Even Less To Do With Belgrade

Estavisti wants a new post, and I have been back for a week, so here's a quick miscellany. One might have thought that Belgrade should have provided as many opportunities for a post as the Gazette's trip to Ljubljana last year did: and it did, but most of them were of the 'Arrange in ascending likelihood of a secret affair: Rebeka Dremelj, Željko Joksimović, Toše Proeski, and Anna Vissi' variety, and other Svet-type snippets.

Flamingosi, the Serbian Eurovision-representatives-who-weren't following the collapse of Evropesma, continue to be ubiquitous (a new B-side version of the song replaces its list of European capitals with cities in Serbia and Montenegro: 'Šabac, Kotor, Novi Sad / Podgorica, Beograd'), despite the fact that - political significance aside - Ludi letnji ples is what people who don't watch Eurovision think Eurovision is like.

That would be unlike the British chav anthem, the fake German country band, or the Finnish metal band in monster masks then, Catherine?

Point taken. So, continuing the Gazette's main theme for spring, the Severina/Let 3 Moja štikla video has been around for a while, in case you want to watch her chasing them around Zagreb with her štiklama. The Letovci had their own moment in the spotlight last weekend at the annual Porin award ceremony, winning two awards for the best rock album and the best video, and performing Ero s onoga svijeta wearing even higher-cut versions of Severina's Štikla dress. (Continuing their parody of showbusiness folk music and hypermasculinity, the song's their version of the final kolo from Jakov Gotovac's Dinaric opera which was also adapted by Marko Perković Thompson into the middle eight of his Geni kameni.)

Ivan Mikulić, meanwhile, attempted to outdo the lot of them by appearing on Melodije Mostara with fifty dancers in folkloric costumes to accompany him on Igraj, igraj, nemoj stat' (Dance, dance, don't stop). Večernji list comments that 'he did it in the style of Severina, using mainly elements of ethno-music and the rich choreography of numerous backing vocalists in national costumes.'

Some day soon, there'll be a point where even the Gazette is asking how much more ethno-choreography it can take...

Comings And Goings

Mainly goings, actually: Serbia-Montenegro is said to have from Eurovision, following the breakdown of Evropesma on Saturday, after a representative could not be agreed at a meeting between Serbian and Montenegrin television today.

The official statement from the joint Serbia-Montenegro broadcasting body makes no mention of withdrawal, only that 'the SCG representative for the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest in Athens was not determined', and several days still remain before the deadline for all national entries to be chosen.

If Serbia-Montenegro isn't represented at Eurovision, the Croatian entry may now avoid the qualifying phase on 18 May and be placed straight into the final (as the country which missed out on automatic qualification by one place in 2005), although at the expense of an almost-guaranteed set of maximum points from Serbia-Montenegro.

The Gazette, meanwhile, will shortly be off to Sweden for several days - normal service will probably be resumed early next week.

Showbusiness Ethnopolitics: Evrop(j)esma

Despite Saturday's events, the final of Serbia-Montenegro's own pre-selection for Eurovision went ahead on Saturday night, and all involved might wish now that it hadn't.

For the last two years, Serbian and Montenegrin television (RTS and RTCG) have both held their own semi-finals (Beovizija and Montevizija) for the event before combining the best-placed songs from both shows in a final called Evropesma or Evropjesma, depending on who's asking.

In total, eight acts from each show qualified for this year's Evropesma, headed by the Beovizija winners Flamingosi and the Montevizija winners No Name, who had also represented Serbia-Montenegro in 2005.

Rumours had been widely circulated before Evropesma that the Montenegrin members of the expert jury were planning to vote en bloc, and unfortunately appeared to be confirmed when the Montenegrin jurors gave no points to Flamingosi. In fact, according to RTS, all the Beovizija songs received 20 Montenegrin points between them, compared with 52 points awarded by Serbian jurors to songs from Montevizija.

Once No Name's victory was apparent, the audience of more than 4,000 chanted 'Thieves' at the Montenegrin jurors, interrupted the reprise of No Name's performance and called for Flamingosi to perform instead (as they then did, joined by other performers from Beovizija). RTS has refused to recognise the Evropesma result, and as things stand the SCG entry may be withdrawn altogether: a solution is supposed to be reached by tomorrow (Tuesday).

A commentary in Danas today is especially pessimistic, comparing it to 'the match between Dinamo [Zagreb] and Crvena Zvezda [Belgrade]' which 'announced what would happen later in the then common [Yugoslav] state.' The famous football match in question took place in Zagreb in May 1990, when police beat up Croatian spectators in a fight between Dinamo and CZ fans and the Dinamo captain Zvonimir Boban launched a drop kick at one police officer; there are shades, too, of the 1991 edition of Jugovizija, where a block vote from the Serbian, Montenegrin, Vojvodinan and Kosovo juries awarded victory to the Serbian representative Bebi Dol.

The Croatian press have caught up with the story too, although with Severina scheduled to perform in the Evropesma interval, it's no wonder it was a little more interested in the show than usual. Večernji list, for one, is on the Flamingos' side:

'While Flamingosi this year, in combination with the legendary Luis, offered Europe a seductive and 'good-natured' [dobroćudnu] combination of Latino and urban pop, the song by the Montenegrin group No Name openly flirted with nationalism in its lyrics - because it is wrapped in a form that it presents the referendum which will be held in Montenegro on 21 May, and it is indicative that the very evening before, Eurovision is being held in Greece.'

Is their song Moja ljubavi (My love) nationalism by stealth? It's no Hrvatski sokole, much less a Don't Ever Cry, My Croatian Sky - Croatia's first Eurovision entry as an independent state. Here's the full text in Montenegrin (heavy on the dawn, sea, mountains and so forth): true, it can equally be read as referring to romantic love or to the patriotic kind, but the same could be said about - for one thing - Ivan Mikulić's Daješ mi krila (You give me wings), which won Dora two years ago. So the jury's out.

The audience did like Severina's guest appearance, though...