Montenegro on Stage

Montenegro on Stage

Montenegro has been participating in the Eurovision Song Contest with Yugoslavia and Serbia. In 2007 Montenegro made their debut as their own country. Montenegro reached the grand-final twice and in 2015 it got 13^th place. The way that Montenegro chooses their participant is by randomly drawing from a pool of applicants. In this blog, I will be breaking down three performances, examining the lyrics and the overall performances. The performers will include Knez (2015), the band Highway (2016), and Slavko Kalezic (2017).

            In 2015, Knez represented Montenegro with the song Adio. Adio translates to goodbye. Knez made it to the grand final and placed 13^th. During the performance Knez is centered and surrounded by five back up dancers and singers. At one point of the performance, Knez and the dancers seem to be dancing in a traditional way. The song was also sang in Montenegrin. Looking at the lyrics, one can receive it in two ways. One way that the lyrics could be received is that the song is meant for a loved one who has passed and is telling their lover to let go, however the one narrating is saying that he will never let his love go, and will always be loyal. He has tried to let go, but cannot seem to be able to let go of their history that they have made together. One stage he is surrounded by women, but there are no interactions or intimacy between the singer and the women. By not having any interactions with the surrounding women, it could symbolize the narrator of the song being loyal to his passed lover. The song being about two lovers is one way that someone could receive the message. The second way that one could receive the song, is how the song is meant for Serbia. Montenegro is singing to Serbia. Serbia is the “lover” who has passed, symbolizing the departure of Montenegro from Serbia. Montenegro is telling Serbia that even though Montenegro has separated from Serbia and being with Serbia is in Montenegro’s past, Montenegro will not let Serbia go. The lyrics “I still don’t give you to the mists of the mountains,” means that Montenegro will not let go of Serbia even if the Dinaric Alps are separating them. There was the colors blue and red as the colors of the mountains one the back screen during the performance, the colors could associate with the colors on Serbia’s flag. The song representing the relationship between Montenegro and Serbia could be one way someone could receive the message of the song. Nevertheless, the overall performance was amazing, Knez’s vocals were great, and the whole song itself is very catchy and it has a nice melody.

            The following year, 2016, the band Highway performed the song The Real Thing. Highway made it to the first semi-final and was unfortunate and did not make it to the grand final. The performance began with the main singer walking to the front from the back. There was four male band members and a female who was separated from the band. The woman was on a smaller stage that connected to the big stage. The performance had a lot of camera changes and a lot of flickering lights. With the camera shots and flickering lights, the performance seemed like a punk-rock concert and not so much of a performance for a competition. From the lyrics and the performance one message that the band might have wanted to send, was how the song is about two lovers and how the man is saving the woman. Based on the lyrics “you got / shadows spinning on the walls,” one could say that the lyrics means that the woman has demons surrounding her and she does not know what if real and not real. The man is able to see past her demons and wants her to know that he is real, he is the “real thing.” He will do anything for his love. Putting the lyrics with the performance, the woman is doing hand movements and body movements as if she was fighting her demons away. However, she stops at the end when one of the band member approaches her. By her stopping it could mean that he the man was able to save the woman from her demons. Nonetheless, the interpretation of the song could be a huge stretch. The song was hard to find a message, a storyline due to how little lyrics the song had and how blinding the performance was.

            The song Space was performed by Slavko Kalezic in 2017. Kalezic had an eye-catching performance at the semi-final, but unfortunately did not make it to the grand final. The performance included screen projection in the background and on the floor of the singer. Kalezic rips of his skirt right before the chorus, and towards the end of the performance he starts to whip his breaded hair. By reading the lyrics and interpreting his actions on stage, here is one way someone could receive a message. The song is about two lovers who are a part of a forbidden love. The lyrics “we can be as one in the sin” further explains that the two lovers are in a forbidden love because the love that they have is sinful. The narrator of the song is telling his lover to go with him on an adventure together, away from the people who looks down on them. An adventure away from people, such as taking a “rocket to the stars,” flying away from earth to “explore the galaxy of stars” (Montenegro, 2017). From the lyrics “I have my suit on, no need to worry,” the speaker is telling his lover that his lover does not need to worry because he will always be ready to go anywhere with his lover. When Kalezic rips off his skirt, the movement represents him letting go of his past and him stepping out of hiding. The action shows that he is accepting that him and his lover are in a forbidden love but he is tired of hiding. Kalezic shows that he has no care in the world when he starts to whip his hair. Whipping his hair represents that he does not care what other people think about him and his lover. Therefore, the song overall has a great beat and melody, and Slavko Kalezic gripped onto his performance and made it his own.

            The three performances from Montenegro, 2015, 2016, and 2017, suggest that Montenegro can show diversity in some aspects, and cannot show diversity in other aspects. Montenegro show diversity by the different styles of music it sends to Eurovision. In 2015, Montenegro sent a traditional balled song, in 2016 a rock song, and in 2017 a pop song. Another way Montenegro showed diversity was having both genders on stage. In 2015 and 2017, the performances included males and females. However, diversity is not presented by the gender of the main singer. The main singer for all three years were males. Therefore, Montenegro’s attitude towards diversity is very dispersed, such that, the overall performance is not quite diverse, but there are some parts of the performance can be seen as diverse.

References

Highway. (2016). The Real Thing (Montenegro). Eurovision Song Contest 2016 Stockholm [DVD]. Baarn, NL: Universal Music Group.

Knez. (2015). Aido (Montenegro). Eurovision Song Contest 2015 Vienna. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTyi2XeeoJU

Slavko Kalezic. (2017). Space (Montenegro). Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Kyiv [DVD]. Baarn, NL: Univeral Music Group.