This year's Eurovision is a very international affair in many ways. Not only are 42 countries taking part with many songs written by authors from another country and the various groups on stage featuring for example dancers from countries other than they represent.
Also among the featured artists we have some nice mixes; Joan Franka from the Netherlands is half Turkish, Gaitana from Ukraine is half-Congolese. Finnish Pernilla is of the Swedish speaking minority in Finland and Bulgaria's Sofi Marinova of the Romani minority. Can Bonomo is Sephardian Jew, a minority in Turkey. And we can add Albanian Rona Nishliu to that lot as well being from Kosovo. The Russian grannies represent the Udmurts, a small Finno-Ugric tribe while the Romanian Mandinga makes its own tribe by featuring artists from Cuba, Chile, Romania and who knows where else, too.
Then we have singers born in Guatemala and Indonesia representing their new home countries Denmark and France, and Tooji for Norway who is of Persian origin and Loreen from Sweden who is Moroccan Berber. And the Belarusian Litesound features one Italian member, Jacopo Massa. That makes quite an international crowd, don't you think?
Also among the featured artists we have some nice mixes; Joan Franka from the Netherlands is half Turkish, Gaitana from Ukraine is half-Congolese. Finnish Pernilla is of the Swedish speaking minority in Finland and Bulgaria's Sofi Marinova of the Romani minority. Can Bonomo is Sephardian Jew, a minority in Turkey. And we can add Albanian Rona Nishliu to that lot as well being from Kosovo. The Russian grannies represent the Udmurts, a small Finno-Ugric tribe while the Romanian Mandinga makes its own tribe by featuring artists from Cuba, Chile, Romania and who knows where else, too.
Then we have singers born in Guatemala and Indonesia representing their new home countries Denmark and France, and Tooji for Norway who is of Persian origin and Loreen from Sweden who is Moroccan Berber. And the Belarusian Litesound features one Italian member, Jacopo Massa. That makes quite an international crowd, don't you think?
As for the languages it's a bit sadder. Instead of having nearly 40 possible languages if everybody sung in their own native language we hear only 10 sung fully in another than English. On the other hand we have Bulgaria that has words in 11 languages, including Turkish, Greek and Azerbaijani - all languages that the countries itself neglect totally. And despite ten songs co-written by the Swedish authors the only song performed in Swedish is that of Finland, which is not written by the Swedes. In all there are nearly 30 languages or dialects heard, even if only for few words, Udmurt and Mühlviertelisch making their debut.
Update: Austrian Lukas Plöchl of Trackshittaz is apparently half Chinese. Another country to add in the list.
Update: Austrian Lukas Plöchl of Trackshittaz is apparently half Chinese. Another country to add in the list.
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