Basel, Switzerland (AP) – The biggest live music event in the world has reached its sequins brutket conclusion with the grand finale on Saturday from the Eurovision SongA celebration of Music and unity ruffled by discord on the participation of Israel.
A singing trio for Sweden on the joys of the saunas and an Austrian -class classic trainer are among those who took the trophy to take the Eurovision trophy in the form of a microphone in the competition Basel, Switzerland.
But during the event still insufficient, the price could just as well go to powerful singers of France, in the Netherlands or in Finland – or even an Estonian who sings Italian coffee. The last disassembly at 9 p.m. local time.
The Suna song in Sweden is a favorite
Bookmakers say the favorite is Kaj, representing Sweden With their ode to the culture of the sauna “Bara Bada Bastu”, followed by the pop-opera song of the Austrian singer JJ “Wasted Love”.
The French singer Louane increased the chances with “Maman”, just like the Dutch singer Claude with a moving ballad “It is life” and Erika Vikman of Finland with the insinuations “Ich Komme”. Tommy Cash from Estonia is also a competitor with his very coffee dance song “Espresso Macchiato”.
Yuval Raphael of Israel won many fans with his anthinemia “New Day Will Rise”, but also faced demonstrations by pro-Palestinian demonstrators calling Israel to be expelled from the competition on his conduct of the War against Hamas in Gaza.
Proceedings of 26 countries – cut off from 37 participants in Two elimination semi-finals – will occur at some 160 million viewers For the pop crown of the continent. No manure machine, flame jet or dizzying display was spared by musicians who have 3 minutes to win viewers who, as well as the national juries of music professionals, choose the winner.
The live show should also present a performance invited by non -binary Swiss singer Nemo – Who won last year’s competition in Sweden – and a confrontation between two fans’ favorites: Baby Lasagne of Croatia, the 2024 finalist with “Rim Tim Tagi Dim”, and Käärijä of Finland, whose hymn of rap party “Cha Cha” was finished second in 2023.
There are also rumors of an appearance of Céline Dion. Before she was a world star, the Canadian singer won Eurovision in 1988, competition for Switzerland. She sent a video message to one of the semi-finals, where three singers interpreted her winning song, “don’t leave without me” (don’t leave without me).
An eclectic competition
Dean Virtic, an expert in the history of Eurovision, said that competition has become more diverse over the years, both musically and linguistic. There are songs in 20 languages this year, notably Ukrainian, Icelandic, Albanian, Latvian and Maltese.
“In the past, it was a question of having a catchy and harmless pop song, generally in English,” he said. But in the past decade, “we have seen songs become much more socially and politically committed, songs that present to the public a kind of meaning.”
“In recent years, the formula approach to an entry into Eurovision has not succeeded,” he added. “An entry must be memorable and it must be authentic to succeed these days.”
This year’s competition was disrupted for a second year by disputes on the participation of Israel. Dozens of former participants, including the Nemo in Switzerland, called Israel to be excluded.
The pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli demonstrations both took place in Basel, although a much smaller scale than at last year’s event in Sweden, where the tensions overturned behind the scenes and the Dutch competitor Joost Klein was expelled on an allecation allegedly with a crew member.
The European Union of Broadcasting or EBU, which manages Eurovision, subsequently tightened the COMPETITION CODE of conduct, calling on participants to respect the values of Eurovision of “universality, diversity, equality and inclusiveness” and its political neutrality.
The artists say that the atmosphere behind the scenes of this year is more relaxed.
After a controversial prohibition in 2024 on flags, with the exception of the national ones, being agitated in the arena, members of the public of this year can bring Palestinian or others, as long as they are legal under Swiss law. The artists, however, can only act the flag of their own country.
Axel Åhman, a third of the favorites Kaj, admitted that it was difficult to maintain Eurovision a non -political event.
“The world still infiltrates a certain sense,” he told the AP. “But we are here to represent Sweden and we have prepared for this for all our lives and we want to get the most out of our moment as an artists in this enormous and legendary competition.
“So our main objective is there, and politics (we) try to leave this to the Ubu and those who really make decisions.”
The director of Eurovision, Martin Green, told journalists that the objective of the organizers was to “restore a feeling of unity, calm and conviviality this year in a difficult world”.
“The 37 delegations, in difficult times, behaved impeccably,” he said.
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The journalists of Associated Press Hilary Fox and Kwiyeon Ha contributed to this report.
