Word: rybak
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...hours ahead of the final, Moscow's riot police squashed a gay-pride rally, hauling away about 40 demonstrators. Critics said that clamping down on gay activists at Eurovision seemed decidedly out of tune with the show's mission to promote peace and harmony among the competing countries. As Rybak said himself, "Why did [the police] spend all their energy stopping gays in Moscow when the biggest gay parade was here tonight...
...because I had a story to tell," Rybak, 23, told reporters after setting an event record with 387 points, which put Norway well ahead of second-place finisher Iceland, which scored 218. In "Fairtyale," Rybak mixed stellar vocals with Scandinavian kitsch. He sang about his obsession with a lost love while a folk troop performed a centuries-old Norwegian mountain dance consisting of backflips and exaggerated push-ups. "In Russia, they like nostalgia and melancholy," he said, explaining why he thinks his wistful tune appealed to millions of voters in Russia and former Soviet states. That his folksy ditty channeled...
...Latvia, Lithuania and Russia all awarded Norway the maximum 12 points, thereby snubbing one another. But since Eurovision has no plans to reveal which national juries voted for which countries, its actual effect is difficult to determine. In any event, it's likely the East would have voted for Rybak anyway; he was born in Minsk and speaks fluent Russian, and in recent weeks he has become a media darling in the Russian-speaking world...
...Want to Put In," seemed to mock Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in the wake of the conflict in the breakaway region of South Ossetia. On May 15, the chief of the Russian jury withdrew after he was spotted enjoying a caviar lunch with eventual winner Rybak in Moscow, potentially compromising his impartiality. (Read "Eurovision in Russia: Politics and Pop Music...
...finals would help his cause, he was wrong. The events were treated with an awkward silence from Eurovision organizers. The Dutch team had threatened to pull out of the competition if the parade was banned, but the team did not qualify for the finals. And the Norwegian winner, Alexander Rybak, patronizingly told a press conference, "I think it's a little bit sad that they chose to have the protest today. They spent all their energy on that parade, while the biggest gay parade in the world [an allusion to the campy performances of the contest] was tonight...