Conchita Wurst of Austria Wins Eurovision Song Contest
Wurst's Onstage Drag Persona Created by 25-Year-Old Singer Thomas Neuwirth
By JOHN D. STOLL
May 10, 2014 6:57 p.m. ET
COPENHAGEN—Austria's popular bearded lady, Conchita Wurst, won the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday, in a result that reinforces the tolerant tone the event has sought to strike in recent years.
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Singer Mariya Yaremchuk representing Ukraine. AP
Ms. Wurst, whose onstage drag persona was created by a 25-year-old singer named Thomas Neuwirth, won the contest with a song titled "Rise Like A Phoenix." Sporting a skintight glittery dress, long brown hair and a beard during performances, Ms. Wurst was the subject of both controversy and admiration as Eurovision took place over many stages this week.
Fans and musical artists from across Europe gear up for the finals of the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest. Ukraine's entrant, Mariya Yaremchuk, says she hopes her performance will show that music can bring people together during difficult times. Photo: AP
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Speakeasy: Wurst Plans World Domination
This year's Eurovision, the 59th such contest, was clouded by political strife related to the crisis in Ukraine. At many points in the evening, particularly during the voting session that follows official performances, Russia received a chorus of boos, forcing organizers to remind the audience that the event is about love and not politics.
Ms. Wurst emerged as a runaway winner, blowing away the two closest competitors—the Netherlands and Sweden. As votes were called in from various nations in Europe in the final minutes of the contest, many of the national spokespeople referred to Ms. Wurst as "the queen of Austria."
Following her win, Ms. Wurst said "this night is dedicated to everyone who believes in a future of peace and freedom...we are unity and we are unstoppable."
If you follow the comments on the YT video you can see the bigots whining. Ah, music to my ears. I mean a drag queen can't be as weird as when a bunch of artists from Finland dressed up in monster costumes to win it. And I was cheering Lordi too.
Re: what, no Eurovision thread
Posted: 2014-05-11 04:39am
by madd0ct0r
I actually really enjoyed the french song. they didn't deserve to be last.
Because it was french - France stubbornly insists in their language being important. Everyone else disagrees. You could see it during the point allocation - when the French were onscreen, everybody was kinda like checking their twitter or whatever, even the hosts were just nodding occasionally and not really listening to her beyond guessing when she'd be done. People don't even bother with the french names of countries or the french point allocation anymore beyond having the "deuce points" in a box in the background.
Re: what, no Eurovision thread
Posted: 2014-05-11 06:52am
by madd0ct0r
the poland entry was also in polish, and I didn't hear anyone complaining
Re: what, no Eurovision thread
Posted: 2014-05-11 07:26am
by mr friendly guy
I wonder if what LaCroix is talking about is the French attitude towards their language. My mum tells me in the 1970s when she was honeymooning in France she asked a lady in English about something. The lady just spoke in French. Then my mum saw that same lady speaking English to someone else.
I also have a colleague who asked at a patisserie in French "Do you speak English." Only to have the owner reply in English (perfectly well English) no we don't speak English.
Even sellers in Beijing are willing to speak to you in English if you obviously cannot speak Mandarin. Language is a means of communication. Surely if you know a language I understand but I don't understand any other language you do, surely we must communicate in that language rather than get stuck up over it.
Re: what, no Eurovision thread
Posted: 2014-05-11 07:34am
by Lolpah
I really dislike the winning song, it's the quintessential combination of boring and generic and he's not even a good singer. There were several far better and more convincing power ballads, e.g Armenia, Norway, Azerbaijan and Sweden - hell, the only ballad that was worse was probably San Marino. That said, the tears of the bigots are delicious.
Italy had the best song, but the singer wasn't up to it. I voted for it, but on retrospect probably shouldn't have considering the subpar performance.
Somehow it feels this Eurovision was better (with the exception of the winner) than the last one, with less utter shit, though I still kinda miss the dance-pop of the mid to late 2000s contests.
