Serbosong

Neven Anđelić RSS / 22.05.2008. u 19:25

When I wrote a blog about Serbian victory last year and rightly predicted the outcome, many people in the 'Wild West' contacted me in order to learn more about some trivial, semi-trivial and even some important facts. I was also asked to write an article for mainly British readership. Thus I am getting ready this year for the 'PART DEUX'. Hence the blog in English.

Europe is not fighting wars any more as countries have a more peaceful opportunity to measure their own strengths and exercise ancient rivalries. It is called Eurovision Song Contest and is hosted this year by the country that has been often named as pariah state involved in latest wars on the continent. Serbia won the right last year after a combination of regional alliances, vote of Diaspora and ‘gay factor' brought win to previously little known Serbian singer Marija Serifovic. The dissolution of Yugoslavia means six new states that participate in this competition and they all granted Serbia maximum points last year.

The wars of Yugoslav succession and long period of Slobodan Milosevic in power in Serbia forced many to flee the country and settle throughout Europe. Many of them have the only chance of expressing their ethnic origin or patriotism by making telephone calls and casting their votes for Serbia. Finally, it has been estimated that like Kyle, Eurovision Song Contest is amazingly popular among the gay population for whom the clubs organize special nights and evenings to follow the competition and consequently vote. Therefore ‘pink vote' was won by Serbian singer who was (mis)taken as lesbian by many.

National pride and joy in Serbia were quickly replaced by worries as the declaration of independence by province of Kosovo, albeit not recognized by Serbia who still claims its sovereignty over this territory, brought recognition by over thirty countries and riots in the centre of Serbian capital Belgrade in February of this year. The Eurovision governing body held urgent talks in order to possibly displace the event but in the end opted to remain loyal to Serbian organizers. Special security arrangements will be put in place despite the fact that Slav countries that were in war only ten years ago are now so openly co-operating with each other that it brings suspicion among the other participants. One might call it reconciliation at work. This year's host, Zeljko Joksimovic is regional star who performed for Serbia before, wrote a song for Bosnia last year and wrote a song for this year's Serbian entry.

Representatives of all the European countries with notable exceptions of Italy, Austria, Slovakia and Luxembourg are singing in Belgrade Arena to decide whose song attracts most attention and votes. The building where over twenty thousands spectators are expected might have a curse because its history is the story of several attempts to build it and stage some great international competition in order to promote the state. Every single time this state was different as Belgrade was declared capital of the original Yugoslavia when the works started only to be interrupted by war. The supposed World Basketball Championship was therefore moved to safe Canada. It seems that basketball only followed a path of many Serbs who emigrated to Canada during the 1990s. The next state to try to host some global gathering in the same arena was the union of Serbia and Montenegro who invited the best table-tennis players to compete in Belgrade in 1999 butt he NATO bombing over Kosovo caused ping-pong masters to abandon the idea and the leaders in Belgrade to abandon again the works on the arena.

The first ever event to be hosted in the Arena was a pre-electoral meeting of Slobodan Milosevic's party in 2000 although the building was to be finished only four years later. Serbian President lost the elections and was consequently extradited to the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia in The Hague. Finally, after the fall of Milosevic and the change of the regime it was finished in time to host European basketball championship in 2005. The Serbs, rightly or wrongly, pride themselves as being only second to African Americans in the art of good basketball. During their heighty period in the NBA League, Sacramento Kings were colloquially known as Sacramento Serbs few years ago due to the number and importance of players coming from this country. Despite their history, tradition and self-perception of being the best in Europe, they did not manage to qualify even for the quarter-finals. The country dissolved a year later and it is now Serbia only that is host to the Eurovision Song Contest. Whether the curse of the Belgrade Arena actually exists remains to be seen on the 24th May when the grand finale of the competition is due to take place.

Newly created or recreated countries of Eastern and Central Europe put plenty of importance to this ‘parade of noise and kitsch' as cynics often see the competition. When Ukraine hosted it, President Yuschenko walked onto the stage to present the winner only to the shock of French commentators who imagined a scene when Charles de Gaulle did something similar. The competition has often been ridiculed in many western countries but on occasions of success, it is quickly forgotten that the quality of the music is questionable if lacking completely, that voting patterns are familiar year after year and that ever since ABBA won it in 1974 the winner is yet to make significant international career. Cliff Richards who came second for Great Britain in 1968, still bears scars of not winning the competition and when being told of possible conspiracy led by Spanish dictator Franco that prevented Richards from claiming the top, said delightedly ‘there won't be a happier person on the planet' if claims proven true.

