2019 Eurovision Performance: "Sebi" [Revised]

 2019 Slovenia Eurovision performance: “Sebi”

The contest

    The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual internationally televised songwriting contest where European and select non-European broadcasters (chosen by the EBU) compete (Eurovision, 2022). Each broadcaster represents a country. The broadcasters must choose an artist/performer and song to represent themselves through an internal process or a televised national selection show (Eurovision, 2022). The contest traditionally takes place in the host country in May and lasts around a week with three live shows consisting of the first Semi-final, second Semi-final, and the Grand Final (Eurovision, 2022). Participating countries have to qualify through the semi-finals for the grand final with the “Big Five” and the previous year’s winner. The “Big Five” consist of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK, whose broadcasters contribute the most financially to the contest (Eurovision, 2022). The winning country gets to host the contest the following year. 

National identity within Eurovision

    By participating in the Eurovision song contest, countries are able to use the massive international platform to demonstrate their distinctive identity or belonging in Europe. Other reasons for participating are embedded in political standings, such as economic gain or to draw attention to the country. It is sometimes a way that countries apply the concept of national identity to their performances. In the previous blog post, national identity was defined and analyzed with the elements of Traindafyllidou’s different types of othering. More specifically, applied to identifying Slovenia’s national identity. It was determined that in the case of Slovenia, its national identity is a complex idea and has yet to determine it. It is not concrete enough to connect to a specific identity. True to its complexity, Slovenia’s 2019 Eurovision entry is one example of its lacking national identity. Following the first blog post, this post will further analyze Slovenia’s national identity (or the lack thereof) through its 2019 Eurovision performance, “Sebi”. 

The performance

    Slovenia’s 2019 choice of entry for the Eurovision contest in Tel Aviv was the song “Sebi” by Slovenian native composer/songwriter Gašper Šantl and vocalist Zala Kralj. At the time when the duo performed at Eurovision, Zala was considered a featuring artist (her contribution to the song being the vocals only), but today are considered as the couple Zalagasper. The Lo-Fi/electronic song is sung in Slovenian and is about being your true self; “Sebi” translates to yourself. The song’s meaning is referenced through the metaphor of stars displayed throughout the whole performance. The performance itself is simple and delicate, with only the performers on a dark stage. Zala can be seen on the left as the vocals and Gašper on the right playing the guitar and sampler (Eurovision, 2019). The couple face each other and stand in one position, with the background a colorful galaxy surrounding them (Eurovision, 2019). Throughout the three-minute song, the only actions that occur are with Zala, who occasionally looks out to the audience, but only for a split second. Other than the occasional glances at the audience, both performers seem to be stuck in their little bubble, only looking at each other which could be seen as off-putting to the audience. The stage and background are perhaps the only exciting aspect of the performance, as it is the only element (outside of the lyrics) that transforms and references the song as it progresses. With such an unusual approach, Slovenia’s choice for 2019 with “Sebi” is not the best nor the worst representation of its national identity.        

The stage & lyrics: less is more

    

    Aligning the performance with Slovenia’s national identity, as mentioned before, is quite tricky as Slovenia’s identity does not fit any distinct definition. The performance itself fails to display any key details or references to Slovenia. It is not 100% aligned with its identity, nor is it 0% aligned. True to Slovenia’s theme of uncertainty, its alignment stands in a grey area on whether it aligns with the identity or not. Though in some ways, “Sebi” somewhat fits into the narrative of Slovenia’s complex identity, as its uncomplex performance and meaning reflect Slovenia as a country. Its understatement as a performance is what makes it stand out. Slovenia was not the most distinctive compared to its neighboring Balkan countries, but was able to easily transition to the EU than the others (Cipan, 2023). This distinction is further seen in the music contest as participating Balkan countries tend to lean more on songs affirming Balkan stereotypes of the ‘wild’ and ‘bloody’ Balkans (Baker, 2008). On the other hand, Slovenia, “…where national identity involved a similar European/Balkan opposition, has avoided the folkloric strategy altogether…” (Baker, 2008, p. 180). This can be seen with the plainness of “Sebi”, where traditional elements (e.g., costumes, instruments) of a Balkan identity are not part of the performance. In contrast, Zala and Gašper wear simple white clothes, and the rest of the stage a consistent color or the universe/galaxy. One could argue that by selecting a more minimal and contemporary performance style, Slovenia is showing its openness to Europe as one would toward cosmopolitanism. By distancing itself from the Balkan stereotype, Slovenia could be leaning more towards the view of being one with Europe, possibly by referencing it through the concept of the universe and stars, which is the focal point of the performance. In the previous post, it was stated that the people of Slovenia tend to view themselves as Central or Western Europeans (Booth, 2014). Though these may be applicable features of the performance to hint at Slovenia’s identity, it is ambitious to say that it directly connects to it. There are no political meaning or references in either the song or performance, and it begs the question whether everything has to have a meaning. Some components of the performance may be just for aesthetic reasons or just don’t hold much significance which could explain why when it comes to Slovenia’s national identity, there is not much to connect with.

