Carnaval p. I – or How I got the Eurovision Cup / Karnawał cz. I, czyli jak zdobyłem Puchar Eurowizji

Posted by bushto on March 14, 2011 · 7 Comments 

5-9 march 2011 was a time of Carnaval in Portugal. This post is about the first two days, you’ll be able to read the rest of the story in part II. This time I decided to split PL/EN versions, because otherwise it could be a little confusing to read. You’ll find the PL version HERE.

Okres od 5-9 marca 2011 związany był z obchodzeniem Karnawału. Ten post obejmuje pierwsze dwa dni, dalszy ciąg znajdzie się w części II. Tym razem zdecydowałem rozdzielić wersję polską i angielską, bo inaczej ciężko byłoby przebrnąć przez ten tekst. Polska wersja znajduje się TUTAJ.

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In the Carnaval I was supposed to visit a bunch of festivals, again thanks to Celina :). The first place to see was Theatre Camões in Lisbon. The reason was seeing the finals of the Portuguese Eurovision contest (or Festival da Canção). This year another band of Celina’s, Homens da Luta was running for the prize. Then we were supposed to drive together to Ovar, where the band was supposed to play a concert. Great. That sounds like a new experience. I like that.

Before I go any further I would like to say a little bit about the band itself. Homens da Luta is not typically Eurovision material and their performance there was pretty controversial. The meaning of their name is “The men of fight”. With their music they stand in opposition against the government of José Sócrates and forces driving Portugal nowadays. You should know that the current economic situation here is very tense. The citizens are upset with the way the country is driven, accusing their prime minister of passing laws favoring only the richer class. The ones that find themselves in the worst position are students, often forced to do unpaid internships after they graduate and not being able to find jobs. Homens da Luta fight against that, and, together with my friend Celina they often lead the crowd during protests etc. For example, there was a huge one on 12 March (it was after the Eurovision thing), organized through facebook. There was said to be around 300 000 people there, only in Lisbon !!! Similiar protests also took place on the same day in places such as Porto. That’s where I was at the time and I managed to capture some bits of it.

They were not happy about me taking pictures of them 😉

As you can see, the people are really trying to mark their statement. That’s why there’s a lot of good feelings for the band. Even though that play a different kind of music from the rest of contestants, it was Homens da Luta who won an online vote, held before the finals. The controversy around that is caused by the fact that there are also a lot of people who consider all that as a lack of respect for Eurovision’s tradition, being a “nice song contest” (which seized to be true a long time ago, by the way). Apart from what the profile of the band is about, also their stage image is very interesting. Each person has an alter-ego, expressed with a funny dress-up and a different name. It’s no longer Celina da Piedade. Meet… Cesaltina da Concertina :)!

Homens da Luta

Below you’ll find a video showing the protest in Lisbon, where Homens da Luta made sure the people wouldn’t be too quiet. Even if you don’t speak Portuguese you can still see what I mean :).

Ok, so now you now what the band is about and their reasons for taking part in Eurovision. While waiting for them to appear on stage I tried to capture some pics from inside the theatre.

In this kind of environment I always try to look for some kind of story around me, since photographing the stage is really not that exciting for me. As usually, there were a lot of people working on the lights, cameras, etc. Some of the crewmen were running around right next to me, since I was sitting in the front. I looked at the guy whose job was to hold a cable in his hand while the others handled the camera gear. Only… he didn’t have one hand. Yet – he was doing a perfect job. Handicapped. Funny word.

This lady's relative was also in the show

Then I saw an argument going on in the audiance (or should I rather say: imagined it 😉 ). I couldn’t hear any of it, but the facial expressions say it all 😉 ).

Here’s a short story I put together, just for fun (careful, harsh language ;).

Ok, ok. Back to the story, Pawel. Eventually the band appeared on stage. They weren’t allowed to perform with their full member count, since there could only be 6 contestants for each group. The rest of the band was already in Ovar, where they were going to play a concert later that night. Below the pictures there’s the footage of their performance. And here you’ll find the lyrics of the song they sang, both in EN and PL.

After every contestant had their performance, there was a little break to gather votes. The final vote consisted of two parts: 50% was given from juries located in different parts of Portugal, and people sent text messages (SMS) for the remaining 50%. So they voted, and voted, and voted… It took some time. Finally, only 2 regions gave Homens da Luta the maximum points (12), favoring rather other artists, more suitable to the whole image of Eurovision. I lost my hope when I saw them in one of the very last places in the list. But at that time I was not aware that we were still waiting for the people’s vote. Finally they came. So I sat there and looked as points were distributed, but noone mentioned Homens da Luta yet. It all came down to the last vote, the maximum of 12 points. Homens da Luta had 6 and the group in the first place had 17. So? Whose name was there on the card? HOMENS DA LUTA!! We won :)!!!!!! By the people’s vote, of course :)!!! This had never happened before!

For a minute I sat there not quite understanding what was going on. I had no more doubts when they appeared on the stage. Below you’ll find a video showing that moment. Start watching from 04:00. You can see what I am talking about. After they announced the verdict some parts of the audience stood up and started booing and expressing major dissatisfaction. The producers managed to keep the cameras away from them, but you can still hear a lot of noise. And you know what made me love Homens da Luta? When Jel, one of the leaders, received the prize – the first thing he said to the milions watching TV was a call to join the upcoming protest in Lisbon (in Avenida da Liberdade), on 12 March. It made the presenters a little confused, which I found very funny 🙂

The next thing I liked was what we did after the show. I walked backstage together with the band, when the press came. Press conference! Interviews! Yeah, but there were people waiting for Homens da Luta in Ovar, and the concert had already been significantly delayed. No time for interviews! Let’s ditch this place! Haahaha;)

"What do you mean they're running away?"

Dancing with the Cup 😉

So we got on the van that took us to Ovar. The ride was about 2 hours long. 2 hours of laughing, dirty jokes and all the emotion after just winning Eurovision.

I love this one 😉

We received a warm welcome from the rest of the band in Ovar 🙂

Everything was ready to start the concert, they only needed to be announced – and GOOO again, this time more like their style !

But it was Carnaval time after all and I wanted to have some fun also. I walked into the crowd and then put the camera away after some time. What happens in Ovar, stays in Ovar, right 😉 ?

The party finished somewhere close to dusk. After a night like that we needed some rest. Below: one of my favorite pics from that night 🙂

What's that, on the floor? Eurovision cup? 😉

After all the craziness I still had a little energy left to capture the first rays of sun. Then it was definitely time for sleep, finally 😉

After a night in Carnaval everyone walks a little funny 😉

And the next day it was over. I would like to thank the whole band again, and wish them luck in their fight against the system!! A LUTA CONTINUA !

In the next chapter you’ll be able to read about a trip I took straight from Ovar, to a folk dancing competition, called Entrudancas. See you next time, thanks for your attention :)!

Pawel.

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