Who will be Serbian Yuschenko, or for that matter Franco, is unclear. The country found itself equally divided after the elections of 11th May as before. The coalition for European Serbia led by the Democratic Party of the state president Boris Tadic is the strongest but will have to compromise their ideology if realistically expecting to form larger coalition that would make majority in the Parliament. The other half belongs to ultra-nationalist Radicals and several other nationalist parties. They all oppose Stabilisation and Association Agreement that Serbia signed with the European Union last month. If the supposed celebration of European unity is going to be hosted by the officials of the party whose leader Vojislav Seselj is accused of involvement in ethnic cleansing and war-crimes and whose party is against European integrations, it will make the whole circus even more surreal. But then again, this is Europe after all.

 

 

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Montezuma Montezuma 19:44 22.05.2008

Articles

It is called Eurovision Song Contest and is hosted this year by the country that has been often named as pariah state involved in latest wars on the continent. Serbia won the right last year after a combination of regional alliances, vote of Diaspora and ‘gay factor' brought win to previously little known Serbian singer Marija Serifovic.


It is called the Eurovision Song Contest and it is hosted this year by the country that has been often named as the pariah state involved in the latest wars on the continent. Serbia won the right last year after a combination of regional alliances, the vote of the Diaspora and the ‘gay factor' brought a win to the previously little known Serbian singer Marija Serifovic.

Cheers!
Neven Anđelić Neven Anđelić 19:48 22.05.2008

Re: Articles

Thanks. Failed to mention an unedited version.
naroz naroz 19:48 22.05.2008

Re: Articles

I am not sure, if there are now too many of them (:
snikolic snikolic 19:32 23.05.2008

Re: Articles

Bugüne değin İrlanda tam 7 kez birinci olarak en çok kazanan ülke oldu.En çok ev sahipliği yapan ülke ise 5 birinciliği bulunan Birleşik Krallık'tır.Tam 8 defa ev sahipliği yapmıştır. EBU'nun tahminine göre Eurovision, her yıl ortalama 400 ile 600 milyon izleyici tarafından izlenmekte ve bu sayı her yıl giderek artmaktadır. Ülkelerin çoğu Eurovision'a göndereceği şarkıyı seçmek için her yıl ulusal yarışma düzenliyor ve şarkının belirlenmesi için halk oylamasına başvuruyor. Buna karşın bazı ülkeler doğrudan sanatçıyı seçerek beste siparişi vermeyi tercih ediyor.
Budimac Budimac 16:05 25.05.2008

Re: Articles

Bu ne? Bu senin yazı mı, yada copy/paste? Sen Turkçe biliyorsun? İnanmyorum. Er biliyorsun neden saçmalık yaziyorsun?
Moderator08 Moderator08 12:31 26.05.2008

Obavestenje

Lütfen kullanma turkish dili daha fazla. Daha ileri yazıyor turkish dili silinmiş olacak.
nsarski nsarski 21:27 22.05.2008

?

Thus I am getting ready this year for the 'PART DUEX'

I think it should be PART DEUX (My French is a trifle rusty, though).
Neven Anđelić Neven Anđelić 21:40 22.05.2008

Re: ?

Merci!
changée?
HalloLili07 HalloLili07 23:19 22.05.2008

svasta...

