| At Eurovision, Russian Latvians defeated Russian Kenyans This year the television singing competition was held for the 47th time. The venue, the Saku Suurhal concert hall in the Estonian capital Tallinn, attracted 7 thousand spectators, and the competition was watched by 300 million viewers on television. Estonia became the first country in the post-Soviet space to hold the competition. This right went to the Baltic republic after the Estonian duo won the competition last year. Next year the competition will also be held in the Baltics - in connection with the victory of the Latvian singer this year.
The Russian vocal quartet “Prime Minister” took 10th place. The guys performed the frankly hit song Northern Girl, which in the Russian version sounds like “Girl from the North” (author - the venerable Kim Breitburg). It was this “signature” song that, it seemed, should have ensured “Prime Minister”, if not victory, then at least entering the top five. Immediately after a few weeks ago, the jury of the ORT channel announced the name of the Russian participant, they immediately began to “make stars” out of “Prime Minister”, inviting the group to all imaginable and inconceivable television programs, group concerts and all sorts of events such as the Record Award. (Before this, the group enjoyed limited popularity, it had only one hit, about “her eyes are two diamonds, three carats.”) By the way, the performance at “Record” was a kind of wake-up call - “Prime Minister” Due to technical problems, I got confused and crumpled up the speech. And at Eurovision, the quartet participants found themselves so squeezed and constrained that neither a good song nor the costumes of Valentin Yudashkin (who also honored the competition with his presence) could save them. As a consolation to the “Prime Minister,” we can say that thanks to their participation in Eurovision alone, the quartet gained significant popularity in their homeland. In general, if a Russian participant loses at Eurovision (which, as we know, happens quite often), we immediately begin to talk about the uselessness and lack of prestige of the competition. They say that such success is not needed even for free. The other day I had a chance to hear a diametrically opposite opinion from someone who knows this whole cuisine from the inside - the vocalist of the Latvian band Brainstorm, which took 3rd place the year before, said that it was the competition that made them an actively touring European group: “Before that we recorded singles , toured, worked a lot, but all these were petals... how do you say that in Russian? Ah, flowers! So, apparently, there is no such thing as “bad” success; the question is how to use this very success.
As a result, the victory went to another “girl from the North”, a Russian resident of Latvia named Maria Naumova, who performed under the pseudonym Marie N. She performed the song “I Want”, designed in the “Latin-pop” style. During the course of her performance, Maria managed to change her complex outfit three times, and with this “cult of clothing” she reminded Russian television viewers of another pop star from Latvia, Laima Vaikule. Maria Naumova has been singing professionally since childhood, performing with a children's ensemble at concerts and participating in competitions. She is quite popular in Latvia, performs all the time and records solo albums. It is interesting that the Latvian performer was not chosen by the jury of the TV channel, as in all countries, but by ordinary music lovers who called and voted for Maria, who thus defeated all other applicants by a significant margin.
According to Reuters, after the winning result was announced, Maria said: “I’m going to drink tonight. Tomorrow I will go to Riga, hold a press conference there, and then I will drink again.” In total, Latvia scored 176 points, slightly ahead of another favorite, Malta, which, with 164 points, fell into second place. Third place was shared by two countries with 111 points each - Estonia and Great Britain. “Prime Minister” received a total of 55 points. The song Northern Girl received their votes in Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Israel, Finland, Malta, Romania, Latvia and Lithuania. Moreover, “Prime Minister” received the largest number of votes from the Estonian, Romanian, Latvian and Maltese juries. 10th place, of course, is not much, but Russia will not be disqualified - the result gives the country the right to participate in the next competition.
In total, artists from 24 European countries took part in Eurovision this year, and in united Europe and the surrounding area there is a curious leapfrog of nationalities, just like in America. Thus, Estonia was represented by a Swedish singer, Latvia by a Russian singer, and Russia by a group with a Kenyan, a Gypsy and a Moldovan. But maybe we should act like in football - invite pop stars from abroad to perform for Russia? Alexander BELYAEV |
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