There’s a refreshing trend this year of countries using ancient musical traditions for inspiration – producing many of my favourite songs in the line-up.
Top billing goes to Greek singer Marina Satti, whose avant-garde sound collage Zati , externalmixes traditional Greek melodies with tabla drums, a reggaeton beat, broken vocal samples and a solo on an ancient Persian pipe called the Zurna.
“I’m gonna do it my way,” she declares, in the year’s most on-the-nose lyric.
Armenian band Ladaniva are just as ambitious, blending the ethnic music of Armenia, India and the Balkans with a Western “kick ass and take down names later” attitude.
Their song, Jako, external, is the shortest in the competition but they make it count, putting on one of the most joyous, spirited performances on the Malmo stage.
Norwegian folk act Gåte go in the opposite direction, with a dark and gruesome tale of revenge that’s ripped from the pages of the country’s folklore.
The lyrics of Ulveham, external tell the story of a “fair and sightly maiden” whose evil stepmother banishes her to the forest and curses her with “skin like a grey wolf”. By the end of the song, she’s gone feral – tearing out her stepmother’s heart and drinking her brothers’ blood.
Remind me never to take a picnic in the Norwegian woods.
A less successful hybrid is the combination of didgeridoo and banging house beats on One Milkali, external by Australian act Electric Fields – although the song deserves merit for including lyrics in the indigenous language of Yankunytjatjara, the first time a dialect of Australia’s First People will feature at Eurovision.
Azerbaijan’s Fahree also branches out, including traditional Azeri mugham vocals from singer Ilkin Dovlatov on their entry, Özünlə Apar, external, but the song has little else to recommend it.
Estonia have more fun, submitting two bands for the price of one, with 5MIINUST x Puuluup.
The latter is a nu-folk act, famous for their skills on the Talharpa, a rare wooden lyre from northern Europe. The former is a hip-hop group, who deliver dense, humorous lyrics about a drugs bust on the song with the longest-ever title at Eurovision: “We (really) don’t know anything about (these) drugs”., external
Finally, we have Italian iconoclast Angelina Mango , who serves up a delectable mix of reggaeton, cumbia and Latin soul on her song La Noia, external.
The title actually translates as “boredom” but, with its curlicued guitar lines and restlessly evolving melodies, you’d have to be stony of heart to find it less than invigorating.
I can’t recommend it highly enough.
