The Eurovision Song Contest started this Tuesday in Malmö with a first semi-final that, apart from giving joy to the ten countries that managed to qualify, showed as soon as it began how the war in Gaza is present in a contest in which many criticize the participation of Israel for its military offensive in the Strip. In the initial number of three guests, three former Eurovision contestants who did not win the festival but obtained excellent results – the Spanish-Cuban Chanel Terrero, the Greek-Albanian Eleni Foureira and the Swede Eric Saade -, the Swedish performer appeared with a Palestinian scarf wrapped around the left wrist.
With the gala still underway, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) was quick to regret what happened. A spokeswoman told reporters: “The Eurovision Song Contest is a live television programme. “All artists know the rules of the contest and we regret that Eric Saade has decided to compromise the apolitical nature of the event.” Before the semi-final at the Malmö Arena, the pavilion that hosts the galas during the week, Eurofans were warned not to bring Palestinian flags or symbols.
Eric Saade, whose mother is Swedish and whose father is Palestinian, sang Popular, the song with which he came third in Eurovision in 2011, with his scarf always visible, ignoring the express prohibition. On the same stage, Chanel, accompanied by twelve dancers, did a powerful reinterpretation of SloMo, the song with which she won third place in the 2022 contest. Eleni Foureira, who won second place for Cyprus in 2018, performed the explosive song Fuego that earned him that place in the record.
Among the ten representatives who managed to qualify for the final on Saturday the 11th thanks to the audience’s televoting are two who appear in the quintet of favorites to win the crystal microphone, according to the betting houses: the Croatian Baby Lasagna and the Ukrainians Alyona Alyona
This last country returns to the Eurovision contest after 31 years of absence, being one of the seven founding countries of the festival and having won it five times. Luxembourg has managed to qualify with the singer Tali, who performs Fighter in French and English.
Each one made themselves noticed in their own way, as expected, the representatives of Finland and Ireland. Finnish DJ and visual artist Windows95man sings the techno-inspired No Rules! and in the staging – in which he emerges from inside a kind of egg – he is wearing flesh-colored underwear that leads one to believe that he is not wearing them. The Irish Bambie Thug combines pop, rock, techno and derivatives singing at the top of her voice Doomsday Blue, an ode to the queer community with a stage design in which religious elements are appreciated.
Along with the other ten who qualify in the second semi-final (on Thursday the 9th) there will be 20 qualifiers who, added to the Big Five (Germany, Spain, France, Italy and the United Kingdom), who due to their greatest financial contribution to the European Union of Broadcasting (EBU) go directly to the final, like the host country, in this case Sweden, there will thus be 26 countries to compete in the grand final on Saturday.
In Thursday’s semifinal, the representative of Israel, Eden Golan, competes to reach the final, who this week in Malmö limits her outings beyond rehearsals and official appointments, due to the tension derived from Israel’s participation in the musical contest while it continues. the deadly military campaign against Hamas in Gaza.
Viewers decide the results of the two semi-finals with their vote, and can vote up to 20 times, either by phone, text message or through the Eurovision app. In the first semi-final, viewers from the 15 participating countries and those from three pre-qualified for the grand final voted: Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom. In the second semi-final this Thursday the 9th, the remaining countries of the total of 37 registered will vote.