Serbia won the right last year after a combination of regional alliances, vote of Diaspora and ‘gay factor' brought win to previously little known Serbian singer Marija Serifovic. The dissolution of Yugoslavia means six new states that participate in this competition and they all granted Serbia maximum points last year....

zaboravio si i "Ugly Betty" efekat... e pa ne mogu da verujem kakva drskost, kakav tekst!

prosle godine je jedan Englez seo, dokon covek valjda, pa je izbacio sa spiska sve zemlje koje se nikada nisu takmicile na Evroviziji a ostavio Srbiju kao 'naslednicu' Jugoslavije, pa ponovo preracunao samo glasove preostalih zemalja - i gle cuda: opet je Marija Serifovic imala najvise glasova!!!! citala sam na nekoj diskusiji na BBC-jevom sajtu....

toliko....
tnosugar tnosugar 09:34 23.05.2008

Re: svasta...

second that, takodje sam video i taj proracun.
imali smo najbolju pesmu prosle godine, svi su se slozili. kao sto ove godine nemamo. licni favoriti su mi Turska i Danska i BiH, ali nesto mi mirise na ruski juris u finalu.

prilicno bezveze komentar, napisan u stilu 'ocekujem da je ovakvo misljenje dominantno u ciljnom citalastvu, pa cu zato da ga iznesem'
Neven Anđelić Neven Anđelić 10:59 23.05.2008

Re: svasta...

hajdemo ovako: postojali su i komentari kako su zemlje sa znacajnim pravoslavnim stanovnistvom glasale za srbiju, pa post-komunisticke. i sam sam pisao da to nije tacno. a da dijaspora glasa jeste tacno i da je to odraz demokratije i globalizacije je takodje tacno. na evroviziji je rijetko kada pobjedjivala najbolja pjesma ali to niej smetalo da se pokvari zabava. tako je bilo i prosle godine ali je interesantno sto je pobjeda otisla u zemlju koja zvanicno ima ponajmanje prijatelja u evropi, ili barem ponajvise neprijatelja, ali isto kada se narod pitao, glas je isao u prilog upravo toj i takvoj zemlji. je l ipjesma bila najbolja ili nije ostajeu pitno i zapravo nebitno kao i na ostalim takmicenjima jer sve je pitanje ukusa. Ono sto je mene zanimalo zasto i kako do najveceg broja glasova.
tnosugar tnosugar 14:19 23.05.2008

Re: svasta...

u uskim krugovima u briselu i vasingtonu je procenjeno da bi pobeda Srbije na evrosongu i dolazak puno evropljana naredne godine u Beograd znacajno poboljsalo sanse da Srbija dobije demokratsku vladu koja ce potpisati SSP, deregulisati privredu i prihvatiti sve uslove koje namece clanstvo u EU.
Sve je podeseno tako da se 70% ukucanih brojeva ipak registruje kao Srbija. :)
Isti slucaj ove godine ce biti sa Rusijom, da bi se omeksali da ne dizu cene gasa i nafte pred zimsku sezonu u finansijski kriznoj godini. Elem, zato su dobili i finale lige sampiona......itd...

sta kazete za teoriju zavere :)
Srđan Mitrović Srđan Mitrović 10:04 23.05.2008

imam dilemu

*** ups.
ipak sam se predomislio. ne žeim da komentarišem tekst.
izvinjavam se.
Neven Anđelić Neven Anđelić 10:54 23.05.2008

Re: imam dilemu

sada me kopka. pogotovo sto dolazi od znalca i vrlog pratioca dogadjaja. a jeste napisano shodno ciljnoj grupi citalastva.
Srđan Mitrović Srđan Mitrović 23:14 23.05.2008

Re: imam dilemu

zahvaljujem na komplimentima. manje sam znalac a više pratim događaj.
mislim da ima previše politike i to me je odbilo od teksta. svako bira svoj ugao gledanja. ja biram zezanje, bar što se eurosonga tiče.

Slobicus Slobicus 16:22 23.05.2008

Who are you?

And what have you done to possess Neven Anđelić like this? **


Seriously, Neven, you sound like old news and I feel your "Serbosong" is pretty off note in this text.

I was desperately trying to find a take-home message here. Again, what was this text about? You, rightly predicting the outcome? Mockery of the Eurovision Song Contest coming from western countries? Serbia's young diaspora and its only chance of expressing patriotism? Security guarantees in post-Kosovo Serbia? Yuschenko, Franco, Serbian Yuschenko, or "for that matter" Serbian Franco?
Or, maybe, this text is about "the curse of the Belgrade Arena", since you dedicated it two paragraphs. The curse of the Belgrade Arena? An "important fact", indeed.

