EUROVISION 2017

Okay, there are three types of Portuguese People right now:

• The ones that spent the day cheering the Pope in Fátima.
• The ones who are now celebrating in Marquês de Pombal, because Benfica won the championship for the fourth year in a row today.
• And the ones who spent the last 4 hours rooting for Salvador Sobral in 2017 Eurovision.

I’m the last type of Portuguese.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, here is a litle explanation from Wikipedia:

“The Eurovision Song Contest is the longest-running annual international TV song competition, held, primarily, among the member countries of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) since 1956.

Each participating country submits an original song to be performed on live television and radio and then casts votes for the other countries’ songs to determine the most popular song in the competition.”

Now, Portugal has been participating over fifty years in this contest, and has never won!

And this year, we end up winning with the least expected song ever. It’s not a poppy song, which the Contest is known for, it didn’t have fireworks and choreographies and dancers, nothing over the top.

It’s a very slow ballad, sang in portuguese by a very genuine, simple man, who firmly believes that music is not to be made and consumed like fast food. He used this platform to spread his message, and he made his point. 

He won with the best score ever in Eurovision. You know, portuguese people are not the most kind to their own country, and I include myself in this group. But there are some moments that we can see past all the negativity that clouds us, and really believe we can make a difference if we believe in ourselves. This was one of this moments. He made a lot of people proud of our country. He broke barriers, he sowed new paths, he inspired everyone to not follow the norm, but be true to yourself.

It was a really inspiring moment!

And next year we will have Eurovision here, in Lisbon! So if you’re a Eurovision fan and you’re thinking of coming to Lisbon, you already know a Lisboeta! 😀

I’ll leave you with his performance, first alone, and then with his sister! I don’t know how it sounds to a non-portuguese person, but to a portuguese one, it sounds really beautiful. 🙂

 

“Love by the both of us… ”

“If one day someone asks about me

Say that I lived just to love you

Before you, I only existed

Tired and without nothing to offer

My dear, listen to my prayers

I ask you to come back, that you come back to love me

I know you don’t love alone

Maybe little by little you can learn again

My dear, listen to my prayers

I ask you to come back, that you come back to love me

I know you don’t love alone

Maybe little by little you can learn again

If your heart don’t wish to do so

To feel the passion, If it doesn’t want to suffer

Without making plans about what will happen

My Heart can love by the both of us…”

Thank you for reading!

Xoxo