Croatia on Stage
The Eurovision Song Contest is the time for European countries to show the world who they are through songs. The contest is significant because each country tries to reach the audience in different ways to get the win. Some try to share political views, social conflict or just share popular pop songs. With that Croatia would sing in Croatian and in English; music is thought of as a universal language which can unify and ultimately win over the national audience. Croatia utilized music style, outfits worn, language, stage performance and on-stage props.
Croatia entered the Eurovision contest in 1993 and directly entered the semifinals within their first year. From years 2014 and 2015 Croatia did not participate in Eurovision due to a variety of financial situations, but before then, 2011 contestant Daria brought life to Eurovision that year. The main idea of the song “Celebrate”, which was performed in English; was to enjoy the moment to its fullest. As the song states “Stop the world for a moment/ Shine like a comet” (2011b, Croatia). Even though all the on-stage performers were wearing all black, in the beginning, the DJ table brought life to the stage by having shining colors in addition to the variety of colors in the lighting (2011a, Croatia). Towards the middle of Daria’s performance, the DJ comes and picks up a circular curtain and Daria comes out in a short pink dress (2011a, Croatia). At this point, the DJ seems to be a type of magician. As the song says, “Let the magic take over your heart” (2011b, Croatia). The DJ is the visual representation of the “magic”. For the second time, he walked from behind the DJ table at the ending of the song and pointed towards the ground where the fireworks were to appear for Daria’s last dress change, (2011a, Croatia). The DJ is a representation of a magician who is bringing life to the party to help others celebrate. The wardrobe change represents the process of letting go and enjoying the moment. Like the song says, “Put your hands up/ Let the magic take over your heart/ Join us you'll have a good time, the party of your life”(2011b, Croatia). The lyrics and the wardrobe change convey the overarching purpose to let go of the past and enjoy the now.
For 2012 Eurovision Croatia “decided to internally select one of the nation’s top female artists” (2012b, Croatia). Contestant Nina Badric has a successful career as a musician; she is known all over the nation and has been recognized for it. Croatia decided to go back to its language roots for this performance with the song “Nebo”. In this performance, Nina has two backup dancers as well as three background singers. The two male dancers represent the song’s emotions through their motion in dance, (2012a, Croatia). The overarching idea in this song is a lost love, where the women still love the man even though the man does not feel the same. As repeated in the song, “And I hear you’re in love and people tell me/ That you just don’t care. / Like I’ve lost my mind, / I still keep hoping for you” (2012b, Croatia). So, the two male dancers are expressing the longing this woman has for this man. Nina and the male dancers are wearing all black which represents the sadness of not feeling wanted in this lost love; “That you just don’t care” (2012b, Croatia). Along with the clothing the projector also shows a stormy, cloudy night during the whole performance, this is relating to a sense of sadness as the song states, “And these tears of mine will weigh heavily on your soul” (2012b, Croatia). Overall these different attributes only help the audience understand the performance.
Croatia’s 2013 performance was different from the other two years I analyzed. This performance was done by a group of six men called “Klapa s mora”. Not just the language but also the song choice was “traditional” Croatian vocal music. The men were dressed in usual 1700 European black clothing, (2013a, Croatia). With the men not having much choreography, besides the movement of their hands, the emotions shown through their voices was the only way you would understand the meaning of the performance. The emotion the men are showing in their faces displays that they are referring to the idea of love. The song is all about love overcoming all hard times, as its title is “Hard Times”.
With these three performances, there are some similarities which connect them all together. All the performers are of white descent. This just represents most of the Croatian community. The consistency of race relates to the national identity. Other nations will see this, and it will become an expectation of them as a Eurovision Song Contest audience member. This expectation can be the cause of Croatia not being able to win past the semi-final due to them not giving the audience the unexpected.
Another similarity through the performances was the color of clothing. All three performances’ main color was black. The reason for this could include, wanting audiences to focus on what they were singing, giving more attention to the different choreography or background accents. In the 2011 performance, the clothing emphasizes the point of the song, to celebrate. The 2012 performance’s clothing was more so used as a prop, as it was connected to Nina’s wrist (2012a, Croatia). However, in the 2013 performance, the black clothing was to put the focus on the vocals, even though the type of clothing helped portray their message of love.
The last similarity in two of the three performances is the sexuality of the performers. The lead performers in 2011 and 2012 were both women. It has been known Eurovision Song Contest for women to have a better chance at winning than men. I am leading to believe due to not qualifying, Croatia decided to have men perform to see if that changes the outcome. Croatia was unable to qualify in 2011 through 2013 even with adjustments made.
In conclusion, Croatia’s identity is definitely shown in these performances. With Croatia having a variety of issues with their government its shown that they played it safe these years by performing songs about love. Also, two of the three performances are sung in Croatian which is their root language. Croatia was able to show their progression through showing how connected they are to the present as well as staying rooted in who they are and who they are known for. Their national identity has helped portray their performance and vice versa.
References:
Badric, N. (2012a). Nebo (Croatia). Eurovision Song Contest 2012 Baku. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzdI4yuqwzY
Badric, N. (2012b). Nebo (Croatia). Eurovision Song Contest 2012 Baku. Retrieved from https://eurovision.tv/participant/nina-badric/lyrics
Daria. (2011a). Celebrate (Croatia). Eurovision Song Contest 2011 Dusseldorf. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0yt3fgPut8
Daria. (2011b). Celebrate (Croatia). Eurovision Song Contest 2011 Dusseldorf. Retrieved from https://eurovision.tv/participant/daria/story
Klapa s mora. (2013a). Klapa s mora (Croatia). Eurovision Song Contest 2013 Malmo. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYm4sGd-qP0
Klapa s mora. (2013b). Klapa s mora (Croatia). Eurovision Song Contest 2013 Malmo. Retrieved from https://eurovision.tv/participant/klapa-s-mora/lyrics
