Ukraine’s Jamala struck a surprise gold in the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday with a song “1944” about war-time deportations of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Union in one of the most controversial winners in the competition’s history.
In a show known down the years for its playfulness and camp, 32-year-old Jamala struck a sombre tone with her lyrics about strangers coming to “kill you all”, in reference to the forced removal of ethnic Tatars by Josef Stalin during World War 2.
Jamala, herself a Tatar, stood on the Stockholm stage singing “you think you are gods” against a blood-red backdrop.
She said her great-grandmother was one of the Crimean Tatar victims of Stalin who deported the group en masse to Central Asia after accusing them of sympathising with Nazi Germany. Many of the 200,000 deported died on the way or in exile.
Jamala pleaded for “peace and love to everyone,” when collecting the trophy ahead of Australia in second place and Russia in third spot. Despite being far from Europe, Australia attended the competition for the second time after an invitation from organisers.
While the Eurovision voting has long been tainted by political alliances among competitor countries, songs are not allowed to be political but Jamala’s entry seemed to come close to breaking that rule.
Event organiser, the European Broadcasting Union, said Ukraine’s offering did not contain political speech and therefore did not break Eurovision Song Contest rules.
At a press conference, Jamala appeared to struggle with tears when she talked about a close relative that the song was about.
“I would prefer that all these terrible things did not happen at all to my great-grandmother and I would even prefer this song not to exist,” she said.
As late as last year, Ukraine decided not to take part in Eurovision with war again ravaging the country as troops take on Russian-backed rebels.
Inside the stadium on Saturday, the world’s biggest international music show took place with the audience dancing and partying.
But the hosts of the contests, last year’s winner Mans Zelmerlow and comedian Petra Mede, also struck a serious chord.
