The moment of truth for Nebulossa, the duo representing Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest, is approaching. The final will be held on Saturday, but before that Mery Bas and Mark Dasousa will have their first contact with the live audience at the Malmö Arena, the pavilion where the galas are held in the Swedish host city, this Thursday during the second semi-final.
The organizers have decided that, for the first time, the Big Five – the five countries that go directly to the final due to their greatest financial contribution, including Spain – will also perform in the semi-finals, although without being voted on, just for visibility. Nebulossa’s turn is in the second, which TVE’s La 1 broadcasts today at 9 p.m.
For this couple from Ondara (Alicante), who launched themselves into music at full maturity (she is 56 years old, he is 50) with a small eighties techno-pop project, the path since their victory at the Benidorm Fest at the beginning of February Even Eurovision has been dizzying. What have you learned about life, music and society during this time that you didn’t know before? La Vanguardia asked them in a meeting with the Spanish press this Wednesday at their hotel in Malmö.
“We have learned to overcome challenges, to improve in everything we had done until now, and we have also worked hard; At a promotional level, with travel, we have had to adapt and I think we have improved a lot compared to everything around us,” responds Mery Bas.
“Professionally, we have learned a lot of things that were outside our record; to do television, which has nothing to do with getting on stage and giving a typical concert –adds Mark Dasousa–. And then here in Malmö something is happening that already happened at the Benidorm Fest, but more amplified, with many more means.”
The experience of being subjected to public scrutiny and receiving criticism, sometimes harsh, especially due to the age of both or the limited vocal resources of the soloist, is a mere experience. “I’m not a big fan of the networks, but I do find out things from friends and neighbors,” said Dasousa. I don’t care, it doesn’t affect me. I almost always stay with the positive. Because it is mostly positive; if it was mostly negative, I might worry. The malicious criticism has been really residual.”
The controversy surrounding their song, Zorra, due to the meaning of a word linked to sexist violence that they, they claim, want to resignify, seems distant to them. “We understand people who don’t understand the message of the song. I don’t have to tell anyone how to raise their children; I only know how I want to educate my people,” Bas said. The couple has two children, María, 23, and Neo, 11.
Nebulossa savors the days of Malmö without paying attention to the bets, which currently give them 23rd place, at the bottom of the table. “That first feeling that at Eurovision everything is bigger, well, it does have an impact, but more than because of the dimensions of the stage, it is more because of the situation, knowing that you are going to represent Spain, and the responsibility that that entails,” he says. she.
“The Benidorm Fest was already a good training session,” he says. But, to remember, last year on May 11 we were in Ponferrada, at a concert where no one came to see us, only the promoter and the waiter; It was like that, just like that. And someone said: ‘Damn, tonight is the Eurovision final.’ And even though there was no one there, we played and then watched the final. And now we are here. “Our life has changed.”
For this reason, the couple encourages Spanish singers to consider going to Eurovision and appearing at the Benidorm Fest. “We recommend it one hundred percent, because it is a great support on an artistic level,” says Dasousa. “Eurovision is a great contest, with a huge audience, a huge window to make yourself known,” adds Bas.
This is true, even without winning, as its organizers claimed by including as guest artists in the first semi-final, last Tuesday, three former Eurovision artists who did not win but did have excellent results: the Spanish-Cuban Chanel Terrero (third in 2022) , the Greek-Albanian Eleni Foureira (second in 2018) and the Swede Eric Saade (third in 2011). Chanel reinterpreted her song SloMo to acclaim. Eric Saade came on stage with a Palestinian scarf on his wrist for the war in Gaza, despite the organizers’ ban on wearing Palestinian symbols this year when there is criticism of Israel’s participation. Saade’s gesture has created controversy.
