Eurovision: Light Your Fire

Well, that was fast. Eurovision has come and gone. In a way, it feels like a bit of a letdown. Azerbaijan has been planning for this event for a year, ever since they won last year’s competition. Massive construction has been underway in the capital, including a brand new performance center just for the event. I have yet to see the full results of the work, but from traveling in Baku for the past year, I can tell you it was extensive. All this work, all this anticipation, and in one week, it’s all over. Several PCVs went into Baku for the competition, but for most of us, travel was restricted because of how crazy and busy Baku would be. For those who don’t know, and before coming here, I was one of you, Eurovision is like an annual international American Idol. Each country has one entry, whether it is a group or individual artist. The countries then vote on their favorite performances (apparently, it can get political, with countries that are generally friends voting for each other and countries that are generally at odds saving their votes for others) and a winner is anointed. There are two semi-final performance nights, and ten qualifiers based on online or phone voting move onto the final night, along with the “Big Five” and the host country. (Thanks for help on that, Wikipedia!) The Big Five are what you’d expect probably—France, Spain, UK, Italy, Germany. In the end, Sweden came away with the win, and will be the host of next year’s competition. My personal favorite, Russia, came in second. Russia’s entry was a group of small, old babushkas, definitely not the norm for this competition, which is filled with young men and women belting out pop music and dancing enthusiastically around the stage. Their performance was also unique or at least rare for their more cultural-sounding song. Most songs are typical international pop, with lyrics in English and little to differentiate between each country. Turkey had a little cultural feel to their song as well. Even Azerbaijan, which came in fourth, had a little traditional singing in the background, the wavering voice that is common in the mugam style. I have a personal award to give out, for best name. There really was no contest, because Englebert Humperdinck from the UK stole this from everyone. Clearly not the best singer/performer (UK came in 25 out of the 26 finalists), but easily the best name I’ve heard in years. Let that sink in for a minute. Englerbert. Humperdinck. Being here in Azerbaijan over the past year has been an interesting experience. Watching the competition to select the Azeri representative, crashed by two PCVs performing as the Caspian Dreamers, was a lot of fun. Seeing Baku and Azerbaijan try to prepare to play a larger part on the world stage in particular has been interesting. Azerbaijan is not a perfect country, nor is any, and they’ve struggled to determine what face they will show to the world. And fielding questions about why America does not participate or follow Eurovision has been fun though somewhat repetitive (think about what continent America is on…). But now, with the event over and done, and the visitors leaving the country, how will Azerbaijan maintain its newfound fame? That is the question.