A Swede who lives in Finland and who is lost in Euroland - the wonderful world of Eurovision
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Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Tobson's Ranking: #6 Russia

Grannies for everybody and plenty of owen-fresh pie on top of that. How could Europe resist?



Buranovskiye Babushki - Party For Everybody (Russia 2012)

These Senior Spice Girls of Buranovski turned out to be the phenomenon of the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, that peculiar entry that most people could hardly believe was happening.

Some people rejected them as a cheap gimmick, some people were sincerely worried that the pressure and attention and hoopla would prove too much for the grannies.

But most just gave in and let themselves be entertained by the insanity and simplicity that thrived in the Russian entry as Baby Spice (on the left) tried to keep her grannies in tune and rhythm while Old Spice charmed an entire continent while doing very much her own thing.

My own favourite is Mischievous Spice, on the extreme right of the stage. How she loves the attention, how she loves being on the stage, how courageously she does her acting at the part where she almost forgot the precious pies in the oven.

An adorable entry for anyone whose heart is not made of stone.

My grade: 4/5

4 comments:

  1. The russian presentation is quite the reverse from the french one. The french number sounds fantastic on record but failed on stage. The russian song, on the other hand, is cold, sterile and dull on record, but full of life, warmth and happiness on stage.

    Have you listened to the recorded version of the song? Not since the portuguese entry from 1996 has the recorded version of an eurosong managed to kill all that makes the song alive on stage.

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    1. I agree almost all the way, except I quite like the Grannies also in recorded form (even if the studio version loses some of the punch the song has live).

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  2. and the understanding of what works for a televised thing like Eurovision! bang on! I saw this entry on screen a LOT, but I was still laughing and enjoying 2:24-2:28 every single time! And the zoom in on her at the very end, the Russians knew what would sell their act! Very well done and an adorable act. I was not convinced before the contest but a fan afterwards :)

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  3. I was almost certain that the lovely ladies from the east would surprise and beat Loreen in the final. After reading some newspaper reactions before the final it seemed that people in Sweden were afraid of that too.

    It didn't quite happen, but I was far from surprised when Russia came second. I would not have been surprised at all if they had won the whole thing. That would have happened, if Sweden hadn't give us their best entry since... since I don't know when.

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