There is almost no way to avoid getting to know the result before watching the recap of the football match or a singing contest with the prevalence of social media and news online.
My hopes are high for the contestants at this year’s Festival da Canção , and I had thought that either Josh, Diana Vilarinho or Fernando Daniel would be the champion. But to my big surprise, Napa won. The curiosity drives me to dig deeper to learn about the truth – how special is this song? What is Napa?
While Josh’s Tristeza looped playing in my head for two weeks. The song “Medo” appeared to fight with Tristeza in my head from time to time.
I have to admit that Tristeza’s performance was weak from the perspective of lyrics and staging. The staging was shocking that Josh was hanging in the air performance with one hand grabbing a long pole. It’s not a pole dance where you can move again. Being confined to a pole, Josh’s posture is rather limited and so do the camera angles. I truly hoped he could win, and the staging would be elevated, but the song started to hurt me a bit, like the “title” – sadness. It is a bit too emotional and too dark for Eurovision and everyday listening. I didn’t add it to my playlist for this reason.
Fernando’s song talks about fears (medo) and his staging is the most well-planned one, and he did as much as he could to win the vote, like touring around before the singing contest. The song is, indeed, mediocre. I consider his performance was not genuine enough. However, I’d prefer this to Cotovia by Diana Vilarinho as the Eurovision audience will embrace Medo more than Cotovia.
Anyway, the singing contest mimics the voting situation as in Eurovision. Judging from regions means Algarve judges giving 12 points to a band from Algarve, and Madeira judges fully supporting Napa who comes from this island.
Well, the song Deslocado by Napa is on my playlist as it’s simple and easy to listen to. I realised the lyrics are about the hard feelings of leaving Madeira for another place. Many Portugueseans leave the country for work, and I guess many audiences resonate with this familiar feeling.
I must say I’m not disappointed with the result but very surprised that Deslocado won the hearts of many others.
When I watched the replay of the festival, I could see the taste of the Portuguese judges was very distinct. They favoured traditional songs that the audience in the modern days won’t be favouring.
Somehow, Portuguese audiences were conservative. Henka got the highest vote but some of the traditional contestants still gained a number of supporters. Napa gained 8 points. Who would have thought the band gathered far more support than Fernando Daniel and Josh.
I must say, it’s so hard to predict the result of the Festival da Canção that it makes the contest interesting to watch.
experience today 