Interesting interview to the winner:
The Indepentent : Can you tell us about the inspiration and meaning behind your song “Bangaranga”?
Dara : “Bangaranga” is pop music with folklore bones. The word itself comes from Jamaican slang – it means uproar, commotion, a beautiful kind of disorder. It has this raw, phonetic power that bypasses translation – you feel it before you understand it. We wanted a song that could land in Vienna or London or anywhere and hit you physically before it hit you intellectually. When I think about what it truly is for me, at its deepest level, I keep coming back to the kukeri – the ancient Bulgarian ritual where men dress in extraordinary costumes of bells and fur and animal masks, and move through villages at the start of the year making the most ferocious noise imaginable. The purpose is to scare the bad spirits away. The energy is overwhelming, almost frightening – and yet it is entirely joyful, entirely communal, entirely alive. That is Bangaranga. It is noise and fire and rhythm deployed as a force for good – to chase away whatever darkness has settled, to shake the room back to life. “Bangaranga” is a riot – but it’s a happy one. An invitation, not a threat. “Come in, surrender to the lights, no one’s going to sleep tonight.”
Whatever Eurovision is, at least it’s not X-Factor, the Voice, Star Academy and the like.