(Newswire.net — May 17, 2016) — Singer-songwriter Jamala (Susana Jamaladynova) from Ukraine has won the 2016 Eurovision song contest with a song about the persecution of Tatars in Crimea in 1944 by the Soviet Union. The lyrics, however, aggravated the Russians who complained that it is a political statement directed to 240 million Eurosong viewers worldwide, the Guardian reported.
Singing “When strangers are coming, they come to your house, they kill you all and say we’re not guilty, not guilty,” Jamala referred to the events that happened in 1944 when more than 240,000 Tatars were forced to leave Crimea after Soviet leader Stalin accused them of collaborating with Nazis.
Jamala, who is herself a Crimean Tatar, told the Guardian that she has not been home since shortly after Russia’s 2014 annexation of the peninsula, while her parents and family still live there. It is not clear if Jamala was denied entry to Crimea or she refuses to visit her home out of protest of Putin’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.
Prior to the contest, Russian officials and certain politicians in Crimea had complained that the song was intended to denigrate Russia, the Guardian reported. However, the organizers decided the song did not violate the competition’s rules against political speech, even though Jamala herself admitted the song is about 2014.
“Of course it’s about 2014 as well,” Jamala told Guardian. “These two years have added so much sadness to my life. Imagine – you’re a creative person, a singer, but you can’t go home for two years. You see your grandfather on Skype, who is 90 years old and ill, but you can’t visit him. What am I supposed to do: just sing nice songs and forget about it? Of course I can’t do that,” Jamala told the Guardian by phone from the Swedish capital shortly before the contest.
Despite the Eurovisions strict rules against politics in the competition, it was always present in voting where political allies always exchanged maximum points to each other or sabotaged opponents by rewarding the closest song.
Before the final, which was held in Stockholm on Saturday evening and seen by many as the most politicized edition of the competition to date, Jamala had said her victory would show that Europeans were “ready to hear about the pain of other people”.
This song contest will be remembered for the first time appearance of Australia, who almost won the contest, staying in the lead until the very end. It was also the first time the Eurovision Song Contest was broadcast live in China and the US, reaching over 240 million viewers.
The next contest will be held in Ukraine and will hardly escape the politics given the escalated tensions between NATO and Russia.