Lelek Andromeda
Croatia's entry to for the Eurovision Song Contest is anything but a typical ESC entry. The video below gives the English lyrics. The tattoos the singers are wearing are historical: they were used, mostly on women, to 'protect' them from the non-Christian conquerors, and to remind them of their roots. Tattoos in the Balkans were used for almost a hundred generations, described by Strabo in the first century BC until the early 20th century. I am a sucker for the mythic motives, playing with fantasy themes, for the polyharmonic singing. It's not the fun song of a young man leaving for the city and selling his cow, but a powerful folk-inspired anti-war ballad, deeply steeped in local history.
So, probably no chance to win an event like ESC, but certainly an interesting song, highlighting a part of local history that I wasn't aware of at all.
(There's obviously a nationalist element to this, as any folk stuff is, I know; but I hope, beyond reason, that it is not nationalistic)
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