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AlArabiya.net, UAE
May 26, 2012 Saturday
Sweden triumphs in controversial Eurovision Song Contest
Swedish star Loreen beat off a challenge from dancing Russian
pensioners on Saturday to win a spectacular Eurovision Song Contest in
Azerbaijan that the host hoped would banish qualms over its rights
record.
Opposition groups have used the Eurovision spotlight, intended by
Azerbaijan to promote the country as a destination for tourism and
business, to demand democracy and the resignation of the government.
Dozens of peaceful protesters have been arrested this month in the
Caspian coastal capital, Baku. Activists say some buildings in the
center of the city were torn down to make way for the Eurovision arena
and residents were forcibly evicted without proper compensation.
Loreen, 28, wowed voters with a catchy dance number called "Euphoria"
featuring an upbeat chorus accompanied by a high-kicking dance duet
and a storm of artificial snow.
She brandished the glass microphone trophy in a shower of gold
ticker-tape at a post-contest news conference.
"It's just a question of taste. This year it happened to me," she
modestly explained her victory.
The victory brings Eurovision back to one of its heartlands. Sweden's
most famous band Abba gained worldwide fame after winning the contest
in 1974 with "Waterloo" -- for many the song that defined the kitschy
contest for all time.
Loreen's win took Sweden's total of Eurovision trophies to five,
making it one of the most successful countries at winning the quirky
contest. But it last struck gold more than a decade ago in 1999.
Second place on Saturday went to Russia's heartwarming Buranovskiye
Babushki, a choir of elderly women from a village who performed a
disco song "Party for Everybody" in English and their local
Finno-Ugric language with a stove and a tray as props.
Third was Serbian Eurovision veteran Zelijko Joksimovic who had
already competed in three previous contests, once as a singer and
twice as a composer.
Eurovision is the biggest event ever hosted by energy-rich Azerbaijan
as it seeks to present a glitzy front to the world despite the
intolerance of dissent and opposition under the rule of the Aliyev
dynasty.
The final's 26 acts lit up the spectacular Crystal Hall built to host
the contest in barely half a year on the Caspian Sea, with an audience
of some 20,000 inside the venue and 100 million television viewers.
The host entry Sabina Babayeva was not all that far from securing a
repeat of Azerbaijan's 2011 success that earned the nation the right
to host the contest with her "When the Music Dies" coming in fourth.
The show included the usual range of the weird and exotic including a
Norwegian rapper of Iranian origin who came last, half-naked French
gymnasts and an Albanian entry with a song solely in her native
language and a truly terrifying top note.
There was disappointment for Britain after veteran crooner Engelbert
Humperdinck -- brought in to revive its notoriously bad Eurovision
fortunes -- scored just 12 points and came second last with his ballad
"Love Will Set You Free".
Controversy
Loreen ran into controversy during the contest by meeting local rights
activists who briefed her on the lack of democratic freedoms in the
tightly controlled ex-Soviet state.
She met with activists who accuse the government of forcing people
from their homes for the building of the hall, an accusation Baku
denies. Azeri authorities accused her of making political statements
that had no place at a musical event.
However at a post-contest news conference she sidestepped a question
about how she would support the people of Azerbaijan further, saying
simply that: "I will support the Azerbaijan people from my heart."
She had earlier declined to comment on her views at a news conference
on Thursday, while local opposition media reported that Azerbaijan
state television gave a bland mistranslation of the question.
The Public Chamber opposition alliance said that more than 60
protestors were detained Friday in the latest protest and a court
sentenced three protesters to jail terms of five or six days.
Azerbaijan is run by strongman President Ilham Aliyev, who succeeded
his late father Heidar Aliyev in 2003.
His wife Mehriban Aliyeva heads the organizing committee of Eurovision
and his son-in-law, Emin Agalarov, a Moscow-based businessman with a
budding pop career, sang in a black leather jacket in a musical
interlude after the voting.
Radio Liberty reported this month that a construction company involved
in the project to build the Crystal Hall venue in a city-commissioned
project had links to the Aliyev family.
The event was also far beyond the reach of ordinary Azerbaijanis, with
tickets for the final starting at 160 manat ($204), half the monthly
income of the average Azeri according to World Bank statistics.
With political sensitivities never far from this Eurovision, the
promotional videos shown included landscapes from Nagorny Karabakh,
which Armenian separatists backed by Yerevan seized from Azerbaijan in
a war in the 1990s.