I also have a colleague who asked at a patisserie in French "Do you speak English." Only to have the owner reply in English (perfectly well English) no we don't speak English.
I've heard an anecdote in which a French person refuses to speak in English, but once the other person establishes that English is not their first language either the French person does switch to English. Maybe it's a cultural dislike of the British/the Americans or a feeling of superiority towards them.
Re: what, no Eurovision thread
Posted: 2014-05-11 07:53am
by Thanas
madd0ct0r wrote:the poland entry was also in polish, and I didn't hear anyone complaining
France churns out great singer after great singer every year and it is a damn shame almost nobody recognizes them for that. It is the same as complaining Wagner is sung in German - cultural idiocy.
Are French people kinda backwards about their attitudes toward English? Yes. But if your nation has been the primary punchline of the English tongue (Excuse my french, anybody?) for several hundred years because the small-dicked English got their panties in a twist after they lost Calais and you got the other huge English speaking nation going "Surrender, harharharhar" (which takes a special kind of gall coming from a nation which sucked at every serious war they recently got into) you might feel the same.
Re: what, no Eurovision thread
Posted: 2014-05-11 07:58am
by K. A. Pital
Thanas wrote:Are French people kinda backwards about their attitudes toward English? Yes.
No. Capitulating before English means capitulating before cultural imperialism and globalization. France is not an occupied nation, and therefore it has the right to have any attitude towards English. Even the most hostile one.
Re: what, no Eurovision thread
Posted: 2014-05-11 08:06am
by fgalkin
Stas Bush wrote:
Thanas wrote:Are French people kinda backwards about their attitudes toward English? Yes.
No. Capitulating before English means capitulating before cultural imperialism and globalization. France is not an occupied nation, and therefore it has the right to have any attitude towards English. Even the most hostile one.
Besides, it's not like the French are hostile against English only. Here in Switzerland, people in the French part would speak English before they say a word of German.
Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin
Re: what, no Eurovision thread
Posted: 2014-05-11 08:14am
by K. A. Pital
fgalkin wrote:
Stas Bush wrote:
Thanas wrote:Are French people kinda backwards about their attitudes toward English? Yes.
No. Capitulating before English means capitulating before cultural imperialism and globalization. France is not an occupied nation, and therefore it has the right to have any attitude towards English. Even the most hostile one.
Besides, it's not like the French are hostile against English only. Here in Switzerland, people in the French part would speak English before they say a word of German.
Notably, a lack of respect for other languages does not automatically make one 'backwards'. Japan isn't 'backwards'. It is xenophobic, but advanced. France, on the other hand, isn't even xenophobic, they just value their language too much (pushing for it being one of UN languages and the like).
Re: what, no Eurovision thread
Posted: 2014-05-11 08:36am
by Enigma
So that is where Quebec gets their attitude. Huh.
Re: what, no Eurovision thread
Posted: 2014-05-11 02:00pm
by mr friendly guy
I am going to hold off further viewing on YT until I see the whole of Eurovision with friends the next day.
However I do note that some parts of Ukraine and Russia are united, in bigotry. Although to be fair Russia gave the winner more votes than it did Ukraine.
Re: what, no Eurovision thread
Posted: 2014-05-12 06:20am
by mr friendly guy
Enigma wrote:So that is where Quebec gets their attitude. Huh.
Something like this happened to me in Toronto - I was talking to someone while our flight was delayed, and she asked me (since it came up that I was fluent in 4 languages already) why I don't speak French. I replied that I don't really see any need to, since most the places I go to, the people speak either English or Spanish, anyway, so I just don't need Franch.
Some guy passing by took exception to this and started berating me that French is important, because Quebec speaks French only.
I replied that Canada is bi-ingual, so I would get along with English, just as well.
This led to him yelling at me that no, Quebec is not bi-lingual, everything is French-only, there, and English is not allowed.
