Serbia wins the Eurovision 2007 Song Contest

Being from North American, where the European Broadcast Union has little or no influence, I only came to know about the contest after doing an interview with Ruslana back in 2002 or 2003.

Together with friends I watched the Song Contest from Istanbul at a friends apartment, in fact this was only Ukraine's second time participating in the Contest and needless to say we were all overjoyed when Ruslana came out on top, and bringing the contest to Kyiv.

There was a great deal of debate on whether Ukraine would be capable of hosting the 50th Eurovision Song Contest, but it turned out that they did a very good job of it. I was fortunate to see much of the workings of the inside of this Contest having been hired by UT1,to work on the editorial staff of the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest's website.

Actually this year Eurovision was one of the farthest things from my mind, and rather than a planned viewing, I together with some friends joined Rotaract Kyiv on a boat cruise on the Dnipro. After the cruise we decided to hit the Golden Gate Pub for a night cap, it was packed so we headed down Prorizna to the Drum.

When the three of us walked in, it was only then that it dawned on me that last night was the 52nd Annual Eurovision Song Contest.

We ordered our beverages and watched the remaining competitors and made our own evaluations of who should win. We collectively selected... We felt that the group from Germany wasn't bad, that the French group was silly bubble gum glam pop, and that the Brit's had a British Airways commercial as their participant.

When the Serbian group came out I knew within the first couple of bars of Marija ŠERIFOVIĆ powerful vocals that these people stood a pretty good chance. When someone asked me if I was rooting for Verka Serduchka I laughed. Why, she, he it, is an embarrassment to the the talent that we actually have in this country. I think I will suggest he read my blog, to better understand where I come from on these types of matters.

While the competition has become a good venue for Eastern Europe countries to break on to the scene, most countries with developed music industries often scoff at the idea that a musician would compete in such a made-for-TV contest.

It was an extremely tight vote in the end, and yes, for the first time ever I voted in Eurovision, and I voted for Serbia.

My friends were tired and left before the voting was over but I held out to the end. A good Slovak-Hungarian friend seemed to also be rooting for countries in what was once known as Yugoslavia.

After he and other friends had left and the results were final I text messaged a number of friends with him being amongst them. His response was:

Yeah. Volim Srbia!

I was glad to see that winning song was Molitva sang by Marija ŠERIFOVIĆ and that power and quality won out over the kitschy bad taste of Andriy Danylko's performance.

Are you ready to be famous

Reading some of the Ukrainian music business press today, I came across an article that made me think a little more about what happens to people when they become extremely successful for any reason.

In a post on Territoria-A, it appears that Andriy Danylko, better known as Verka Serduchka, had refused to tour since the end of January for a few months as he has been undergoing treatment for alcohol abuse/alcoholism.

As it has been seen in the entire business world. All of us have to be psychologically prepared in order to travel down any road to success. While I do not exactly like the stuff Danylko does, I do hope he can go clean. He is after all a person, and actually a pretty bright guy.

Some more thoughts on the problems of contemporary Ukrainian culture

Earlier on I posted two different posts dealing with the problems both abroad and internally within Ukrainian contemporary culture. Most recently with the selection of Verka Serduchka to represent Ukraine in the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest is another example of what ails the system.

One of the elements which has created problems in the formation of contemporary Ukrainian culture was the awarding of people with titles such as Merited Artist of Ukraine and other such titles. This carry over from Soviet times has created a group of haves and have nots in the Ukrainian cultural scene, and as a result has ghettoized Ukrainian culture, while promoting the tastes of those who are truly dinosaurs and who should have long ago become extinct. Another problem which this has promoted is the favourtism and benefits that these artists receive. This contributes to a disbalanced playing field for those who are truly talented and deserve government support and those who either purchased their titles, or simply were able to lobby to obtain it.

Shortly after Yushchenko's ascent to power as President of Ukraine there were a few healthy signs that were witnessed in the Ukrainian music industry, with the most mentionable was the refusal of Sviatoslav Vakarchuk, lead man of Okean Elzy, of receiving the title of Merited Artist of Ukraine. At that time there was still a glimmer of hope in the industry. But that glimmer of hope in the industry also faded as President Yushchenko failed to carry out the sweeping changes he had promised on Maydan. The process of cleaning out all that was rotten in the system not only did not take place politically, it didn't take place culturally. Nor was a strategy developed to develop Ukraine's cultural industry. Well a strategy was developed, but unfortunately there has no political will to push the strategy forth. It was developed by a friend of mine and the grandson of composer Kyrylo Stetsenko who carries his grandfather's name, and even though Kyrylo sits on the Advisory Council on Culture to the President, little has been done, in my opinion to carry this strategy forward. I have seen the document, nearly 200 pages, which outlines the steps for developing a cultural strategy for Ukraine. It is based on international experience, but as the old saying goes in Ukrainian:”Who are you to tell me what to do and how to do it!”

As a result we have a situation which is beginning to put Ukrainian contemporary culture in a ghetto. Music TV station M1 and event channels like 1+1 seem to be headed by individuals who have no, or little understanding of the promotion of national interests of an industry continue to minimize and mock Ukrainian culture in the following ways, but those who are being used as pawns seem to have little understanding of what is going on. For example, M1 will play some Ukrainian music as a token gesture, while 1+1 has been running one of the most retrograde shows called Dancing with Stars, where it has even invited individuals like Oleh Skrypka to participate. What to hell was Oleh thinking about by participating in such a piece of trash.

So needless to say, there is a long battle to be fought in the cultural arena in Ukraine. I hope that the diaspora understands that Ukraine has to not only undergo mass reforms politically but also culturally – Ukraine has to understand how to protect its interests in this sphere and start to doing so based on international experience and by putting forth its best foot. How it will do so will seriously involved a revolution, and the death of the dinosaurs who have been growing their pocketbooks while ignoring developments on the world stage.

Revanche on Eurovision

Well last Friday night it was made official. Verka Serduchka the stage name of Andriy Danylko was chosen to represent Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest. Does this come as a surprise to anyone? I would say it doesn't. It just goes to show the low level of professionalism at the First National Television channel of Ukraine.

True, in most countries with well developed music industries, musicians do not even consider entering the Eurovision Song Contest, a made for television show showcasing talents of the different countries who are members of the European Broadcast Union.

Clearly Ukraine doesn't have a developed music industry, but nor does it have seasons music listeners who understand top class music.

Unfortunately back in 2005 Mykola Tomenko made a political decision to put forth Green Jolly for the Eurovision Song Contest. Well as a result two years later we have Verka Serduchka...