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New York Times
May 27 2012
Azerbaijan Delights in Taking the Stage as Eurovision Host
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
Published: May 27, 2012
BAKU, Azerbaijan - Intent on making a flawless debut on the world
stage as the host of this year's Eurovision Song Contest finals, the
government of Azerbaijan left nothing to chance.
As the big event approached on Saturday night, Baku, the capital of
this small, oil-rich former Soviet republic, went into a veritable
lockdown. Heavily guarded police barriers went up, barring anyone
without a ticket from driving downtown.
Tickets, costing as much as $300, were sold under similarly tight
circumstances - each matched to a passport or other identification
number to prevent scalping and to give the authorities a map of
exactly who would be sitting in each of the 23,000 seats in the new
Crystal Hall arena.
Each morning, city workers made sure every flower bed was perfect and
rubbish swept away. On three afternoons last week, security forces
arrested dozens of protesters seeking to draw attention to human
rights abuses.
But, in the end, even President Ilham Aliyev's feared security
services proved powerless against the weather. Just as the British
finalist, Engelbert Humperdinck, sang the first note of the first
song, rain burst from the sky.
The downpour did not deter the thousands of people who could not
afford or otherwise snag tickets and who had gathered outdoors to
watch on a jumbo screen set up on the arcing promenade along the
Caspian Sea. Nor were they daunted by the late hour of the event,
which started at midnight here to maximize television viewership
across Europe.
While those in the know rightly predicted that Sweden's raven-haired
Loreen would win the top prize, many in the giddy crowd said they were
rooting for a repeat victory by Azerbaijan, or Turkey, a cultural
neighbor. The crowd included families with children and hard partyers
wearing helmets built to carry two beer cans. When Sabina Babayeva,
the hometown contestant, took the stage, she prompted a rollicking
chant, `Ah-zer-bai-jan! Ah-zer-bai-jan!'
Russian Grannies Boogie
If Ms. Babayeva had home-field advantage, the overwhelming sentimental
favorite was a troupe of Russian grandmothers called the Buranovskiye
Babushki.
Eurovision is known for its over-the-top kitsch, but, even by its
standards, there was something remarkable about grannies from the
central Russian republic of Udmurtia, not far from where the Ural
Mountains border on Siberia.
The Babushki, with an average age of 75, finished second over all with
a jaunty pop song called `Party for Everybody.'
Wearing head scarves and traditional dresses and coin jewelry, they
bounced up and down, waving their arms, smiling mischievously. They
performed with a steaming oven as a prop on stage, and, at one point
during their stay in Baku, they baked trays of perepechi, a
traditional dish of meat and vegetable tartlets that they served to
the Eurovision press corps.
In Azerbaijan, the grannies, who first appeared in a Russian news
program in 2008, were treated as divas, with a constant security
detail. They stayed at a resort complex outside Baku as guests of Emin
Agalarov, the son of an Azeri-born Russian billionaire, Aras Agalarov.
Emin Agalarov is married to Leyla Aliyeva, the elder daughter of the
country's president.
The hugely popular Babushki had more interview requests than they
could accommodate, and Russian journalists who interviewed them said
their only request was to stay in a house with running hot water and
no elevators.
Meanwhile, in the Babushki's remote hometown Buranovo, a Russian
telecommunications company worked round the clock to install an
optical cable for high-speed Internet, Wi-Fi and an interactive,
digital television in the local school, so residents could watch the
Eurovision final.
In the crowd along the Baku waterfront, Latif Dzhangirov, 30, who
lived for a while in Moscow, said the Babushki had his vote. `Sweden
is great,' Mr. Dzhangirov said. `But our culture has a respect for
older people.'
Elsewhere, Discontent
In Astara, 200 miles south of Baku, near the Iranian border, the dozen
or so men sitting in the dusty heat outside Viki's Teahouse said they
were getting old before their time, with no jobs and nothing to do.
Eurovision, they said, may be good for the government but had done
nothing for them.
`I don't care about Eurovision, because they don't care about me,'
said Shiriyev el-Nur, 35, who said he had spent three years during the
mid-1990s as a soldier for Azerbaijan in its conflict with Armenia
over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh but who is now
unemployed.
That conflict with Armenia cast a shadow over Eurovision. Armenia
pulled out of the contest, preferring to pay fines rather than
participate with its enemy as host.
