Blog Post 2: The Nation On Stage

The nation on stage 

Portugal participates in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Todas as ruas do amor", written by Pedro Marquez and Paulo Pereira. The song was performed by the band Flor-de-Lis. Flor-de-Lis traces its origins to Pedro Marquez's participation as a percussionist in Jose Salgeiro's Adufe project, initially designed as an attraction for Expo-98 and focusing on traditional Portuguese instruments. The Portuguese television company Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (Rádio e Televisão de Portugal)) organized the national final of the 2009 da Canção National Festival to select Portugal's bid for the 2009 competition in Moscow, Russia. A competition was held on 28 February 2009, and "Todas as ruas do amor", performed by Flor de Lis, won after achieving the highest result based on votes from twenty regional juries and a public television vote. Portugal was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 12 May 2009. The performance during the show at position 16, "Todas as ruas do amor" was announced among the 10 qualifying entries of the first semifinal - final and therefore qualifies for the final on May 16. Later it became clear that Portugal ranked eighth out of 18 participating countries in the semifinals with 70 points. In the final, Portugal finished 6th and ranked 15th out of 25 participating countries with 57 points.  

The 2009 Festival da Canção was the 45th edition of the Festival da Canção, the music competition that selects Portugal's Eurovision nominations. The format of the competition consists of the final on 28 February 2009, which took place at the Teatro Camões in Lisbon. The competition includes twelve competing songs selected by online voting between 19 and 30 January 2009. The results were determined by a regional jury vote and a public vote. Unlike the previous Festival de Canção, RTP held an open competition for anyone wishing to participate, instead of directly inviting producers to apply. Composers must have Portuguese citizenship and the songs must be performed in Portuguese. At the end of the submission period, 393 applications were received and the selection committee selected 24 applications for online voting. The selection committee is the head of the delegation, Jose Poyares, Tose Brito, Fernando Martins and Ramon Galarsa. The proposals were announced during a press conference on January 19, 2009, organized by Jose Fragoso and Sylvia Alberto. Competing performers included former Eurovision contestant Nucha, representing Portugal in 1990, and Luciana Abreu, representing Portugal in the competition in 2005. 

The performance of the song itself is very colorful and has this folklore mood inherent in Portuguese music. Despite the children's broadcast, you can always see performances that really represent the culture of your country at Eurovision. Flor-De-Lis may not be the best band, but it is very authentic and that is how they win additional points. This Portuguese recording is very lively, colorful and very close to Portuguese popular music. This is a very happy song, the singer has a beautiful voice and the song is quite playful. They sing in Portuguese, which is usual and is a very "Portuguese" song in every way, even with the instruments used. 

In the performance the instruments that are used are typical for Portuguese folk music. Alongside with the way that the song sounds it makes it very Portuguese. Although the only national instrument for Portugal is the bombo the ones that are used in the performance are very popular in South America and Spain. In the performance they use five instruments a vihuela, a banjo, an accordion, a flute, and a timpani. The one that looks like a guitar is actually a vihuela which is an instrument from the Spanish nation. They have the banjo which comes from Africa but it is commonly used in Latino countries. Next comes the accordion which is from Austria. Flute is an ancient instrument used in many countries and many different music genres. The last instrument used in the performance  is the timpani which is used more common in Ireland.  

An underdog can be an individual or group who competes in a strong competitive event and is more likely to lose or not do well. I think Flor de Lis is an underdog here. The band is not well known in their own country, so for others it is a whole mystery. As outsiders, they are in a way forced to give the best of themselves, and the impact they have left on the audience is incredible. You see how they look a little shy at first, which is normal considering the scene they're in and they've never been in that position before. The magic begins when they are released and let their emotions out, then you see how pure everything is on stage and you enjoy it with your heart full of happiness. Since then, every interview that the vocal Daniela Varela gives about this event shakes her and brings back these unforgettable moments and you see how her eyes begin to shine and fill with tears of joy. 

Flo-de-Lis has no specific choreography and movements on stage, just the vocal move freely, and the rest stand still, rhythmically swaying with the tone of the song. They instill a pleasant harmony in the audience, although they do not have an amazing dance. 

Portugal should be considered as a Mediterranean country because of the similarities that it shares with these countries and the identical language to Spanish. The effect of the "tourist view" on the public representations of the nation at Eurovision can be explored through the concept of the Mediterranean. Eurovision records from Spain, but also from Greece, Cyprus, Turkey and Malta often draw on representative trade strategies successful Latin pop music, such as "bright colors, rhythmic music and brown or olive skin". Studies of Latin music itself often see this as a “decontextualized, dehistoricized” essentialization of Latinism and warn that supports the 'hypersexualisation' of Latinos and Latinos. I would like to suggest that the image of the “warm south”, which Originally built by 18th century travelers to Italy, it can help account for misappropriation of fashionable and sensual "Latinity" in Eurovision recordings from the eastern Mediterranean. Countries that regularly choose to participate in Eurovision in the "Latin" style have large tourism industries that play on the images of the sunny Mediterranean in their marketing. In addition, the cultural stereotype of equating “Latin” dance with dangerous sexuality has its analogue in the notions of the warm south of the 19th century, which is presented as both "Dangerous" and "attractive" to the traveler. 

Opportunities for public representation at Eurovision produce the same effect as seen in the imaginary "Mediterranean", which connects Spain, Malta, Greece ,and Portugal. Eurovision is seen as an international spectacle mediated as a great sport events and a symbolic spectacle for the participating "nations". His the connection with the expectations for difference inherent in tourism adds the dimension of an exotic spectacle. It remains to be seen whether Eurovision works to maintain “hegemonic configurations of corporate and State authority". The applicability of the critique of Balkan globalization to Eurovision and the history of constructing the difference between European travel and tourism suggests that this is indeed the case. 

Eurovision's "return to ethnicity" has argued that "ethnic countries" from eastern and Southern Europe embodies the "values of authenticity" of Western Europe and represents itself through localism, while the supposed "non-ethnic countries" of the West use abstract or transnational representations. The argument is convincing, but complicated by strategies of "northern exotics" is often found in Scandinavian records and the use of Eurovision by France in the 1990s to illuminate French regions and multiracial Francophonie. Marginality, not Easternness, seems to determine the objects of essentialization. 

The principle of competition between nations in international sport maintains the "importance of national identity" among "supranational trends ”of late capitalism. Extending this perspective to Eurovision raises the question of whether the transnational aspects of popular music can be reconciled with the branding of nation. The merging of Eurovision recordings with other entertainment formats by some broadcasters may be in competition with local "Economy of attention", but leads to deterritorialized performances with small national character. 

 

 

 

Reference 

Eurovision TV participants in 2009 https://eurovision.tv/participant/flor-de-lis 

Eurovision 2009: Portugal’s Flor-De-Lis in focus https://eurovisionary.com/eurovision-2009-portugals-flor-de-lis-in-focus/ 

Wild Dances and Dying Wolves: Simulation, Essentialization, and National Identity at the Eurovision Song Contest by Catherine Baker p. 181-185 https://web-s-ebscohost-com.proxy.seattleu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=3c3bfa40-f4e4-465b-9132-673f634dd11e%40redis 

YouTube Flor-de-Lis - Todas As Ruas Do Amor (Portugal) LIVE 2009 Eurovision Song Contest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryE2npWRICk