Neven, no hard feelings, but, if not to Marija Serifovic, this text would probably be an insult to most of the Serbian kids that are hosting this event. I think you are missing a lot of the local vibe in Belgrade. Even if this is targeted to your UK readership, for a writer that is typically as sharp as a scientist, this is messy and without much insight.

** I am mostly lurking on this blog. However, not only that I appreciate your balanced and veritable insights about ex Yu, but having lived both in Berkeley and the UK, I share most of your sentiments from there.
snikolic snikolic 19:36 23.05.2008

Re: Who are you?

ۋیكیپېدیيەغا خۇش كەلدیڭیز! ۋیكیپېدیيە بولسا نۇرغۇنلیغان تیللاردیكی ئېنسیكلوپېدیيە بولۇپ, ئەگەر ئۇيغۇر تیلینیمۇ شۇ تیللارنیڭ ئیچیدیكی مەزمۇنی بیر قەدەر مول تیللارنیڭ بیری قیلیمەن دەيدیكەنسیز, سیز كۆپچیلیككە قېتیلیپ ئۇيغۇرچە ۋیكیپېدیيەنیڭ مەزمۇنینی كېڭەيتیشكە كۈچ چیقیرايلی. ھازیرغیچە ئۇيغۇرچە ۋیكیپېدیيەدا جەمیي .


يېڭی مەزمۇن ياكی كونا مەزمۇنلارنی قانداق تەھریرلەش نی بیلمەكچی بولسیڭیز يۇقارقی ئۇلانمینی چېكیڭ, ئەگەر سیناپ باقماقچی بولسینسگیز بۇنی ساندبوكس چېكیڭ, شۇنداقلا كوممۇنیتي پورتال نی زیيارەت قیلسیڭیز سیز ۋیكیپېدیيەدیكی ھەرقانداق ماقالیلارنی شۇان
Neven Anđelić Neven Anđelić 20:51 23.05.2008

Re: Who are you?

I really appreciate your thoughts. Will work on the improvement.
Ovo je zaista mozda najdemokraticnija opaska koju sam dozivio u svom radu. Apsolutna kritika na zaista neuvredljiv nacin. Hvala.
BakerStreetIrregular BakerStreetIrregular 00:25 24.05.2008

Re: Who are you?

Eurovision akhbar.
Vladimir Maričić Vladimir Maričić 18:23 23.05.2008

Londoner?

Da li je tacno da su vozaci londondskih autobusa dobili "DNA kit" da bi sakupljali pljuvacku onih putnika koji pljuju na vozace? Ne razumem zasto kamere nisu dovoljne vec je potreban i DNK dokaz identiteta.

Pa tako se ni radikali ne ponasaju u Beogradu!
Neven Anđelić Neven Anđelić 20:49 23.05.2008

Re: Londoner?

Kaze mi zena da je tacno. Problem s kamerama u Londonu je da oni imaju sve snimljeno i mogu to fino prikazati i na teveu ali pojma nemaju ko su likovi sa snimaka. Tako je i sa autobusima. Ali, ozbiljno, problem je tu s nekim ljudskim pravima. Zasto i kada se smije prikupiti DNA i koliko se i gdje smije cuvati. Da li samo od kriminalaca i od kojih? Uostalom kada i ko odlucuje da li je neki prekrsaj dovoljno opasan da bi seo pisao kao kriminalan. Postoji jedan uradak najnovijeg otkrica britanske umjetnosti - Banksi - koji je postavio mural u obliku grafita 'One nation under CCTV' uz mladog covjeka na ljestvama koji upravo ispisuje taj slogan. I to je toliko tacno.
BakerStreetIrregular BakerStreetIrregular 00:20 24.05.2008

Terry Wogan

I laughed so much when I heard the now-famous comment of Terry Wogan (a couple of years ago):

"We may have won the Cold War, but we lost Eurovision."

So true.

And so deservedly so.

Vladimir Maričić Vladimir Maričić 07:38 24.05.2008

Re: Terry Wogan

or "where is NATO to help us now?"
2007
Budimac Budimac 15:28 25.05.2008

Re: Terry Wogan

"Terry Wogan's commentary is why any sane person would choose to watch the Eurovision." -- Christopher John Tarrant

so true...

Arhiva

   

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