Eurovision with a political accent

Yesterday the international jury and people of Georgia decided on participants of Eurovision 2009 contest to be held in Moscow. It is going to be "Stephane & 3G" band (with Stephane Mgebrishvili and three girls). By tradition this event has a political color in Georgia.

The qualification contest held in Georgia's first channel studio was accompanied by Internetforum NGO's protest action. The participants called on the singers to ignore the contest and forgo the trip to Moscow. Their associates from "Georgian club" NGO that was established in January in order "to take active part in development of civil society" asked the Georgian performers to boycott Eurovision in Moscow. This is their statement word-for-word presented by Trend IA: "By going to Moscow we symbolically acknowledge our moral defeat and our presence in Russian cultural areal".

Tamaz Khubua, a deputy chairing "Democratic reforms" faction believes that the performance of the singers on the Moscow stage will be an insult to the memory of Georgians who died in August. It seems the deputy places himself in "an international cultural areal" not mentioning the dead Ossetians even out of decency.

Debates on participation or non-participation of Georgian performers in Moscow Eurovision were brought to public discussion by TV and radio. The only thing is unclear: why should people frustrated by the war and crisis face issues that do not deserve such turbulent passions while really urgent matters keep being hushed up?

The opinions of Georgian strategists split: some of them shouted - don't go! They received objections: not going would mean showing off our hurt feelings, and is it not what the Kremlin wants? That is why others shouted - go! (It would be so unGeorgian-like not to try to outroar the opponents!) There were even suggestions to sing something extraordinary that would once and for all ruin Russia's reputation in the eyes of the world community. There were people who considered the participation-in-another-show buzz a senseless affair, but they simply kept silent.

Finally the expert jury and viewers voted for «We don't wanna Put in» song performers. The pun and the ambiguity of the title allow the song to be translated as "We don't wanna Putin" in Tbilisi. They believe that pop music fans all over the world will appreciate the humor.

However to understand such a delicate political hint of the Georgian singers it is necessary to understand Russian, English and be familiar with the intricacies of Georgian-Russian relations. It looks like an extremely difficult task for young Europeans, doesn't it? Then why do Georgian musicians go to Moscow?

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