The Polish band Tulia might seem like a fun fusion between the Russian grannies and the Polish milkmaids from a few years back. Yet there’s something disquieting about them.
We sense a lack of enthusiasm over their own entry amongst the Polish Eurovision fans these days. Not only did the Polish broadcaster deprive them from taking part in selecting their representative in a national final, rumor has it the broadcaster skipped to host a national final to avoid the risk of sending something “gay” to Eurovision. Last time that happened Poland came 3rd in the televoting and ended up in top 10, but never mind.
We have no idea whether this is true, perhaps it’s just a matter of cutting costs before hosting JESC later this year. On the other hand, we shouldn’t be too surprised if it is true as many words have been devoted to the rise of populism and illiberalism in Poland lately, which has caused heads rolling in the public service and at state TV and radio stations. Who knows what’s on the successors’ agendas? Perhaps letting go of the opportunity to display a desirable national image to some 200 million TV viewers across Europe and beyond is simply too big to squander.
And if so, it seems like Tulia are only too happy to sign the contract and becoming cultural ambassadors of Poland, unlike their colleagues in the music industry across the border in Ukraine. Perhaps they don’t mind singing birthdays songs to politicians either. Since being selected the band has already managed to stir up controversy, having to remove an image of a wayside cross from the music video due to EBU’s restrictions on the promotion of political institutions. Still, a figure of John of Nepomuk has escaped EBU’s careful scrutinizing look. We can only assume Jon Ola is not fully up to speed on Roman Catholic symbolism.
We are sure those of you who regularly follow our blog have picked up on our appreciation of a good ethno-sounding entry and generous amounts of colorful folklore, and Pali się could have forced us to stretch our already thinly worn integrity to new extremes. But funnily enough the Polish broadcaster delegated the task of picking a perfect representative to what must be the employee with the worst taste in music. We simply find Pali się so vile we can’t even listen to the first 10 seconds before we press the mute button. Hopefully Europe will agree with us and send Tulia home packing after the first semi final in Tel Aviv.
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