Elvin Kerivov, 29, a part-time musician who plays the synthesizer,
said he was glad the roles were not reversed. `It's better for
Eurovision to be here in Azerbaijan than in Armenia. If Armenia won,
our delegation would have to go to Armenia to sing, which is not good
for our pride.'
Mr. Nur, who has four daughters ages 2 to 9, said he wished the
government would focus more on employment. `Look at us,' he said. `We
are just drinking tea here because we cannot find a job. They claim
the nation is in good condition, but they do not find any position for
us.'
`Biggest Gay Event'
Eurovision has also been the subject of some tension between
Azerbaijan and Iran, its neighbor to the south, with Iranian Web sites
at one point suggesting that Azerbaijan was planning a gay pride
parade. That was not true, but Eurovision, in fact, does draw huge
numbers of gay fans.
`I think it's increasingly known as the biggest gay event in the
world,' said Thomas Molloy, who was in Baku with his partner, Fred
Medeiros, from Chatham, England, attending their fourth Eurovision.
Daniel Motiño Camúñez of the International Network of Fan Clubs of
Eurovision said there was no doubt. `I think it is the glamour, the
glitter, the excitement, the divas,' he said, adding, `drag-queeny,
tacky stuff.'
Several gay men attending Eurovision said they had found the people of
Baku to be hugely welcoming. `They want to take pictures of us; they
want to hold us,' Mr. Motiño Camúñez said. `I'm not even blond. The
blonds are having a really hard time with this.'
But not all of the attention has been positive. Michael Duncan, a
journalist who works on Eurovision-related Web sites, said several had
come under repeated hacker attacks with antigay statements posted on
the disrupted sites.
The sun was already up on Sunday when Mr. Molloy and Mr. Medeiros
arrived back at their hotel, exhilarated by Sweden's victory. Mr.
Medeiros was draped in a huge Swedish flag. Mr. Molloy was wearing a
cowboy hat imprinted with the Azerbaijan flag.
`Next year in Stockholm!' they said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/28/world/asia/azerbaijan-revels-as-host-of-eurovision-song-contest.html
May 27 2012
Azerbaijan Delights in Taking the Stage as Eurovision Host
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
Published: May 27, 2012
BAKU, Azerbaijan - Intent on making a flawless debut on the world
stage as the host of this year's Eurovision Song Contest finals, the
government of Azerbaijan left nothing to chance.
As the big event approached on Saturday night, Baku, the capital of
this small, oil-rich former Soviet republic, went into a veritable
lockdown. Heavily guarded police barriers went up, barring anyone
without a ticket from driving downtown.
Tickets, costing as much as $300, were sold under similarly tight
circumstances - each matched to a passport or other identification
number to prevent scalping and to give the authorities a map of
exactly who would be sitting in each of the 23,000 seats in the new
Crystal Hall arena.
Each morning, city workers made sure every flower bed was perfect and
rubbish swept away. On three afternoons last week, security forces
arrested dozens of protesters seeking to draw attention to human
rights abuses.
But, in the end, even President Ilham Aliyev's feared security
services proved powerless against the weather. Just as the British
finalist, Engelbert Humperdinck, sang the first note of the first
song, rain burst from the sky.
The downpour did not deter the thousands of people who could not
afford or otherwise snag tickets and who had gathered outdoors to
watch on a jumbo screen set up on the arcing promenade along the
Caspian Sea. Nor were they daunted by the late hour of the event,
which started at midnight here to maximize television viewership
across Europe.
While those in the know rightly predicted that Sweden's raven-haired
Loreen would win the top prize, many in the giddy crowd said they were
rooting for a repeat victory by Azerbaijan, or Turkey, a cultural
neighbor. The crowd included families with children and hard partyers
wearing helmets built to carry two beer cans. When Sabina Babayeva,
the hometown contestant, took the stage, she prompted a rollicking
chant, `Ah-zer-bai-jan! Ah-zer-bai-jan!'
Russian Grannies Boogie
If Ms. Babayeva had home-field advantage, the overwhelming sentimental
favorite was a troupe of Russian grandmothers called the Buranovskiye
Babushki.
