Why is nobody talking about Norway as potential Eurovision winners?
Okay, yes, I know that it’s:
- a folk-metal hybrid where most people will just hear the metal
- with an instrument that looks like it was made up to fit the requirements of Love Love Peace Peace and
- featuring lyrics about a woman who turns into a wolf and EATS HER BROTHER
This is not our typical light entertainment programme!
But oh, Ulveham is so good. It’s like Gåte manage to harness the power of the elements and unleash them there on the stage. The visuals behind them show a waterfall running backward and by that point in the song, I truly believed that Gåte’s performance could make that happen. My group chats of Eurovision devotees – people who rarely bestir themselves for a song over 3 minutes – were abuzz with the news that a six minute version of this song existed. There’s so much happening sonically on stage that I managed to yell along with the whole thing at the top of my lungs at Eurovision in Concert and not a single person around me noticed. In the arena, it will be felt in one’s bones – music as a whole body experience.
Aside from the fact that the song fills the soul, I think Ulveham and Gåte are also an important step for Eurovision. Yes, the group has folk elements, and can point to Gunnhild’s vocals as a direct descendant of the kulning tradition (a vocal styling that emerged from calling for cows.) But Norway is also the home to black metal, and it seems only right that the country’s long association with the heavier side of the music industry is finally getting its due on the Eurovision stage.
This diversity is only a good thing for the contest. We still have pop girlies and dance bangers galore, but something like Ulveham, which brings together elements of a national culture in a unique way, is exactly what the contest should be cultivating. No other country would be able to produce this song (just as no other country would be able to produce a Zari or a (nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi). If we really are focusing on being united by music, what better way to do so than to use the contest to highlight all types of musical traditions that can be found in a country, not just the ones that are designed to do best with voters.
And I do think that this will do well with voters. What works at Eurovision is a song that’s original enough to inspire people to vote for it, as opposed to enjoying it at home and then mixing more drinks during the interval acts. Ulveham is that song. Yes, there will be those who find it cacophonous and chaotic, but those who love Ulveham will vote for it, and may not vote for anything else on the evening. I’m sure it will also pick up some points from some juries who will recognize the sheer effort that goes into the vocals that we see on display.
Mark my words and you read it here first, folks – Ulveham will do better than expected!
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