The vote of the viewers in Europe was unequivocal: The Kalush Orchestra won the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 for Ukraine with “Stefania”. On a memorable evening in Turin, the German starter Malik Harris was the last to go under – and demonstratively cheered the shame away.
The Czech Republic opens the ESC 2022. The singer’s brother once won gold in Turin as an ice hockey goalkeeper. The electro pop flatterer “Lights Off” is also cool and quick to react. ARD commentator Peter Urban breathes a sigh of relief: “The start has been successful.”
The ruffled performance of the Romanian WRS definitely takes some getting used to (in one word, not easy at all!). Here Spanish matador flair crosses with Carpathian folklore. Headstrong!
“Saudade, saudade” pours Portuguese world-weariness into a pleasantly unfussy pop gem, carried by singer Maro. Germany’s commentator is blown away: “I thought it was beautiful!”
Finland’s former chart-toppers The Rasmus are looking for a career reboot shortcut with a new female guitarist. The singer gives the Bon Jovi in Friesennerz. Calculated somewhat clumsily, but flexible and catchy.
Marius Bear looks a lot more dodgy in a bacon leather jacket as he rasps the classic Tearjeker “Boys Do Cry.” In any case, Peter Urban has fallen for the Swiss with the “soft heart”. Drum roll, burning garbage cans and Kajal excesses, France celebrates Goa party in Turin. Peter Urban has even identified “Celtic rites”. That doesn’t make it any easier to digest.
Subwoofers twist the long wolf’s nose at the ESC audience. Who is hiding behind the masked Eletropop masquerade remains just as mysterious as the banana message.
Is Nicole back singing “A Little Peace”? No, the Armenian Rosa Linn soon puts down her white guitar and gesticulates through a sophisticated paper backdrop. In the song, on the other hand, there is little rustling of paper, which is surprisingly solid.
Home game for Mahmood
“SloMo” was originally offered to Jennifer Lopez, but the Spanish ESC starter with the fashion-conscious name Chanel struck. Their no less fashion-conscious outfit (Torrero above, little below) actually competes with JLo, making it difficult to identify more advantageous things. Even if the expert judges later see it differently.
“De Diepte” means “The Depth” in German, and that’s where the sinister appearance of the Dutch singer with the cryptic moniker S10 seems to come from. Unpretentious, but intense, or as Peter Urban swore: “Really sad emotion!”
Folk flutes, high-speed rap and a longing chorus combine with the Kalush Orchestra to create something that goes far beyond this ESC. Although the competition rules prohibit it, the end result is a call for help to the world for Ukraine and for Mariupol and the fighters at the Azov steel mill in particular.
Germany will start the race directly afterwards. A thankless starting position. With the bookmakers, Malik Harris has to roll up the field from the very back anyway. But there is no trace of curbed euphoria. There is applause in Turin for the interim rap. “Passionate performance, top candidate,” praises Peter Urban. However, that usually doesn’t bode well.
Lithuania brings back the pot cut, evening dress and glamor of Mireille Mathieu. Monika Liu is also vocally harmless. In addition to that, it would have been a usable song.
Praiseworthy: The vast majority of the evening’s songs, informs Peter Urban, come from the performers themselves. Not so “Fade To Black”, which fell out of a Scandinavian assembly line hit machine. Nadir Rustamli gives everything emotionally, but the song for Azerbaijan will not be “his”.
Jérémie Makiese plays football in Belgium’s second division and sings a league above it on the ESC stage. “Miss You” courageously stretches to Michael Jackson, but in the Champions League of pop the R’n’B exercise doesn’t go down well.
“Die Together”: The thematically darkest contribution of the evening comes from a woman in a white dress. With the Greek Amanda Georgiadi Tenfjord, even the invitation to die together sounds somehow sweet. “Scary-intense,” whispers it from the ARD commentary.
Three sisters spinning in sync with the guitars, that’s a good thing. Systur from Iceland look like elves stranded in the trucker pub. The song is Icelandic beguiling. “Peace for Ukraine” demand it at the end. In a just world… you know…
We don’t know if après-ski is an issue in Moldova. Zdob și Zdub
Sweden has found another singer who sounds like the favorite to win from the first breathed syllable. The barefoot Cornelia Jakobs coolly has her gently electronic-understated instant catchy tune under control right up to the drama finale.
Sheldon Riley had the longest journey to get there, and the Australian with Asperger’s Syndrome also had the most pain in his luggage. As well as most Granzdezza. At the end, the self-assertion aria in swan plumage is applied almost a bit thickly. But heartfelt, no question.
Head voice acrobatics, all-fantasies and hippie hair sticking out of the David Bowie memory one-piece. Great Britain at least shows humor after many ESC bankruptcies. And to be precise, Sam Ryder even made a wonderfully spaced glam rock pop koren in (self-timed) 15 minutes.
Apparently less humor, but just as weird and head-voiced: Ochman from Poland, together with ragged-robed expressive dancers (according to Peter Urban’s interpretation aid “Water Spirits”), drifts along a “river” of ESC style blossoms that don’t add up to a whole.
“Criticism of the Serbian health system” (Peter Urban). Rarely has an ESC contribution been made so palatable! But Konstrakta’s appearance then has a surprising amount of a hypermodern art installation. Everything obviously has a purpose and fortunately also a groove. But a bulky one .
Johhny Cash and Ennio Morricone fan and “Estonia’s sexiest man”. What can go wrong? Let’s put it this way: With Sergio Leone, singer Stefan would quickly be in the dust. After all, a final finale in Cinemascope in the land of spaghetti westerns. “Grazie tutti”, he has learned. But how do EBU member states vote?
According to the jury ratings, Great Britain is ahead of Sweden and Spain (from left: the moderators Alessandro Cattelan, Laura Pausini and Mika). And Malik Harris? Zero points. Germany remains last with 6 points even after the audience voting. Malik Harris celebrates the debacle in a demonstratively exuberant manner.
But the TV audience in Europe turns the decision. The Ukrainian contribution received the most viewer votes with an outstanding lead. The United Kingdom comes in second, Spain comes in third for whatever reason. What sticks? “A strong demonstration from Europe for Ukraine,” says Peter Urban. It can be left that way.
This article was written by Jens Szameit
The original of this post “After folk flutes and high-speed rap, Ukrainians break the rules on the ESC stage” comes from the Teleschau.
