There is one international institution that unites people across the globe like no other. No, not the UN, or NATO, or even the BBC. It is, of course, the Eurovision Song Contest. But you guessed that from the post's title and the big picture, didn't you? You dirty cheats.
One of the main influences of the contest this year seemed to be Lady Gaga. There were echoes of her tunes in a lot of songs, most notably the Romanian one. Do you notice how I can just quote one example to validate my sweeping comments? I'll just brush over that.
There was a strong sense of nationalism in and around the Balkan Peninsula. Serbia claims that Belgrade is synonymous with being the Balkans and Armenia-well Armenia. Anyone who sings about apricot stones deserves my vote. Just because they deserve it doesn't mean they're going to get it. Ukraine (and to an extent, Israel) went for a politicised song, challenging us to change our ways. That won't work. You have to sing about fairy tales and people being in love. It's the only way.
The word of the year seemed to be 'star'. As a logophile, I thought I'd drop that in there.
But the main lesson to be learnt is that only French people can get away with singing in English. Especially Germans. A German should never, ever, try and do a Cockney accent, no matter how much they love Lily Allen. Gov'nor.
Who was your favourite? Your least favourite? Any other comments?
Well since the Brits are too darn egocentric to learn any foreign language the germans have to do that job for them.
ReplyDeleteOui, c'est trop vrai. Les Anglais n'etudient pas d'autres langues.
ReplyDelete