When I asked him if that means that whole Canada has to learn French because of the off-chance a Quebecois(?) would run into them and demand them to speak French, but if I went into Quebec, I would be shunned if I don't speak French, he proudly confirmed that, only to realize what he just said a moment later and walked off.
*****
Also, when I was a teen, my family went to Paris. At the tourist information, my mother asking for something in English got ignored by the attendants. Until she started speaking French, complaining about getting ignored. (She wasn't comfortable speaking French, it was bad.) Whe then got told "We're in France, we speak French here."
At the fucking tourist information! We've been to all of Europe, and no other country pulled that shit.
Re: what, no Eurovision thread
Posted: 2014-05-12 08:40am
by Zaune
Well, in fairness, there's a certain amount of historical bad blood involved.
Re: what, no Eurovision thread
Posted: 2014-05-12 09:26am
by mr friendly guy
Can a mod please consider splitting the French language section? I think it deserves its own thread separate from a thread about Eurovision. It also has quite a bit of potential for discussion. Thanks.
Re: what, no Eurovision thread
Posted: 2014-05-12 09:46am
by mr friendly guy
LaCroix wrote:
Something like this happened to me in Toronto - I was talking to someone while our flight was delayed, and she asked me (since it came up that I was fluent in 4 languages already) why I don't speak French. I replied that I don't really see any need to, since most the places I go to, the people speak either English or Spanish, anyway, so I just don't need Franch.
Some guy passing by took exception to this and started berating me that French is important, because Quebec speaks French only.
I replied that Canada is bi-ingual, so I would get along with English, just as well.
This led to him yelling at me that no, Quebec is not bi-lingual, everything is French-only, there, and English is not allowed.
When I asked him if that means that whole Canada has to learn French because of the off-chance a Quebecois(?) would run into them and demand them to speak French, but if I went into Quebec, I would be shunned if I don't speak French, he proudly confirmed that, only to realize what he just said a moment later and walked off.
Doing a bit of research on that Quebec language issue, it seems there is some degree of truth to the laws although its contested.
Josh Elliott, CTVNews.ca
Published Friday, May 9, 2014 1:02PM EDT
The province of Quebec is pursuing an appeal to have retailers in the province with English-language trademarks translate their outdoor signs into French.
The move comes after Quebec’s Superior Court ruled last month that English retailers do not need to translate their trademarks in accordance with Quebec’s French language laws.
The court decision, delivered on Apr. 9, came out of a court challenge from Best Buy, Costco, Wal-Mart, the Gap, Old Navy, Guess, Toys “R” Us and Curves. The Quebec government wanted those companies to use French versions of their store names, or add a French word before the name to describe the service, in cases where no French equivalent of the word exists.
Good god things have changed since I was last there in 2002. My buddies and myself struggled with French, but people understood enough of English to communicate with us. This seems beyond a joke.
LaCroix wrote:
*****
Also, when I was a teen, my family went to Paris. At the tourist information, my mother asking for something in English got ignored by the attendants. Until she started speaking French, complaining about getting ignored. (She wasn't comfortable speaking French, it was bad.) Whe then got told "We're in France, we speak French here."
At the fucking tourist information! We've been to all of Europe, and no other country pulled that shit.
France could most probably get away with this since its the most visited nation in terms of tourists. I would contend this is bad for business especially if its a language which isn't spoken much outside of your nation. This undoubtedly gives an advantage to nations which speak English as a primary language, since it has apparently more speakers outside of primary English speaking countries than in them. So the second most visited nation for tourists, the USA has an advantage there. Unfortunately for those other countries who speak other languages, they just have to adapt if you want the tourist money.
Now compare to the third most visited nation in tourism, China. The venders catering to tourists try to speak the language of their clients. In border regions between Russia and Heilongjiang they would speak Russian to sell stuff to their neighbours. In Guangxi I saw signs in English as well as Vietnamese because of tourists. In Hunan the people would mutter a few phrases in Korean to cater to the Korean tourists. In Beijing the vendors would bargain in English. If they can't speak your language and you want their business, try speaking theirs or a third language which we both speak.
