Will Quebecer La Zarra win the Eurovision final?

(Liverpool) After the flamboyant performances of the artists, place in suspense: the public began to vote on Saturday evening to decide which country will win the Eurovision song contest, organized by the United Kingdom in Liverpool on behalf of Ukraine, holder of the title.

The Quebec singer La Zarra represents France at this prestigious musical competition and 35 years ago, a certain Celine Dion won the competition for Switzerland. France, for its part, has not won since 1977 with Marie Myriam.

This time, on the occasion of the 67^e edition of the event, La Zarra performed his song Obviously. She was the sixth to go on stage. She appeared on a high platform, from where she performed her entire performance. The artist performed her song with confidence, wearing a black and red sequined dress and a matching hat.

La Zarra was cheered by the crowd as she uttered the last note of her song, as the decor, initially rather sober, lit up with twinkling lights and jets of flame.

We will have to wait until late in the evening, after an interminable suspense, to find out who will win this 67^e edition of Eurovision, by combining the points awarded by the jury and those of the public.

The challenge: to succeed the Kalush Orchestra, which triumphed last year with ” Stefania », song mixing hip-hop and traditional Ukrainian music.

This year, Ukraine is represented by the electro duo Tvorchi, and heart of steel (Steel heart), a song inspired by the resistance during a month-long siege at the Azovstal factory in Mariupol and received a standing ovation from the public.

Several songs evoke, each in their own way, the war.

For Switzerland, the young singer Remo Forrer launched a message of peace in a serious tone with water gun.

Neon bolero

At the opposite end of the spectrum, the extravagant mustaches of the Croatian group Let 3 set the stage on fire with Mama ŠČ! a caustic title that attacks Vladimir Putin in a thinly veiled way. The group deployed spark-spitting missiles and kangaroo slippers in a burlesque performance.

Sweden, represented by singer Loreen, already victorious in 2012, is the favorite with Tattoograndiloquent love song, in front of Finland, with the Cha Cha Cha frantic singer Käärijä and his fluorescent green puffy bolero.

The show started from the queue, where the spectators competed with glitter, flags, colors.

We dance, we sing, and when the question of predicting who will win arises, the answer is a hubbub of country names.

Vasylyna Kindrat, a 25-year-old Ukrainian from Lviv who had to flee her country in December, hopes for victory “not for Eurovision, but in the war” triggered by the Russian invasion. The colors of Ukraine hoisted all over the city of Liverpool give “the impression of being at home”, says the young woman, glitter in the corners of her eyes and Ukrainian flag on her shoulders.

At his side, his friend Kate, delighted, whose t-shirt “Fuck You Putin” attracts him, she says, incessant requests for photos and videos.

“When I arrived yesterday” in Liverpool, “I cried” as blue and yellow are everywhere in the city, explains Lana Bilko, a Ukrainian who has been living in the United Kingdom for a long time.

“Absurd Outfits”

“In a peaceful world, the competition should be held this year in Ukraine,” British Culture Ministers Lucy Frazer and Ukrainian Oleksandr Tkachenko said in a joint statement. “But the barbaric war waged by Vladimir Putin made this impossible. »

“The Eurovision Song Contest”, they argued, “represents one of the best examples of how music can unite us all”.

This edition of Eurovision, “it’s theirs more than ours,” said Jenny Birchett, a 70-year-old Briton, dressed in the colors of Ukraine.

“Glitter look! “says Kate Bourne, a 44-year-old teacher wearing a dazzling silver dress, all smiles. Everyone wears “absurd outfits”, she laughs.

Sign of the difficulty of defining the contours of a political neutrality displayed while flying high the colors of a country ravaged by war, the organizers of Eurovision aroused controversy by refusing to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to address a message during the final.

But even without this message, the contest paid tribute to Ukraine, underlined the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

Like last year, Russia is excluded from the contest.

With The Canadian Press