Eurovision 2010

Scandals erupts as Eurovision-2009 song contest

scandals erupts as Eurovision-2009 song contest draws near.The Eurovision-2009 song contest Moscow is to host in May has already triggered several scandals. Two former Soviet republics Russia has rather strained relations with are in focus. Ukraine and Georgia.

To begin with, Russia at the contest will for the first time ever be represented by a foreigner – a Ukrainian female vocalist who is to sing a song with a refrain in Ukrainian. A half-Georgian half-Ossetian composer wrote the music, and an Estonian woman author, the words. In the Soviet era such a display of internationalism would be strongly welcome. Not so these days, at a time when relations with Georgia after last year’s Georgian-Ossetian conflict Russia had to intervene into to stop violence leave much to be desired. As for Russian-Estonian relations, they have not fully recovered to this day from the freeze that followed the removal of the Liberator Soldier monument from the center of the capital Tallinn.

In the final selection round ethnic Ukrainian Anastasiya Prikhodko received the votes of 25 percent of television viewers and of six members of the professional eleven-seat jury.

Earlier, Prikhodko placed third at an international song festival in Bulgaria. She is a music school graduate and plays the flute, the guitar and the piano.

In the meantime, many showbiz professionals claim Prikhodko is no good for stage appearances at all, let alone for representing Russia at such a high-profile international event. After heated debates as to whether the televoting provided authentic results, and about the candidate’s professional merits, the public concerned set eyes on the social and political views of the Ukrainian performer. And these are said to have proved highly unconventional and controversial, to say the least.

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