    There are a few aspects of the song that represent Slovenia, though not strongly towards a national identity. The most evident in “Sebi” is using the Slovenian language. As the previous blog post mentioned, the Slovenian language is the most prominent and constant feature of its nationalism (Mutschlechner, 2008). So, it is not a surprise that for the 2019 Eurovision contest, Slovenia stuck with a song sung in its native tongue. The detail of the language correlates with the song as it stays true to its roots. However, as discussed previously, language is not enough to solely base a country’s identity from. The artists are another key detail in the representation of Slovenia, as both are from its second-largest city, Maribor. Their simple approach shows how they portray themselves and is a reflection of Slovenia; plain and uncomplex. When creating music, they try to be the most honest to relay meaningful messages to their listeners (Mikheev, 2019). With “Sebi”, Gašper stated in an interview:

Our song is about following your star, but it is covered by clouds and you don't know what to stay loyal to. That's why you stay true to yourself, and that's the essence of our message: that we are what we are, maybe because we like it the most or because we don't even know anything else, and that's our essence and that's what we wanted to convey in the song (Arch, 2019).

With what the song is meant to portray compared with the complexity of Slovenia’s national identity, you could see some correlation between the meaning. However, it starts to lose that linkage as the song is performed. It also depends on how the audience interprets it. As it is sung in an uncommon language on a large platform such as Eurovision, different viewers can interpret it in various connotations of what the song means. Though national identity is the least to be interpreted, looking into the dynamic of the performers, it seems that you are glancing at a love story. Alternatively, it could be interpreted as cosmopolitanism (as stated before), where the stage takes on a more prominent role with beam lighting acting like stars that shine on the performers and audience during the chorus, which states, “You can’t always see the stars, just stay true to who you are, stop apologizing to me” (Eurovision, 2019).  As well as with the lyrics: “You don’t have to prove yourself to anyone, we all have the same fears, the same tears” (Eurovision, 2019). By looking at the audience during these lyrics, Zala could be referencing them to everyone, not just a monologue between her and Gašper. However, it could be just a simple action of the artist and hold no meaning whatsoever. The stage on the other hand, is the most consistent with the meaning of the song. It displays an image of the universe throughout the whole performance, and towards the end of the song seems to have gone through a transformation. The LED panels look to have expanded and moved forward, and a triangular structure to appear at the very top of the stage. Nevertheless, the language choice is the only concrete aspect of the performance that connects to Slovenia, while the stage and interactions of the performers is left to interpretation. 

Conclusion

    True to its complex identity, there is not enough from the 2019 Eurovision performance to contribute much to defining or accentuating Slovenia’s identity. Some details of the performance could possibly connect to representing Slovenia’s identity but are not definitive as it could be interpreted differently or not at all. The 2019 entry is a simple performance with a meaningful message behind the song but does not correlate with national identity. 

(Word count: 1604)

 

References

Arch, M. (2019, February 16). Zala Kralj and Gašper Šantl: First they will go on a trip, then they will make plans. Zadovolnja.si. https://www.zadovoljna.si/intervju/zala-kralj-in-gasper-santl-zmagovalca-ema-evrovizija-slovenija.html  

Baker, C. (2008). Wild dances and dying wolves: Simulation, essentialization, and national identity at the Eurovision Song Contest. Popular Communication, 6(3), 173-189. https://content.ebscohost.com/ContentServer.asp?T=P&P=AN&K=32996571&S=R&D=ufh&EbscoContent=dGJyMNLr40SeqLY4xNvgOLCmsEueqK9Ss664TbOWxWXS&ContentCustomer=dGJyMPHb343s3%2FRT69fnhrnb5ofx6gAA 

Booth, R. (2014). National identity at the margins of Europe: History, affect and museums in Slovenia [Doctorate Dissertation, University of Connecticut Graduate school]. https://opencommons.uconn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6606&context=dissertations 

Cipan, V. (2023, January 7). Comparison of Slovenia, Croatian, and Western Balkans in 2023 – economy and politics. viborc.com. https://viborc.com/comparison-slovenia-croatia-western-balkans-gdp-ppp-hdi/

Gašper Šantl & Zala Kralj. (2019). "Sebi” (Slovenia). Eurovision Song Contest 2019 Tel Aviv [DVD]. Universal Music Group.

How the Eurovision Song Contest works. Eurovision Song Contest. (2022, July 11). Retrieved February 26, 2023, from https://eurovision.tv/about/how-it-works 

Mikheev, A. (2019, April). Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl (Slovenia). esckaz. https://esckaz.com/2019/slo.htm 

Mutschlechner, M. (2008). The struggle of the Slovenes for their language: The world of the Habsburgs. Habsurger.net. https://ww1.habsburger.net/en/chapters/struggle-slovenes-their-language 

Triandafyllidou, A. (1998). National identity and the “Other.” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 21(4), 593–612. https://is.muni.cz/el/1423/podzim2005/SOC765/um/870949/National_identity_and_the_other_Anna_T.pdf 

Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl. Eurovision Song Contest. (2019). Retrieved February 26, 2023, from https://eurovision.tv/participant/zala-kralj-gasper-santl