The 2018 Eurovision Song Contest: Winners & Stand Outs Pt.4

This is best read as a continuation of Part 3; https://watchitdie.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-2018-eurovision-song-contest.html

Georgia: It has been a big year for Georgia.

February and March saw the 2018 Winter Olympics. These picked up the baton from the 2014 Winter Olympics which were held in Sochi, Russia.

As a result the main talking point at this year's games has been aggression towards Russia. Not least the US decision to overthrow the government of Russia's immediate neighbour Ukraine triggering a civil war during the 2014 Winter Olympics.

At the cross section between Olympics and aggression towards Russia Georgia are something of the experts.

The 2008 Summer Olympics were held in Beijing, China. The then Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili used this as an opportunity to attack Russian forces on the border between the two nations triggering eight days of war.

Saakashvili's thinking was that the NATO nations would immediately leap to Georgia's aid and go to war with Russia. This would allow NATO to finally conquer Russia and Saakashvili would be welcomed as a hero of the west.

Saakashvili got this just spectacularly wrong. Recognising Georgia's aggression NATO stood-by and the Georgian military were quickly defeated by the Russian military.

Rather than being welcomed as a hero this miscalculation saw Saakashvili and Georgia cast out by the west. Any suggestion of them joining NATO or the European Union (EU) ended there and then.

Georgia's isolation has been particularly evident at the Eurovision Song Contest. One of the few pan-European events it is still able to participate in.

Their 2014 entry; "Three Minutes to Earth" by The Shin & Mariko was weird, random and completely disconnected from what was going on in the rest of Europe. Perfectly reflecting Georgia's position in the west following the 2008 attack on Russia.

In 2016 Georgia tried really hard with the song; "Midnight Gold" by Nika Kocharov and Young Georgian Lolitaz who were one of the most cutting edge bands in Georgia at the time. However as many people pointed out the most cutting edge band in Georgia in 2016 was a lot like the bands of the "Madchester" music scene such as The Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays back from the early 1990's.

Georgia began to emerge from the diplomatic deep freeze in 2012 when Saakashvili was deposed as President. In 2014 Saakashvili was indicted in no fewer then nine criminal cases including the murder of Prime Minister Georgia Zurab Zhvania in 2005 and the murder of Sandro Girgvliani in 2006.

At this point Saakashvili fled to Ukraine. Where at the US' insistence he was made a Ukrainian citizen and appointed Governor of the Odessa region. Significantly undermining US claims of both a popular revolution and of Ukrainian independence.

In July 2017 Ukraine started to learn from Georgia's mistakes stripping Saakashvili of his Ukrainian citizenship. In December 2017 Ukrainian police arrested Saakashvili following a bizarre roof top chase. During the 2018 Winter Olympics Ukraine finally expelled Saakashvili from the country on February 12th (12/2/18).

Another main topic at the 2018 Winter Olympics was the practice of making false claims of foreign aggression in order to rig elections. Again due to Saakashvili this is a topic in which Georgia are something of the experts.

In May 2010 Saakashvili's United National Movement (ENM) Party were contesting elections in the Georgian capital Tbilisi.

On March 13th (13/3/10) Imedi TV ran their weekly news show; "Special Report" as usual. The show opened with the breaking news that a protest in Tbilisi by the opposition Movement for Fair Georgia had been attacked by gunmen resulting in the deaths of many protesters.

Taking the form of rolling news over the course of the next hour Special Report claimed that Movement for Fair Georgia had blamed Saakashvili for the killings and called on Russia to invade to free Georgia from the; "Saakashvili Tyranny." Russia responded by invading Russia. Events Special Report reported on live complete with footage of Russian tanks rolling into Georgia. 

This was all entirely fake. However because it was on a recognised news network presented by recognised journalists people believed it. Georgian military units mobilised on the basis of the news report of a Russian invasion and three people were killed in the chaos.

In explanation Imedi TV claimed that they were recreating the famous 1938 Orson Welles production of; "The War of the Worlds" in the US. However people quickly pointed out that the broadcast certainly whipped Georgian voters up into a frenzy of support for Saakashvili's ENM and opposition to the Movement for Fair Georgia.

The illegal seizure of ownership of Imedi TV in 2007 is just one of the nine criminal cases Saakashvili is currently under indictment in.

