‘Mi’ smo pobedili

So, a few weeks ago, when my friends and I were planning our Eurovision party, I said, ‘if Serbia wins, I will come back next year to see Eurovision in Belgrade.’ [I am planning to blow this popsicle stand in November.] I never thought it would actually happen. I mean, the song is lovely, but its in Serbian. The singer has a beautiful voice, but her physical form… not so much. As much as I’d like such things not to matter, I recognize that they do. It’s even rumored that she’s a lesbian. That might play well in the Low Countries and Scandinavia, but not as well in the former Soviet bloc.

But she won…

So I’ll be returning to Belgrade next year. Friends and I even made a pact to meet up next year and then every five years wherever Eurovision is taking place for reunion and cheesy spectacle-watching.

I spent the night with friends, watching the show and realizing that naša pesma had a shot. Sadly, this year’s show was short on singing monsters (although there was a song about vampires and lots of gothy chicks), dancers emerging from pianos, and dancing robots. I still think Andorra, with a French speaking group of seventeen year olds (so emo—they looked like they needed a hug and a bowl of soup) playing music reminiscent of Blink 182—but about saving the world—were the best.

And then the voting: I know I am dorky to say such a thing, but I enjoy watching the votes roll in. It’s interesting to see the regionalism at play in who the votes go to. Of course, Greece got the top place in Cypriots’ votes and Moldova gave the most points to Romania. I think it’s a distinct advantage for the Ex-Yu region that it is now 6 countries—and if I recall correctly, Serbia got top votes from all of them. My palms are still sore from all of the cheering as I watched the votes roll in.

And throughout it all, I kept using ‘we’ to refer to Serbia. It’ the first time I have done such a thing, but it felt really good. And after ‘we’ won, we headed to Belgrade’s main square where people gathered to celebrate, singing ‘our’ winning song (I need to learn all of the words) and chanting ‘Serbia, Serbia, Serbia.’

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I so often feel like an outsider in this place. It was nice to have a night of belonging… even if it was because of a lovely, but cheesy, pop song.