Did you remember to bring your drums?

I watched the annual Eurovision Song Contest last night with my friend (and dance teacher) Heli, who was staying over at my place over the weekend. We thought we wouldn't watch the whole program, since with the voting results the show went on till 1.20 a.m. and we didn't think we'd be interested enough to stay awake.

Funny things happen, it turned out. We did stay up till the winner was announced, but not because we would've been very enthusiastic about any particular song (in other words, none of the songs was as catchy as last years Wild Dance by Ruslana) but mainly because we were so baffled.

What the hell was that show all about? About ladies singing ethnic / oriental songs in skimpy dresses, background dance groups and (ethnic) drum sections of variable sizes. I think half of the performers had some kind of ethnic drum set with them on stage. The exceptions to the rule seemed to be so few, that we couldn't help but wonder whether some of the performers felt embarrassed at all. *a song contestant to a staff member backstage pointing to a pile of darbukas, tablas, bodhrans and whathaveyou* "Erm, umm, you see, umm, we have those, eh, drums back there and we, you know, need them there, on stage. But our drums are, erm, different from the previous four sets of drums, and that's why we need our own. We're original, you see. Not copying anyone. Uh. Could you just help us?"

You know, we didn't really have that much to complain about, really. We're both, Heli and I, oriental dancers who liked the ethnic and oriental influences, but didn't you think there were just a few too many Ruslana/Shakira-wannabes last night? And how were you supposed to tell them apart from each other? Why did Greece win when Great Britain got a miserably low score, even if the song seemed to be made of exactly the same elements?

Ah, well. It was delightful to see, though, that the Maltese lady (she had a marvellous voice) did so well, since she didn't have ethnic drums or dancing girlies with her on stage. And talking about a different kind of performance - that Norwegian glamrock group was just beyond words. I'm not the least bit surprised that the lame and unremarkable song Finland had as a candidate this year didn't make it into the final. The Finns need to take a step toward a more bold direction. I do wonder what would've happened a few years back if Nightwish had indeed been chosen to represent Finland...

I still think Ruslana's Wild Dance rocks so hard, this year's winner hasn't got any of the primal fury and energy that makes it impossible for me to stay still. Too bad.

One set of essays down, two more to go. I may be able to do this before Tuesday evening after all... *knock on wood*