Bulgaria: Nation on Stage

Bulgaria: Nation on Stage

Performances, such as “Na Inat” and “Love Unlimited”, do a spectacular job expressing Bulgaria’s true hopes for cultural equality between them and the Romani along with the belief that everyone is equal and no single person, country or object should be not loved unconditionally. The Eurovision Song Contest was used by Bulgaria to portray a positive outlook towards unconditional love within people living in the same country and diversity within the country. Bulgaria’s performances showed lots of national identity and engagement to their own language, religion, and culture. Traditionally, Eurovision songs that win the competition are sung in English, but both years Bulgaria sang in Bulgarian not caring about winning. I believe that Bulgaria worships the connection and message being told to their Bulgarian audience rather than singing in English and possibly winning the competition. Bulgaria did not make the Grand Final either year and resulted in getting narrowly eliminated in the Semifinals both years.

The song “Na Inat” is from Eurovision Song Contest 2011, and came up just short of making the Grand Final. Poli Genova, the artist, is a singer, songwriter and television presenter with lots of background in music. Lyrics are the most important part in my opinion and the message being told is that “you can achieve anything you want, you just have to find your inner strength and believe” (Eurovision 2011). Also, “Inat is a Bulgarian quality to help the Bulgarians through the hard times in their history” (Eurovision 2011). Arguably the most difficult time of Bulgaria’s history is during their reign of communism in the middle to late 1900s. However, I truly think the song is discussing the recent event that occurred prior to Eurovision in 2011, which was Anti-Roma demonstrations in Sofia where a youth was hit and killed by a van driven by relatives of a Roma kingpin (BBC 2018). The Bulgarians at this time need to come together and work through the hard times and strong tensions.

Secondly, Poli Genova has amazing stage presence and does an amazing job connecting with the audience when she looks into the camera and speaks through her eyes and body language. I felt that she was speaking to Bulgaria and telling them what she felt about the situation of the country and what the people need to do to come together and be unified. “People like you and me / Will remain and fight no matter what. / Who does it depend on? Yes, on you and me!” (Eurovision Song Contest 2011). With these lyrics, she is telling the people of Bulgaria that we will continue to fight and that all people are the same and must fight together. Thirdly, the title of the song is a key indicator of what the song is about and Na Inat translated is Defiance, which means “the act of defying or challenging to fight; a challenge to make good or maintain a cause…” (Oxford English Dictionary 1989). Poli Genova is asking for her country to fight for equality during a time of racism within the country between Bulgarians and Romani. This is a call for Bulgarians to stop the racism and start treating the Roma with equal respect as they would with anyone else. Another addition to the lyrics that stood out to me was the mention of God and that He is there and the one that gives the people the strength and courage. Bulgaria is an especially traditional and religious country and mentioning God is a part of their identity and a way to show that to the viewers and audience. Also, when Poli mentioned God she put her arms in the air as of she was looking to Him in heaven and praying to him. Finally, I want to touch on a visual aspect of the performance which is the screen in the background which is showing water droplets pouring down at different speeds depending on the beat of the song at the time. The special effects there are flawless but I do not understand the concept and why we need to see water droplets when there is no mention of it in the song.

The song “Love Unlimited” was sung by Sofi Marinova at Eurovision Song Contest 2012 and just missed the Grand Final by one spot. Sofi Marinova is a Bulgarian singer and the Romani language is her mother’s tongue. Sofi is a Bulgarian with ties to the Romani that have been in this land for generations. This information is key to being able to read into the lyrics to see that Sofi is singing and fighting for equality between the Bulgarians and Romani and for racism to stop. “The song has no borders, language or color / It doesn’t recognize the rich and the poor / Everybody’s singing all over the world about love, always sings about love” (Eurovision Song Contest 2012). Romani have been almost always unfairly treated and Sofi has witnessed this because of the family ties to the group of people. The message is quite clear and Sofi is getting the attention of Bulgarians because of the song being sung in the language and getting the attention of people that speak one of the ten unique languages sung when talking about love. When the people in the audience hear their specific language they instantly attract their attention to the singing because of the connection they now have with the song. To contrast with this lyrical connection, the camera work was poor and did not follow the facial movements of the singer. The camera was all over the place giving us too many views too far from so we were not allowed to focus on the only person on stage. Continuing, the staging was poor and having Sofi alone on stage hurt the performance as it seemed she was lost up there trying to dance. The lack of backing of dancers or singers left the stage empty which would have asked for more close up shots on Sofi, which the camera work failed to do. Another confusing component to go along with the staging is the screen work in the background and the color patterns that were going on during the song. It seems to have no correlation with the song and is there to fill in for three minutes. As another possibility, I would have incorporated the different languages sung with the background of the stage.

Both performances had some sort of connection with diversity and the country’s attitude towards recent issues, but Sofi Marinova’s song was exquisite because of her background and the connection she brings to the performance. As a singer of Romani descent, she has lived the pain of being looked down upon and not known as equal with the majority around you. The attitude shown in the performance is a positive one and shows inspiration to become a far better country and not be racist to the Romani. Love is a key component in both performances and in Love Unlimited it specifically says that “Love has no borders, language or color” (Eurovision Song Contest). Even though the Bulgarians and Romani may have a different color or language or one country has specified land and the other does not, love can be communicated between anyone and those characteristics should not stop the process between two people or groups.