Eurovision is known for its over-the-top kitsch, but, even by its
standards, there was something remarkable about grannies from the
central Russian republic of Udmurtia, not far from where the Ural
Mountains border on Siberia.
The Babushki, with an average age of 75, finished second over all with
a jaunty pop song called `Party for Everybody.'
Wearing head scarves and traditional dresses and coin jewelry, they
bounced up and down, waving their arms, smiling mischievously. They
performed with a steaming oven as a prop on stage, and, at one point
during their stay in Baku, they baked trays of perepechi, a
traditional dish of meat and vegetable tartlets that they served to
the Eurovision press corps.
In Azerbaijan, the grannies, who first appeared in a Russian news
program in 2008, were treated as divas, with a constant security
detail. They stayed at a resort complex outside Baku as guests of Emin
Agalarov, the son of an Azeri-born Russian billionaire, Aras Agalarov.
Emin Agalarov is married to Leyla Aliyeva, the elder daughter of the
country's president.
The hugely popular Babushki had more interview requests than they
could accommodate, and Russian journalists who interviewed them said
their only request was to stay in a house with running hot water and
no elevators.
Meanwhile, in the Babushki's remote hometown Buranovo, a Russian
telecommunications company worked round the clock to install an
optical cable for high-speed Internet, Wi-Fi and an interactive,
digital television in the local school, so residents could watch the
Eurovision final.
In the crowd along the Baku waterfront, Latif Dzhangirov, 30, who
lived for a while in Moscow, said the Babushki had his vote. `Sweden
is great,' Mr. Dzhangirov said. `But our culture has a respect for
older people.'
Elsewhere, Discontent
In Astara, 200 miles south of Baku, near the Iranian border, the dozen
or so men sitting in the dusty heat outside Viki's Teahouse said they
were getting old before their time, with no jobs and nothing to do.
Eurovision, they said, may be good for the government but had done
nothing for them.
`I don't care about Eurovision, because they don't care about me,'
said Shiriyev el-Nur, 35, who said he had spent three years during the
mid-1990s as a soldier for Azerbaijan in its conflict with Armenia
over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh but who is now
unemployed.
That conflict with Armenia cast a shadow over Eurovision. Armenia
pulled out of the contest, preferring to pay fines rather than
participate with its enemy as host.
Elvin Kerivov, 29, a part-time musician who plays the synthesizer,
said he was glad the roles were not reversed. `It's better for
Eurovision to be here in Azerbaijan than in Armenia. If Armenia won,
our delegation would have to go to Armenia to sing, which is not good
for our pride.'
Mr. Nur, who has four daughters ages 2 to 9, said he wished the
government would focus more on employment. `Look at us,' he said. `We
are just drinking tea here because we cannot find a job. They claim
the nation is in good condition, but they do not find any position for
us.'
`Biggest Gay Event'
Eurovision has also been the subject of some tension between
Azerbaijan and Iran, its neighbor to the south, with Iranian Web sites
at one point suggesting that Azerbaijan was planning a gay pride
parade. That was not true, but Eurovision, in fact, does draw huge
numbers of gay fans.
`I think it's increasingly known as the biggest gay event in the
world,' said Thomas Molloy, who was in Baku with his partner, Fred
Medeiros, from Chatham, England, attending their fourth Eurovision.
Daniel Motiño Camúñez of the International Network of Fan Clubs of
Eurovision said there was no doubt. `I think it is the glamour, the
glitter, the excitement, the divas,' he said, adding, `drag-queeny,
tacky stuff.'
Several gay men attending Eurovision said they had found the people of
Baku to be hugely welcoming. `They want to take pictures of us; they
want to hold us,' Mr. Motiño Camúñez said. `I'm not even blond. The
blonds are having a really hard time with this.'
But not all of the attention has been positive. Michael Duncan, a
journalist who works on Eurovision-related Web sites, said several had
come under repeated hacker attacks with antigay statements posted on
the disrupted sites.
The sun was already up on Sunday when Mr. Molloy and Mr. Medeiros
arrived back at their hotel, exhilarated by Sweden's victory. Mr.
Medeiros was draped in a huge Swedish flag. Mr. Molloy was wearing a
cowboy hat imprinted with the Azerbaijan flag.
`Next year in Stockholm!' they said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/28/world/asia/azerbaijan-revels-as-host-of-eurovision-song-contest.html