The close confines of a press centre, arena and hotel rooms means that day after day you are seeing the same faces. Its no surprise therefore that there are some special friendships being forged from this Eurovision Song Contest in Baku, amongst media, fans, and of course, the entries themselves.
For the press and commentators, seeing the same faces over a period of years rather than simply days, means that for part of the journey, the Eurovision period acts more like a family reunion than mere hard work.
I know that when the days drag listening to the same questions over and over from my collegues and fellow writers, it isn’t necessarily the music or the free tea and sweets from the back of the centre that keep me going. It’s the sheer fact that the people that surround me are all friends and for 2 weeks every year I get to experience a very special event with them. We are sharing our moments and memories.
On the side of the participants, we have seen a number of similar friendships flourish. In 2010, the meeting between Maltas’ Thea Garrett and Polands’ Marcin Mroziński resulted in them releasing a duet together. In 2011, it was all about the Austrian and Ukrainian delegations seen everywhere enjoying their time dancing together at the parties. In 2012, Jedward and Trackshittaz are becoming quite the gang of mischief. Despite the hours of interviews, rehearsing, make-up, costuming, and in Baku, the traffic jams, the Austrians and Irelands’ twins still managed to steal some valuable time together in their hotel yesterday and hosted a pool party.
The sceptic inside could say that these specific relationships borne from participation in the 2012 contest are pure media invention, created for press coverage and interest. But then you come across some stories where there seems to be genuine friendships are present. Georgias’ Anri Jokhadze and Sabina Babayeva from Azerbaijan forged their acquaintance years prior to the contest and have previously performed together on the stage in jazz clubs. This bond, despite now being rivals to each other, is clearly important to them and in Baku they have taken the time to support each others efforts by attending their respective rehearsals, parties and mentioning each other in interviews.
Kurt meets Can
My personal favourite tale of 2012 however is that of Kurt Calleja from Malta and Can Bonomo in Turkey. The performers met at a pre-contest event in Amsterdam a month ago, but have already followed that by visiting their respective countries to catch up with each other. Last week, Can made a surprise journey to Malta to wish Kurt happy birthday, and Kurt returned the favour three days ago by singing happy birthday to Can at an event held at the Turkish Embassy here in Baku.
Its nice to know that the spirit in which Eurovision was forged is still present and even growing 56 years later. The Song Contest has always been described as much more than a meeting of music, and in fact, more a meeting of culture and camaraderie. The fact that beyond the politics and the competition, the despair and triumph, the long hours and the hard work, we can walk away with a new friendship is proof positive that Eurovision is a very good thing indeed.