This year Georgia were represented by Ethno-Jazz Band Iriao with the song; "For You."

The band see it as their musical mission to blend traditional Georgian vocal folk music with modern influences such as jazz. Their name comes from; "Iriao-uruao" a phrase common in the "Krimanchuli" form of Georgian yodelling. In their presentation the band are very much in the modern, fashionable "Hipster" style. With sharp suits, even sharper haircuts and elaborately crafted facial hair. 

Despite its isolation Georgia has a very young population who like to see themselves as uber cool innovators and creators. They have a very large drug fuelled rave music club scene and like to present themselves as emerging leaders in the fashion world. Demna Gvasalia who is the creative director at the Spanish fashion house Balenciaga being probably the most high profile example.

Gvasalia's own label Vetements has risen on a wave of what is termed; "Anti-Fashion," Inspired by the Situationist school of art this involves taking everyday items such a police uniforms and turning them into high fashion items with high fashion price tags. Gvasalia announced his term at Balenciaga with a handbag in the style of an IKEA carrier bag with a price tag of $2,500.

Again it must be said that this anti-fashion trend does really remind me of Britain in the early 1990's. During the rave scene everyday items such as construction workers hi-vis clothing and all white dust suits and masks became highly fashionable.

The key part of Georgia's entry was the difference between the video in support of the entry and the live performance.

The video includes these two ethereal white clad female dancers. They were noticeably missing from the live performance.

Those female dancers represented the regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. These autonomous border regions have long been a source of tension between Russia and Georgia. The eight days of war in 2008 were triggered by Georgian attacks on Russian peacekeepers in those regions.

Particularly now the media have whipped US voters into an absolute frenzy people will claim that South Ossetia and Abkhazia and regions of Georgia that Russia has invaded. As is often the case with the US media the truth is different from that and much more complicated.

In 1917 a series of revolutions overthrew the Russian Monarchy and collapsed the Russian Empire. Nations such as Finland used the chaos as a way to escape the Russian Empire and declare independence. 

Georgia went in the opposite direction launching a war against the Bolsheviks in order to keep the Russian Empire intact with Georgia very much a part. A conflict made famous by the White Russian cocktail.

When the Soviet Union broke apart many nations such as Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia decided to become independent states. The majority of Georgia joined them. The regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia though decided to remain part of Russia and never joined an independent Georgia.

After some thirty years of conflict you have to ask the question of whether its worth continuing to try and force people who want to be Russian to be Georgian instead. Particularly when that conflict is keeping Georgia out of international organisations such as the EU.

By not including South Ossetia and Abkhazia in their live performance Georgia were posing just this question. Primarily for the domestic audience.

Understandably this is a controversial question in Georgia. So on the night of the Grand Final Georgian police mounted heavy handed raids against nightclubs in Tbilisi. This triggered mass protests intended to represent protests against letting South Ossetia and Abkhazia go.

Moldova: This year they were represented by DoReDoS with the song; "My Lucky Day."

DoReDos are a three piece band who all grew up in the town of Rybnitsa. This is in a very specific part of Moldova, the Transnistria region.

When the Soviet Union collapsed Moldova became independent. However much like South Ossetia and Abkhazia Transnistria decided it wanted to remain part of Russia and broke away.

Moldova's big gimmick during the live performances was that they performed in front of this giant wall on stage. During the performance different doors and windows in this wall would open revealing different band members in different positions. Eventually it was revealed that this was achieved by using the band and near identical body doubles.

As if the band had suddenly broken away into two parts.

In November 2017 the governments of Moldova and Transnistria reached an agreement which would open both countries up in a number of areas such as road access, access to crossborder farmland and mobile telecommunications network. The video in support of the song shows one of the band being forced to use an old payphone presumably to call home from Moldova's Black Sea coast.

The song celebrates welcoming Transnistria back into Moldova. Unlike previous Moldovan entries such as 2014's "Wild Soul" by Cristina Scarlat this song was very much in the style of western low culture rather than Russian high culture. Traditionally this has been used at the Song Contest to signify support for the west. 

In this case it was expressing a desire for the united Moldova to join the EU. Officially the song was about enjoying 'relations' with multiple partners.

28 partners to be precise. Although Britain might pull out early.  

17:25 on 19/7/18 (UK date).