Despite her good looks, Aisha didn't fail to disappoint Tuesday evening. Photo used courtesy of the European Broadcasting Union.
TALLINN — The first semifinal of this year’s Eurovision song contest ended Thursday in Oslo, Norway with a disappointment to its Estonian and Latvian fans, but Lithuanians can hold their breath until Thursday night.
Though it’s usually more crass than class, it beguiles us nonetheless. To our readers not from Europe, Eurovision is continent-wide annual song contest that has even included North African and Middle Eastern countries. It began in 1955 when Marcel Bezençon, general director of Swiss television came up with a way to [private_supervisor]capture the continent’s attention through entertainment.
The song contest is one of the longest-running television shows ever, attracting hundreds of millions of viewers around the world annually. While most competitors are relative unknowns outside their native country, past participants have included ABBA, Celine Dion, Cliff Richard and Julio Iglesias. The winners are determined by televoting.
This year’s Eurovision kicked off Tuesday and it proved to be a big bummer for the Baltic states. Although Latvia managed to win it all in 2002 and Estonia in 2001, this time around they both were booted in the first round.
Latvia’s entrant was Aisha who sang “What For?” The singer’s vocal abilities were undoubtedly weak, and instead of the usual escapism the festival encourages, the song lyrics reflected a suicidal person’s cry for help, asking “Why are we living? Why are we crying?” A true Baltic drinking song.
While the song certainly fits the mood of the country, her performance was criticized both within Latvia and without.
Finland’s Hufvudstadsbladet newspaper compared the song and performance watching the torture of a cat and a critic in the Sweden’s Expressen said that the song’s lyrics should “burn in hell.”
Meanwhile composer and Saeima member Raimonds Pauls praised the song itself but bashed Aisha.
“Aisha, possibly due to nervous tension sang completely awry, and is herself responsible for her own failure,” Pauls told Delfi.lv.
Estonia’s entrant, new electro-pop artist Malcolm Lincoln accompanied by Manpower 4 performed the Pulp-esque balled “Siren.” The dapper young men did their best, but it proved a bit too sophisticated and dour for cheesy pop-loving Eurovision fans. It also didn’t have the energy that winning entrants usually showcase, as the live performance lacked the studio version’s bounciness, making it like a car that dies shortly after starting.
Lithuania’s entrant InCulto are ready to rock with their song “Eastern European Funk” Thursday at the second semifinal. Lithuania appears more likely to advance as it’s a feel-good, dance-friendly song even though it feels much more rock and ska than pop.
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