Last night’s Eurovision was, as always, a collision of music, culture and politics. As always, the official British entry was dire – but, as always, the invisible hand of Britain’s world-class musicians lay behind many acts that did well. So it was with Denmark’s winner, Emmelie de Forest, whose song Only Teardrops won by quite a margin. For CoffeeHousers who didn’t catch last night’s awards, here it is.
From the first note, you can tell something is up. If this is a Danish entry, why the Celtic flute? It wasn’t a homage to Belfast Child. Ms de Forest has, since the age of 14, been learning from and performing with Fraser Neill, one of Scotland’s world class folk musicians. His influence was audible last night.
Most Brits think that Eurovision is confected tat. Denmark doesn’t seem to have received that memo, and fielded an entry which showcased its national assets from the music to the voice to the
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