From our special correspondent in Turin (Italy)
Alvan and Ahez set fire to the Pala Alpitour stage in the Eurovision final on Saturday night. But their spell didn’t work. At the time of the proclamation of the results, the Breton quartet finished in 24th and penultimate place in the charts (Germany is the red lantern with 6 points), with 17 points for its song Fulenn. An obvious disappointment for an up-tempo title, which mixes traditional Breton singing with techno rhythms. International juries awarded them only nine points (one from Estonia, another from Georgia and seven from Armenia). Viewers awarded them 8 extra points.
Alvan and Ahez can, however, leave Italy with the satisfaction of having brought the Breton language and culture to an international stage, giving it to be seen and heard by hundreds of millions of eyes in Europe but also in Australia and the United States where the competition was also broadcast.
A wave of support for Ukraine
This 2022 edition ended with the victory of the Ukrainian group Kalush Orchestra which, with 631 points, offered its country its third Eurovision trophy after Ruslana in 2004 and Jamala in 2016. The coronation of Ukraine will remain above all remembered as a historic moment when the geopolitical context – the invasion of this country by Russia – telescoped into a musical competition created in 1956 to celebrate brotherhood on a pacified continent.
Impossible to say in what proportions the votes in favor of the winning song, Stefania, were motivated by musical criteria or by empathy towards the fate of Ukraine. Judging by the score obtained in televoting (439 points, this is unprecedented), we can assume that the public was moved by the desire to show its solidarity in a symbolic way. Some commentators will say that this is the proof that Eurovision is political, but it is more surely the confirmation that the competition reflects the psyche of a continent which, each edition, in a collective impulse, expresses, through its vote, a state of mind.
Ukraine is ahead of the United Kingdom (466 points) and Spain (459). Sweden is 4th (438 points) and Serbia 5th (312). Italy (268), Moldova (253), Greece (215), Portugal (207) and Norway (182).