Georgia

Peace Will Come Diana Gurtskaya

Eurovision may be many things, but it is not an exercise in intellectualism. It is three hours of brainless entertainment one Saturday night each year in which the best the songs and performances can generally hope to be labelled is 'clever' in the sense of 'astute'. Anyone who gets ideas above their station tends to be scorned and/or shunned, although sincerity and inventiveness are often rewarded. At the best of times it runs the gamut of cheese and kitsch and the gauntlet of an audience with at least one eyebrow raised. It may be as trite, tacky, corny and camp as it ever was, even impressive on occasion, but one description that is becoming harder to apply to it and its entries in an era when having the right song is more important than having a good song is naïve. This year's is without doubt the most calculated contest to date in terms of the types of songs and performances that have been entered, making those that aren't (as) premeditated all the more obvious. And there is nothing in 2008 that seems quite as naïve as the Georgian entry, Peace Will Come.

Of course, that depends whether you consider sending a blind woman to perform an anthem in which she is basically saying “if I can see this why can't you” to be naïve, and many would say that it is actually about as studied as you can get. The mere fact that the song is a peace anthem though is what makes it naïve: as well-meant as these things possibly are, they frequently come across as disingenuous, especially in a contest where people don't necessarily want a song with a message. Eurovision may be designed to bring people together, but no one wants the credo shoved down their throats, and in that sense what you are saying is bound to fall on deaf ears. That may even be in spite of the fact that the message is pertinent to the situation in the country it is representing, as with Peace Will Come and the instability plaguing Georgia. In this day and age people are cynical enough without Eurovision force-feeding them moral virtue. Wrong audience.

The song itself is naïve too, albeit more in the sense of being simple and guileless than lacking sophistication. As a piece of music it is rather attractive; without the lyrics I would be much more disposed to listen to it, although in its defence it is structured and arranged in a way that reflects the quiet but persistent power Diana Gurtskaya preaches. (Mind you, that's probably down to the lyricist; it depends which came first, the words or the music.) Never less than consistent, it remains tethered to a message and a messenger who are equally grating in their way and between them gets rather lost. Whether anyone will notice is doubtful, as I suspect Ms Gurtskaya may attract any attention that is being paid. Apart from the ill-conceived choreography that is likely to accompany the song (if past performances are anything to go by, including the super-twee How Long from last year's Belarusian national final), she has a voice that is permanently on the verge of being unattractive.

Not that Peace Will Come will be wholly without supporters in Belgrade. Diana Gurtskaya may be a complete unknown in most of the countries in the second semi-final, but she is likely to earn herself fairly high marks from the likes of Belarus and Ukraine and anywhere else on the fringes of the Russian entertainment roundabout. I just doubt she will from anyone else. Needless to say I am disappointed with Georgia for not only not maintaining the high standard of their debut but for going from one extreme to the other in the space of a year: their 2008 entry is diametrically opposed to Visionary Dream and shows none of its originality or depth. It is harmless enough, but unlikely to arouse anything in viewers that will get them to vote for it en masse. And in a contest where that is basically the whole point, what could possibly be more naïve?