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Ladies Of The Caucasus Go Head To Head At Eurovision

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  • Ladies Of The Caucasus Go Head To Head At Eurovision

    LADIES OF THE CAUCASUS GO HEAD TO HEAD AT EUROVISION
    Liana Aghajanian

    ianyan magazine
    http://www.ianyanmag.com/?p=2600
    May 24 2010

    Kitsch lyrics, super sleek pop stars in shiny outfits that can be seen
    planets away and the silent sound of oozing cheese can only mean one
    thing in the spring time: Eurovision is here.

    Yes, the best and worst (well, maybe just the worst) of 39 countries
    have gathered for another year of frills and thrills, including Eva
    Rivas and Safura, representing Armenia and Azerbaijan respectively.

    The ladies will go head to head in the competition which will have
    two semi-finals leading up to the final on May 29 in Oslo, Norway.

    Both countries are favorites to win along with a few others, with
    Azerbaijan's Safura leading the pack.

    Representing Armenia with "Apricot Stone," Eva Rivas was born in
    Rostov-on-Don in Russia and was a part of the "Arevik" ensemble for
    eight years. She's currently working on an album that will include
    the songs of Sayat Nova. Dubbed as the Armenian Angelina Jolie,
    Rivas' song was composed by Armen Martirosyan, composer of Andre's
    "Without Your Love," which was Armenia's first foray into Eurovision
    and written by Karen Kavaleryan, who has participated six times as
    a lyricist for different countries in the contest.

    Although Apricot Stone is sung in English, it's symbolic lyrics
    represent Armenia and mark a departure from last year's bilingual
    entry "Jan Jan" from sister duo Inga & Anush who sang "Jan Jan"
    in Armenian and English.

    Apricot stone, Hidden in my hand Given back to me >>From the motherland
    Apricot stone, I will drop it down In the frozen ground I'll just
    let it make its round

    While Rivas' has a strong voice and even stronger looks, the most
    exciting part of her performance will come in the form of renowned
    duduk master Jivan Gasparyan, who will be seated on a stone, playing
    the duduk. His presence marks an exciting new record for Eurovision,
    as he will be the oldest person to be featured in performance.

    In anticipation for her performance, Rivas has been traveling over
    Europe and spreading some apricot seeds - literally. Just last week,
    she visited France, where she planted an apricot tree at Chambovet
    park in Lyon. Apricot trees by her and her team were also planted in
    Thessaloniki, Greece and in Cyprus.

    Across the border, Rivas faces some amazingly tough competition in the
    form of Safura Alizadeh who will be representing Azerbaijan with "Drip
    Drop," a love ballad that is dripping in Western-infused touches -
    from her choreographer JaQuel Knight, the mastermind beyond Beyonce's
    hit "Single Ladies" video to director Rupert Wainwright, an English
    film director whose film, "The Fog," was incidentally rated as one
    of the 100 worst movies of the past decade by Rotten Tomatoes.

    Unlike Rivas' culturally infused song, "Drip Drop," written by Anders
    Bagge, Stefan Orn and Sandra Bjurman is as sleek and smooth as they
    come - from the back up dancers, to her dazzling outfits and lest
    we forget the flying diamonds, rain and underwater sequences in her
    video. Songwriter Bagge has written and produced songs for heavy
    hitters like Celine Dion, Madonna and Jennifer Lopez, however "Drip
    Drops" lyrics fall short.

    Tell me where have you been?

    Why are you late?

    You smell like lipstick again Come on, answer my question!

    Say something.

    Why are you acting out?

    Oh, say it's in my head...

    And as Eurovision devotees know, "falling short" in the spectrum of
    music in the real world, only means you're bound to rise to the top
    of this over the top spectacle of mediocrity.

    This is not a bad thing. In fact, in turns out, it's a great thing:
    betting agencies favor her enough to predict she will win the contest,
    according to Will Adams, editor-in-chief of Eurovision Song Contest
    blog, wiwibloggs.com.

    While most of Europe will gather this coming weekend to revel in the
    all the glorious glory of Eurovision, it seems as though a cheesy song
    contest never is just a song contest as Global Voices Caucasus Editor
    Onnik Krikorian reflects in a post about the contest's effect through
    social media, which reflects the realities of the region outside of
    the Eurovision pop bubble.

    Unzipped also has a round up of subjective comparisons of both Eva
    Rivas and Safura, grading details such as dress and moves, which as
    any Eurovision lover can tell you, are important.

    Watch videos of Eva Rivas' "Apricot Stone" and Safura's "Drip Drop"
    below, and look out for more of Eurovision to come on ianyan.




    From: A. Papazian
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