Re: what, no Eurovision thread
Posted: 2014-05-12 10:53am
by Siege
I've been to France more times than I care to count and in my experience the stereotypical 'rude Frenchman refuses to speak English' is exceedingly rare. The French do however appreciate you making at least a token effort to speak their language: If you mess it up they'll usually just smile politely and try to accomodate you, up to and including using the handful of English words they might know. But you need to at least try in order to not be lobbed into the 'arrogant foreigner assumes everyone talks like him' category, which in my opinion is fair enough: you've come all this way, is it really too much bloody effort to parse the five words you need to ask where the train station is, or where they stash the cheese in the grocery, and then tack on a 'merci' at the end?
The one exception to this rule is of course Paris. Parisians are legendarily rude, but they are rude to everyone including their own countrymen, not just to tourists. Trying to speak English to them just gives them one more convenient reason to blow you off.
Re: what, no Eurovision thread
Posted: 2014-05-13 10:45am
by mr friendly guy
I liked Sweden's the best. I also felt Russia, Austria and Switzerland had nice performances as well.
Re: what, no Eurovision thread
Posted: 2014-05-13 11:04am
by mr friendly guy
Since I have seen a few Eurovision performances (albeit not for the last few years) I thought it would be great to take a trip down memory lane especially with the belief that some of the votes and booing were driven by Putin's behaviour including his homophobic laws.
Basically Russian band Tatu with their pseudo lesbian acts were warned not to do that in the 2003 Eurovision. How far have we come. Although I have to wonder, how much was because Putin hates gays (and we don't like Putin) as opposed to Europe becoming more tolerant because tolerance is good.
Re: what, no Eurovision thread
Posted: 2014-05-13 12:34pm
by Lagmonster
mr friendly guy wrote:Doing a bit of research on that Quebec language issue, it seems there is some degree of truth to the laws although its contested.
Good god things have changed since I was last there in 2002. My buddies and myself struggled with French, but people understood enough of English to communicate with us. This seems beyond a joke.
Quebec nationalism has changed over the past years. In the 60s, the worst of them were kidnapping and killing people like the IRA-lite. After that, you had the Separatist Movement, who tried real hard to convince people that Quebec could survive as an independent nation. Now we have a Quebec that is sullen and grumpy, with Separatist politicians so unpopular that merely mentioning the idea caused them go from clear election winners to getting curb-stomped.
They have taken on the aspect of the upper-middle-class angsty teen: They know they can't get a better deal than daddy's allowance if they move out, but they will put whatever posters they want on the walls of their room, because it's THEIR ROOM and FUCK YOU.
Re: what, no Eurovision thread
Posted: 2014-05-13 09:50pm
by mr friendly guy
Anyone noticed that for a few songs it was hard to hear the words over the music? This occurred in a few performers who were singing in English where English was not their national language. It made it hard to appreciate their performance.
Re: what, no Eurovision thread
Posted: 2014-05-13 11:27pm
by Kuja
of all the songs I caught (someone linked by the stream just before Poland's performance) I liked Switzerland and Hungary the best. Hungary because it seemed to take the most risk and be about something (domestic abuse) and Switzerland because damn if it wasn't an earbug. Everything else was either silly and dumb or trying to be Mumford and Sons or else entirely milquetoast. I remember thinking Conchita had a strong voice but I honestly had to look up the song again to remind myself what it was.
Re: what, no Eurovision thread
Posted: 2014-05-13 11:32pm
by mr friendly guy
What was with Pilou Asbæk and the China references? The first one was an in joke between him and the British presenter Graham Norton. Was it because Eurovision is trying to get a wider appeal? Or was it something only him and Norton are aware of because it left the audience going WTF?
The second one was the musical about the number 12 (the most points you can be awarded by a country)
"Let us mention random things from China, come along?"
Is there some Denmark China trade conference going on that? Because I don't get the joke.
Ok I can't speak since I didn't even realise it was on until I saw an article about Russia being booed.