As for many bloggers in Azerbaijan (there are nearly 8000 in Azeri), many of them wrote that Sirusho’s song+show was very close to Ukrainian one. May be it was the reason for voting. People had trouble in voting for 2 same type songs. And do we speak about Eurovision or politics? I have not heard anything from presidents about Eurovision. Actually all my time spent in South Caucasus I liked and noted, how much Armenians reaidng Azeri media. Comparing that – Azerbaijani’s do not read Armenian media so much. So it means Armenia listened to Azerbaijani song with more interested, than Azerbaijanis.
I could not say, that Georgian show were something interesting. They have got so much votes, as people know about Georgia (but not based on song itself). Take this one as my opinion.

By: Blogian

Blogian — Wed, 21 May 2008 12:40:57 +0000

grigor sargsyan:

[…] Azeri president Aliyev has said Armenia has no cultural contributions to the world. […]

Do you have a reference for this? What did he mean?

http://www.today.az/news/politics/42278.html

By: Azadakan

Azadakan — Wed, 21 May 2008 09:23:15 +0000

This is the day after the semi-final.
I think she has a major problem: She doesn’t connect well with TV cameras. (Hayko had the same problem last year).
After all, those who vote are not the audience in the concernt hall, but the TV viewers.

By: Onnik Krikorian

Onnik Krikorian — Tue, 20 May 2008 19:09:59 +0000

Grigor, I don’t think the Azerbaijani entry is going to do very well unless for some reason people vote as they did with Finland whenever that was. However, I do have to admit that it’s so un-Eurovision i.e. cheesy pop I like it.

That said, I admit that I have a rock bias so it’s more my thing that Armenia or Georgia’s entry.

Anyway, I think Sirusho is coming across very well, including in her personality although some concerns remain about her ability to sing live. Nevertheless, she does seem very lovely. A BBC Europe-wide poll reckons she’ll pass the semi-final but come in 7th in the final.

Sweden is tipped to win with Azerbaijan at 20th and Georgia at 30th. Incidentally, I really think the latter made a mistake with their choice. Last year’s entry was much better. Then again, what am I saying?

I never watched Eurovision when I spent most of my life in England and here I am now blogging about it. ;-)

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 20 May 2008 16:56:09 +0000

“In fact, it makes me feel like I heard it before.”

Haha Grigor- I’m shocked anyone could have ever imagined hearing something like that before. Granted I don’t listen to hard rock, but I can’t imagine anything like Azerbaijan’s entry existing anywhere. The screaching falsetto followed by the unintelligible English to the out of control angel wings, at least I hope nothing like that has existed before.

By: grigor sargsyan

grigor sargsyan — Tue, 20 May 2008 15:45:02 +0000

[...] Azeri president Aliyev has said Armenia has no cultural contributions to the world. [...]

Do you have a reference for this? What did he mean? So say Frunz or Khachaturian are Albanians, is that what he meant?

Acadio, I am glad I am not the only one. Spanish song is very very cool indeed. I love it.

Onnik, I find Azeri song completely predictable if you know what I mean. In fact, it makes me feel like I heard it before. The lyrics of Armenian song on the other hand don’t make much sense, but the whole thing is a great attention cacher I think. It would be impossible to dismiss it, one might not like it, but one won’t turned it off if it is already on for many reason one of which is Sirusho’s persona. That is what wins Eurovision, no?

By: Elke

Elke — Tue, 20 May 2008 08:46:42 +0000

I think its gonna come down to Armenia and Azerbaijan. Both got a great song although Azerbaijan definitly got a better show then Armenia. Also I cant help but to note that recently here in Germany there was a program about Eurovision songs and they said that Armenia sorta mixed several Azerbaijani songs into one. Thats what the program said so I think thats not fair but on the other hand lots of countries are being unfair this year, most unfair is Russia.

By: Onnik Krikorian

Onnik Krikorian — Mon, 19 May 2008 10:13:31 +0000

BTW: Simon, it will be interesting to see how Armenia and Azerbaijan will vote for each other given the effective state of war between the two over Nagorno Karabakh. Will politics be put aside? While Turkey votes highly for Armenia, I’m not sure Azerbaijan will be the same or vice-versa. Will there be a surprise? I don’t think so, but I would welcome it if there was.

By: Acadio

Acadio — Mon, 19 May 2008 10:13:11 +0000

You have to listen spanish song, it’s cool!

By: Onnik Krikorian

Onnik Krikorian — Mon, 19 May 2008 10:09:32 +0000

Thanks, Tobias, and not least for providing some of the source opinion to begin with. Looking forward to more commentary from Eurovision 2008.

By: Tobias (Becks)

Tobias (Becks) — Mon, 19 May 2008 09:03:19 +0000

This is a great article and a very interesting blog! Just wanted to point out that Nina and I differ a bit in opinion on Azerbaijan… Nina doesn’t like it (as quoted) while I think it is a qualifyer… :)

Keep up the good work!

By: Onnik Krikorian

Onnik Krikorian — Mon, 19 May 2008 04:40:06 +0000

Hi Simon (Blogian), the reason why I made no mention of that controversy between Armenia and Azerbaijan was because unless it’s resurfaced again, the argument over a different song was some time back and ironically, not the one that Sirusho eventually took to Eurovision. Also, when it was more contemporary I referred to it an a previous post from Global Voices.

[T]he Armenian song “Shorora” by Armenian starlet Sirusho, who is Armenia’s top choice for the 2008 Eurovision competition is making a buzz around in the Caucasian corner of the internet. The reason? because Azerbaijan unknowingly or knowingly chose the same song as its debut song in the same competition and now Azeris are going nuts, demanding the song to be changed and calling us thieves. [...].

http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2008/03/09/caucasus-eurovision-song-contest-fever-and-politics/

Basically, this post was more an update on the story so far rather than a comprehensive account of the entire run-up to Eurovision. Instead, it’s worth taking a look at the previous post from March linked above. As for Aliyev’s comments, I didn’t see any reference to them in any blogs although I admit I was only reviewing those specifically covering Eurovision.

By: Blogian

Blogian — Mon, 19 May 2008 00:09:46 +0000

Thanks for the great post, Onnik. I was wondering whether it is worth to mention hysteria by some Azeri individuals about Sirusho’s song. Some Azeri nationalists claim that the song is of Azeri origin and, therefore, Armenians have “stolen” it. This is not the only example of a “music war” by Azeri nationalists. A few weeks ago, members of Azeri youth threw bottles on Armenian music performers in Moscow because Azeris claimed the song was not Armenian but Azeri. This is part of the official myth that Azeris are indigenous to the Caucasus and Armenians have no ability to be creative. Azeri president Aliyev has said Armenia has no cultural contributions to the world.

By: Onnik Krikorian

Onnik Krikorian — Sun, 18 May 2008 19:46:51 +0000

Incidentally, just as a matter of interest and despite it being slammed by many Eurovision pundits, I really like the Azerbaijani entry more than the others. Then again, I prefer rock over pop and was never interested in Eurovision much. That said, with the arrival of the former-Soviet bloc countries in the competition, the quality of music has noticeably improved.