Armenia had pulled out of the contest saying it feared hostile
treatment and Azerbaijan barred
From: Baghdasarian
May 26, 2012 Saturday
Sweden triumphs in controversial Eurovision Song Contest
Swedish star Loreen beat off a challenge from dancing Russian
pensioners on Saturday to win a spectacular Eurovision Song Contest in
Azerbaijan that the host hoped would banish qualms over its rights
record.
Opposition groups have used the Eurovision spotlight, intended by
Azerbaijan to promote the country as a destination for tourism and
business, to demand democracy and the resignation of the government.
Dozens of peaceful protesters have been arrested this month in the
Caspian coastal capital, Baku. Activists say some buildings in the
center of the city were torn down to make way for the Eurovision arena
and residents were forcibly evicted without proper compensation.
Loreen, 28, wowed voters with a catchy dance number called "Euphoria"
featuring an upbeat chorus accompanied by a high-kicking dance duet
and a storm of artificial snow.
She brandished the glass microphone trophy in a shower of gold
ticker-tape at a post-contest news conference.
"It's just a question of taste. This year it happened to me," she
modestly explained her victory.
The victory brings Eurovision back to one of its heartlands. Sweden's
most famous band Abba gained worldwide fame after winning the contest
in 1974 with "Waterloo" -- for many the song that defined the kitschy
contest for all time.
Loreen's win took Sweden's total of Eurovision trophies to five,
making it one of the most successful countries at winning the quirky
contest. But it last struck gold more than a decade ago in 1999.
Second place on Saturday went to Russia's heartwarming Buranovskiye
Babushki, a choir of elderly women from a village who performed a
disco song "Party for Everybody" in English and their local
Finno-Ugric language with a stove and a tray as props.
Third was Serbian Eurovision veteran Zelijko Joksimovic who had
already competed in three previous contests, once as a singer and
twice as a composer.
Eurovision is the biggest event ever hosted by energy-rich Azerbaijan
as it seeks to present a glitzy front to the world despite the
intolerance of dissent and opposition under the rule of the Aliyev
dynasty.
The final's 26 acts lit up the spectacular Crystal Hall built to host
the contest in barely half a year on the Caspian Sea, with an audience
of some 20,000 inside the venue and 100 million television viewers.
The host entry Sabina Babayeva was not all that far from securing a
repeat of Azerbaijan's 2011 success that earned the nation the right
to host the contest with her "When the Music Dies" coming in fourth.
The show included the usual range of the weird and exotic including a
Norwegian rapper of Iranian origin who came last, half-naked French
gymnasts and an Albanian entry with a song solely in her native
language and a truly terrifying top note.
There was disappointment for Britain after veteran crooner Engelbert
Humperdinck -- brought in to revive its notoriously bad Eurovision
fortunes -- scored just 12 points and came second last with his ballad
"Love Will Set You Free".
Controversy
Loreen ran into controversy during the contest by meeting local rights
activists who briefed her on the lack of democratic freedoms in the
tightly controlled ex-Soviet state.
She met with activists who accuse the government of forcing people
from their homes for the building of the hall, an accusation Baku
denies. Azeri authorities accused her of making political statements
that had no place at a musical event.
However at a post-contest news conference she sidestepped a question
about how she would support the people of Azerbaijan further, saying
simply that: "I will support the Azerbaijan people from my heart."
She had earlier declined to comment on her views at a news conference
on Thursday, while local opposition media reported that Azerbaijan
state television gave a bland mistranslation of the question.
The Public Chamber opposition alliance said that more than 60
protestors were detained Friday in the latest protest and a court
sentenced three protesters to jail terms of five or six days.
Azerbaijan is run by strongman President Ilham Aliyev, who succeeded
his late father Heidar Aliyev in 2003.
His wife Mehriban Aliyeva heads the organizing committee of Eurovision
and his son-in-law, Emin Agalarov, a Moscow-based businessman with a
budding pop career, sang in a black leather jacket in a musical
interlude after the voting.
Radio Liberty reported this month that a construction company involved
in the project to build the Crystal Hall venue in a city-commissioned
project had links to the Aliyev family.
The event was also far beyond the reach of ordinary Azerbaijanis, with
tickets for the final starting at 160 manat ($204), half the monthly
income of the average Azeri according to World Bank statistics.
With political sensitivities never far from this Eurovision, the
promotional videos shown included landscapes from Nagorny Karabakh,
which Armenian separatists backed by Yerevan seized from Azerbaijan in
a war in the 1990s.
Armenia had pulled out of the contest saying it feared hostile
treatment and Azerbaijan barred
From: Baghdasarian