VIDEO Eurovision 2024: Israel qualified for Saturday’s final, despite street protests and boos from Malmo Arena / Which countries have already qualified

Despite the booing in the Malmö Arena at the end of the performance of the contestant from Israel, Eden Golan, with the song “Hurricane”, the artist qualified for Saturday’s final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024. She qualified for the final, after the second semi-final, on Thursday evening, and Lithuania, Austria, Holland, Norway, Greece, Estonia, Switzerland, Georgia, Armenia.

The second semi-final opened with hosts Malin Åckerman and Petra Mede singing a parody of the winning Swedish song “Euphoria”. According to News.ro, this year’s theme is “United by Music” and it is the seventh time that Sweden has organized this contest, after the singer Loreen won last year.

On Tuesday, ten more countries – Serbia, Portugal, Slovenia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Finland, Cyprus, Croatia, Ireland and Luxembourg – qualified for Saturday’s Eurovision final.

Compared to the first semi-final, the artists in the second semi-final relied more on traditional music from their home countries. Spectators saw some unfamiliar instruments on stage. Estonians from Puuluup played a traditional bowed lyre called Talharpas, while Norwegians from Gåte played the Nyckelharpa – another bowed instrument originally built and played by farmers in the 17th century. Other artists, especially from Armenia and Italy, combined the folklore of their country with modern sub-bass and Latin rhythms.

During the vote, Helena Paparizou, the winner from 2005, sang on stage with the song “My Number One”, Charlotte Perelli, who sang “Take Me To Your Heaven”, the winner of Eurovision 1999, as well as Sertab Erener from Turkey, with ” Every Way That I Can”.

Before the final announcement, Petra Mede and Malin Åckerman reminded the audience that Sweden has seven wins in total. “This competition gave us the idea,” sang Petra Mede, “to show that we are more than depression and Ikea.” But the song dedicated to Sweden, “who loves Eurovision too much”, was interrupted by the one who almost dethroned Sweden’s Loreen in last year’s contest: Finland’s Käärijä, who covered his techno track “Cha Cha Cha Cha”.

Five acts to watch

On Thursday evening, all eyes were on Switzerland. Proving that opera training is very important, Swiss singer Nemo showed off an amazing falsetto in the song “The Code”. The piece details the experience of coming to terms with non-binary identity, a struggle that is dramatically brought to life through simple but effective choreography.

France went a cappella. Slimane is a huge star in France, having sold more than 2 million albums since winning The Voice eight years ago. He used that experience tonight, singing the climactic chorus of the “chant de la torche”, “Mon Amour”.

Armenia threw a party. Armenia presented an infectious and upbeat folk song called “Jako”. The song is performed by Ladaniva, who recently performed at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris and lit up the stage with a festive energy.

An anthem of boredom, that’s how the Italian song “La Noia” can be called, but it’s anything but boring. Angelina Mango brings with her song a combination of Latin cumbia and reggaeton sounds.

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Dutchman Joost Klein delivered “Europapa, Europapa” a quirky techno anthem about traveling to Europe (“thankfully you don’t need a visa”) and how to enjoy its cities (except for Paris, which is too expensive) .

Israel, between protest and appreciation

The second semi-final of the Eurovision 2024 contest kicked off late Thursday in Sweden, with much of the attention focused on Israel’s performance after thousands joined a pro-Palestinian protest earlier in the day.

Eden Golan sang “Hurricane” with dancers in front of a backdrop of blue and white lights.

Despite the protests that greeted Israel’s arrival in Sweden this week, Eden Golan received a fair reaction at the Malmö Arena. According to the official audio broadcast, there were muffled boos when he finished his performance, but they were drowned out by the applause. She thanked the audience as she hurriedly left the stage.

“Amazing performance Eden! After all the rehearsals and in front of all the anti-Semitic shouts in the hall, you sang about our pain and you sang in Europe the music that stopped for us on October 7. Even at Eurovision, there is no one who can beat Israel”, wrote the Israeli Minister of Culture, Miki Zohar, on X.

About 100,000 visitors flocked to the city of Malmo for the annual festival, which comes amid protests and boycotts over Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, sparked by the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

Eurovision fans dressed in strange outfits, sequins and national colors arrived at the event, while around a hundred protesters chanted “Boycott Israel” and “Shame on you” outside the hall before being removed by police.

Climate activist Greta Thunberg joined during the day more than 10,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators in the center of the city of Malmo, who oppose Israel’s participation in the music contest.

The betting houses give Croatia as the winner of this year’s Eurovision contest

The betting odds predict that Croatia’s entry, Baby Lasagna performing the song “Rim Tim Tagi Dim”, will win this year’s Eurovision contest.

Odds from 16 bookmakers, mediated by Eurovisionworld.com, give Croatia a 44% chance of winning. The Swiss Nemo, who sings “The Code”, is the second favourite, with a 17% chance.

From the history of the contest

– Eurovision started in 1956, with only seven participating countries.

– The contest took place 64 times, but had 67 winners. In 1969, first place was shared between Great Britain, Spain, Holland and France. Equality rules were introduced soon after.

– The spread of Covid-19 in 2020 led to the cancellation of the contest for the first time in history.

– ABBA, who won with “Waterloo” in 1974, became the most successful Eurovision winner of all time.

– The song “Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu” by Domenico Modugno, also called “Volare”, is the most downloaded Eurovision song. It was taken over, among others, by Dean Martin and David Bowie.

– Until 1998, the songs were accompanied by a live orchestra.

– Celine Dion, Cliff Richard and Julio Iglesias were contestants at Eurovision.

– A maximum of six artists can go on stage at the same time and live animals are not allowed.

– Nowadays, Eurovision contestants can sing in any language they want, but it wasn’t always like that. In the first 10 contests, the language problem did not arise, and the contestants sang in their mother tongue. But in 1965, Sweden’s competitor, opera singer Ingvar Wixell, sang the song “Absent Friend” in English. This led to the introduction of a language rule the following year which stated that “plays must be performed in one of the official languages ​​of the participating country”. In 1973, the rule was abolished, allowing participants to choose their preferred language again. This was reintroduced in 1977, before being abolished again in 1999. Since then, many performers have chosen to sing in English in the hope of achieving a higher score.