The biggest music party in the world is taking place this weekend in Malmö, Sweden. Croatia and Switzerland are highly valued for the victory. Israel’s artist has to live with whistles and boos.
Overshadowed by protests against the participating country Israel, the final of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) will take place tomorrow. 26 countries are taking part in the world’s largest singing competition in Malmö, southern Sweden. Germany is represented by the artist Isaak and the song “Always On The Run”.
The acts Baby Lasagna from Croatia (“Rim Tim Tagi Dim”) and Nemo from Switzerland (“The Code”) have great chances of winning. The singer Eden Golan, who is competing for Israel with the song “Hurricane”, also climbed sharply in the bookmakers’ odds after her performance in the semi-finals on Thursday and has joined the top group of possible winners. This is traditionally seen as a sure sign that it will be well received by viewers in the finale.
Eden Golan experienced protests from the audience at the semi-final. The background is the Gaza war triggered by Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel, which has so far left more than 30,000 dead. The artist was greeted with boos and applause during rehearsals. Whistles were sometimes heard when the result was announced. The actual performance in the evening, however, was met with thunderous applause.
Greta Thunberg at protests in Malmö
“I’m focusing on the music, on the good energy, and there are so many people supporting me,” Golan said on the sidelines of the semifinals. Police estimated that between 10,000 and 12,000 people took part in the demonstrations under the slogan “Exclude Israel from Eurovision” – including climate activist Greta Thunberg. The ESC is avowedly a non-political event, but often in the wake of world politics.
This year, Germany is in third place out of 26, after Sweden and Ukraine and ahead of Luxembourg. Experience has shown that this is a pretty good starting point because the immediate environment does not consist of absolute top favorites. Thorsten Schorn will be leading the final evening for the first time as a commentator for German television. He succeeds Peter Urban, who guided the German audience through the ESC for 25 years.
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
