The Nation on Stage

Joshua Franco-Lee

Dr. Green

UCOR 1400-15

20 February 2018

The Nation on Stage

            Upon the Eurovision stage there is no singing, there is no dancing, there are simply performances. Each group or individual steps up on that stage and creates a performance for the world to see. Some performances are small or simple, others are extravagant and over the top, and some are just odd. Through these performances, countries may express themselves, their culture, or  diversity. They can do this through stylistic choices, lyrics, props, costumes, and their movements. Turkey is not shy about expressing their performances in creative, over the top and somewhat odd ways. In fact their last 3 performances were over the top, and quite odd, singing in a variety of styles, and performing very different ways. In this blog I will be analyzing Turkey’s performances in 2010, 2011, 2012. English was used exclusively in all three performances. These were Turkey’s last three performances in the Eurovision Song Contest before backing out before the 2013 contest.

            In 2010, the Turkish band maNga performed “We Could Be The Same” on the Eurovision stage. “We Could Be The Same” is a rock song with some electronic elements, which, upon first hearing, sounds odd. They do however, pull it off quite well. When the stage initially lights up, it appears to be the normal set up for a rock song. 5 guys standing on stage with their instruments, with a robot in the back. Yes a robot, standing in the back without any instruments. Everyone, excluding the robot, was wearing leather jackets with red and white highlights. The band plays the normal rock instruments: drums, guitar with a  main singer at the forefront. But as maNga begins to play, not only can you see, but you can hear the sound of a turntable. As the initial instrumental starts, background lights flash and fog pours on stage. Once Ferman Akgül, the lead singer, begins singing, the lights stop flashing and illuminate the fog. The next two minutes of the performance are fairly standard. Ferman Akgül walks around and sings, while the rest of the band plays in the background. It's not until 2:10 into the performance when it gets interesting. The robot pulls out a handsaw and begins grinding it against part of its costume, creating a large amount sparks. Simultaneously, flames shoot up from behind the stage. After which, the robot begins to undress, to reveal a woman within the costume, which is as odd as it sounds. This ties in with the lyrics, which are the interesting part of this performance. The lyrics are a mix of a love song and equality. “For just one night, We could be the same” (2010, Turkey). This lyric very clearly talks about equality, and how they wish they could be equal for at least one night. Furthermore they sing, “I don’t think they’ll give up the rage, But I know the world could be great, I can love you more than they hate” (2010, Turkey). This lyric is about how despite all the hate and rage in the world, he believes that love can overcome the hate. He wants to stop all the hate in the world and replace it with love. This is mirrored by the woman taking of her robot disguise at the end, to show that she no longer has to hide because she is equal.

            Turkey’s next performance is another rock song by Yüksek Sadakat, called “Live It Up”. The first thing you see is 5 guys on stage wearing green and black, while the one in the middle has an pattern studded into his shirt that loosely resembles wings. The camera then pans to a cage with woman inside who is wearing a red and blue mask with a gold bodysuit. The woman then bends backwards into a very uncomfortable looking position, revealing that she is a contortionist. The lyrics of the song hold a lot of symbolism about living life to the fullest. For example, “Give yourself a break, Come on and live it up” (2011, Turkey). This correlates to the cage and the contortionist inside, who is stuck inside what is presumably the cage of the job she hates. And how she should break free and enjoy life, instead of being trapped. Furthermore the costumes have a lot of symbolism too, the split colored mask represents how she is torn between breaking free and staying inside. The green clothes the band members are wearing symbolize ‘go’, meaning she should ‘go’ and break out of her cage. The wing pattern on the main singers shirt represents ‘spreading your wings’ and showing off who you really are. The lyric “So let your colors shine right next to mine” (2011, Turkey), also states that you should express and embrace who you are. Nothing else exciting happens until the end of the performance, when the contortionist contorts, and the lights in the back flash in a non-meaningful pattern, and flames shoot up around the stage. The end of the performance however, is interesting. The lead singer pulls on a rope, opening the cage. After which, the contortionist rises out of the cage and spreads her arms, revealing wings. She literally spreads her wings, and rises. Breaking out of her cage and embracing who she is.

            Turkey’s final performance, in 2012, Can Bonomo performed “Love me back”. This performance is very different than the previous two years. Instead of being rock, it is instead a pop song. Can Bonomo is accompanied by 5 other guys, with no women to be seen. They all wear dark grey capes, which come accross oddly. Additionally, Can Bonomo wears a captains hat, which goes along with the ocean theme of this performance. This song is a sappy love song about how he wants a girl to love him back, hence the title. The background is an ocean, with the occasional lighthouse or other ocean related item. The performance wasn’t too exciting other than the questionable lyrics. The dancers danced in a chaotic fashion, resembling the crashing waves of the ocean. The turks continued their streak of odd maneuvers by having the dancers move into a makeshift boat, in which, Can Bonomo captained. The lyrics however, are even weirder, most of which being slight innuendos. For example, “My ship is made from hope, She's searching for your bay” (2012, Turkey). This is a very clear sexual innuendo. This is the extent of the lyrical work in this song, the rest is just sappy love lyrics and more innuendos.

            Turkey represents itself diversely on the Eurovision stage. Although, at first glance, they seem to not be diverse, as they have only had men singing for the last few years, with the occasional female dancer. Likewise, they don’t seem to be racially diverse either. However, on further exploration, Turkey promote diversity a great deal. They do this mainly through the lyrics, as shown by the first two songs. Additionally, there is not very much ethnic diversity in Turkey, as Turkish makes up 75% of their ethnic profile. Therefore, it makes sense that on the stage they would not be very ethnically diverse. Overall, Turkey promotes diversity up on the Eurovision stage, not so much through their performing, but through their lyrics.

References:

Can Bonomo. (2012). Love Me Back. (Turkey). Eurovision Song Contest, 2012, Baku. [DVD]. Baku, Azerbaijan: European Broadcasting Network.

            Retrieved from,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qa7_y21oOY

maNga. (2010). We Could Be The Same. (Turkey). Eurovision Song Contest, 2010, Oslo. [DVD]. Oslo, Norway: European Broadcasting Network.

            Retrieved from,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB_GnnhNz-8

Yüksek Sadakat. (2011). Live It Up. (Turkey). Eurovision Song Contest, 2011, Düsseldorf. [DVD]. Düsseldorf, Germany: European Broadcasting Network.

Retrieved from,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6Ew5qYzo9k

(2018) The World Factbook: Turkey.

Retrieved from,

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tu.html