Sunday, May 15, 2016

Eurovision Song Contest: Ukraine's Jamala wins competition



May 15, 2016 (BBC News) Ukraine's Jamala has won this year's Eurovision Song Contest, held in Stockholm, Sweden. The country scored 534 points with its song 1944, about the deportation of Crimean Tatars under Josef Stalin. Australia finished second with 511 points, while Russia - which was the favourite going into the competition - was third with 491 points. Jamala is the first Crimean Tatar to perform at the contest and her song caused controversy because of alleged political overtones. It references the year when Stalin deported almost all of the Tatar ethnic group from its native region of Crimea in what was then the Soviet Union. The song has angered Russia, which annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, as tension between the two countries grew.
President Poroshenko hailed Jamala's victory and said her performance had been "incredible". The juries from Russia and Ukraine did not award each other any points. However large numbers of the Russian public voted for the Ukrainian song, awarding it 10 points, while the Ukrainian public gave Russia's entry the maximum 12 points.
The whole article and video are available at http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-36295168

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