You may like more or less, but there is an indisputable truth about Eurovision: it is not just a music festival. Beyond choreographies, lights, Brillibrilli And the catchy melodies, the appointment organized by the UUr is loaded with geopolitics. Russia knows. Hence, you have decided to start Your own alternative to the European Festival, which was expelled by the invasion of Ukraine: Interview. Your name may find you strange, but connect with an appointment of the Soviet era.
The big question, now that the festival has started Your countdownit is whether Interview will become a real alternative to Eurovision. It will not be easy.
What happened? That Russia is promoting its own Eurovision. Or rather, he wants to recover an old festival that hurts its roots in the time of the USSR, back in the 60s and 70s, when it served as showcase and agglutinator of the nations of the socialist block. The appointment is called Interview And it has been cooking over the last months: In February Vladimir Putin gave order to start it, In June The first participants were announced and (except for unforeseen changes) the appointment will be held in two weeks, Saturday 20in Moscow.
Do we know what it will be like? More or less. The web Interview is grim Live Arena From the Russian capital, it will be issued through the official channel Piervy Kanal and will include about twenty artists. In June, at the beginning The countdown From the appointment, the organization talked about the participation of 20 countries, especially members of the geopolitical block BRICS and CEIalthough the list includes some surprise.
Specifically those responsible for the festival They announced As participants to Azerbaijan, Belarus, Venezuela, Vietnam, Egypt, India, Kazakstán, Qatar, China, Colombia, Cuba, Kyrgyzstan, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, United States, Tayikistan, Uzbekistan, South Africa and Russia itself. Only only the representatives of 17 candidates are announced on the interview website, including the great surprise: the US flag bearer artist, Brandon Howard.
Why is it interesting? Input because it shows the determination of Vladimir Putin to recover interview, An old appointment Soviet whose history can go back to the 60s and 70s and that had Two great stages: between 1965 and 1968, when it was developed in Czechoslovakia; and between 1977 and 1980, when Sopot, Poland, replacing the City International Festival.
In the early 80s the authorities decided to cancel it after the emergence of the movement Solidarność and his destiny was definitely marked with the fall of the USSR. In 2008 He had a fleeting resurgence and in 2014 Putin He showed his interest In recovering the cut, but the authentic support seems to have now received it, in 2025, Three years later that the Uuer decided to expel Russia from the Eurovision Festival for the invasion of Ukraine.
What does Putin intend? Interview resurgence is not a simple matter of nostalgia or historical curiosity. In the festival there is a clear component of geopolitics and culture, just like there is in Eurovision. Good test is the list of countries with confirmed representatives or Howard’s presence.
The context is not accidental either: the relaunch of interview comes three years after the Uuer showed the exit door to Russia, after Putin Try to recover Friendship games as an alternative to the Olympic Games (of which It was also excluded for his role in Ukraine) and in a moment of international claim in which the Russian leader has been shown with such relevant leaders Like Xi Jingping, Narendra Modi or even Donald Trump.
Is it only geopolitics? No. There is also a cultural factor that Kremlin wanted to make clear from the beginning. Months ago, after the return of Interview, the Russian senator Liliya Gamerova was announced He claimed that the festival “will promote real music” and turn its back on “false values outside any normal person” in an evening reference to Eurovision. In 2014, Putin’s vindication of Interview coincided with the victory at the European Festival of Conchita Wurst And last year the winner was the non -binary artist Nemo Mettler.
In a Interesting analysis Posted today in The Guardian Elise Morton recalls that throughout the last decades Eurovision has been associated with the causes LGBTQ+, a link that can be traced at least 1997, with the participation of PALL ÓSKARthe first openly gay contestant of the festival. 11 years ago the victory of the Drag Queen Wurst coincided with Putin’s attempt to promote “traditional values” in Russia, which included limiting LGBTQ+contents.
What will it be for? With interview, The expert reflects In Visual Cultura Bárbara Barreiro, the objective of the Kremlin is clear: to create a “cultural counterweight” to Eurovision, “to challenge Western cultural dominance” at a time when the UER Festival has become a “representative of liberal values.” Not just that. As Morton remembers, it has also served as a showcase so that countries that were under Soviet domain exhibit their cultural independence.
Will it have it easy? It does not seem. Eurovision’s popularity lies in its effectiveness as an audiovisual show, something to which interview should aspire. And no matter how much the Russian festival presumably an artist poster, the truth is that it starts with some disadvantages. To begin its ignorance and the low impact that seems to be having on social networks. On Instagram the event has just over 4,000 followers. It is a figure understandable by the difficulties in accessing the platform from Russia, but its mark on the Russian network Vkontakte And Telegram is not much better, with just dozens of followers.
Is it the only handicap? Another logistics challenge is the time spindle. Although in Eurovision Australia participatesmost participating countries (whether or not in Europe) share a more or less similar schedule. To hit with an hour of maximum audience does not represent a great challenge for its organizers. Nor manage a vote system that makes the audience feel participate.
Musicians from countries such as the US, Russia, China or Saudi Arabia will participate in Interview. What does that mean? That the 20.00 h in Moscow is 1:00 p.m. in Cuba, Elise Morton rememberswho slides that there are actions that must be recorded for the next day. “He undermines the community visualization experience that makes Eurovision attractive”, Reflect. Another question (and this is not logistically) is whether the commitment to Putin conservative values will connect with audiences that, in the case of Eurovision, seek diversity and risk.
Images | Interview
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