Thursday, 24 May 2012

#2 NORWAY Tooji - Stay

I love how you can always rely on the Scandinavians to keep the essence of Eurovision alive.

And Stay is pure Eurovision: an upbeat pop song with cool dance moves and an ethnic flavour.

Sweden did incredibly well last year with pretty boy singing a high-energy dance number, and I reckon Norway could repeat the same success:


Tooji is Iranian-Norwegian, which accounts for the hint of the exotic in Stay, and he's planning on wearing a "Free Iran" wristband during the show.

Of course, host nation Azerbaijan borders Iran and there's more than a hint of tension between the two countries, so I'm sure that particular message will go down well.

In fact, this week Iran withdrew its ambassador to Azerbaijan because clerics were outraged the country would be "hosting a gay parade during Eurovision", and in response Azeris held an anti-Iran protest in the middle of Baku.

Who says there's no politics at Eurovision?

What I love about artists like Tooji appearing at Eurovision is that they reflect the true multicultural nature of Europe, bringing their own musical traditions to their new nations.

It's also a massive up yours to the hate-fuelled, violent bigots - who I don't need to mention here - who want to tear down the inclusive societies that have been built around Europe.

Bravo Norway.