It pays to sing in your own language

And here are the results of The Eurovision Song Contest 2021. 

A rock band from Italy came first singing Zitti e buoni

France came second with a a song called Voilà.

Switzerland came third with Tout l'Univers.

The official languages of Switzerland are French, German and Italian and they have a fourth language, Romansh but this beautiful song was sung in French.

The last time Spain did very well in Eurovision was in 1995 when Anabel Conde came second in Ireland singing  Ven, ven, vuelve conmigo.

Trophy

Musings

 In the 1970s  a song called The Israelites by Desmond Dekker and the Aces became a big hit. The singer from Jamaica came on the scene with a reggae sound. The sadness and disappointment many of us feel watching the horrendous images on TV  prompted me to see what the song The Israelites was about.

It turns out that Rastafarians consider themselves one of the lost tribes of Israel. 

In the midst of all the horror some good news. 

If only they were the intermediaries to find a middle ground where Palestinians and Israelis could reach a long lasting peace. If only they could all get together. If only they could open their hearts and their ears and let the words of Bob Marley and the Wailers sink in.

The Euro English Song Contest

 

The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 will be held on Saturday May 22nd 2021 and singers from many countries choose to sing in English. With globalization English is the new lingua franca or bridge language just as Latin and Greek were in the past.

What is surprising is that the option of putting subtitles to the song in this day and age has not been explored at all.

Hearing other languages is very exotic and the European Song Contest is a showcase for our diversity.

 It would be a more inclusive approach for each country to put the subtitles of the songs in their own language.

Maybe the lyrics would influence the voting, as they should.

 It is a missed opportunity if people are not even given the chance to hear other languages.In the past the host countries used their own language, English and French. Let's hope it will be the same in Rotterdam this year as in the semi finals  we only heard English.