Belarus in Eurovision 2019: ZENA’s "Like It" Revised

 

Belarus in Eurovision 2019: ZENA’s “Like It”

A note added as this blog was being edited and finished is the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As I mentioned in my post on national identity, Belarus is tied to Russia through a very strong alliance. At the current moment of this addition, Belarus is allowing Russian troops, including tanks, to invade Ukraine through Belarussian territory, giving them a shorter route to the capitol. For most countries, allowing large numbers of foreign troops, especially an invasion force, is out of the question even for close allies. Belarus’s allowance of this action is certainly very telling of their position with Russia, and perhaps hinting at their issues with a strong national identity as I mentioned in my previous post.

Introduction

Belarus’s submission to Eurovision 2019 was a performance of “Like It” by the performer known as ZENA, whose actual name is Zinaida Kupriyanovich. It’s a pop song featuring smoke machines, pyrotechnics, love, and skilled backing singers and dancers, everything you’d expect out of a pop performance. Ultimately, however, it placed 24 out of 26 countries (EBU), the low end of the results. This poor perception could be tied to many things, from audience preference for pop at the time, to perceived cultural appropriation, to confusing background visuals. In this article we’ll take a closer look at this performance, and the ways it conflicts, or affirms, my previous summary of Belarussian identity.

Lyrical Analysis

Upon the first passthrough of the song, it seems a relatively straightforward song. It contains a narrative of someone going out of their comfort zone and psyching themselves up. During the initial part the music is relatively slow, but slowly building in tempo. As the tempo builds, we reach the peak go into the chorus, where the singer has decided they will go out and that their choice will be accepted. This choice assumedly being the beginning of a forbidden romance, as ZENA sings/repeats that their advance will be liked, and backing singers mention this being about love and breaking rules. The song that continues from there in a similar cycle for the rest of the time.

Upon reading the lyrics and rewatching the performance a few times several things stand out, especially the constant references to karma, the universe, energy, and etc., as well as the repeated phrase “tam-tara-ram”. Karma itself is a well-known term to most, generally being derived to “what comes around goes around”. In this performance the use of this word does not make any real sense without context. One could try to consider it invoking karma to give a good outcome or to show what is right. But if you look at the Sanskrit translation of the word, it can be translated to “action” (Yogapedia, 2018). Accompanied with the building tempo, it seems to fit that she is telling herself to do something and act. It would make even more sense for this word to be used in a dual meaning, both asking what the right thing is to do in the situation, as well as urging herself to act on it. So, why is the song is using karma, a term originating from Indian spiritualism? There does not seem to be an obvious power dynamic for this to be some form of cultural appropriation, but there also does not seem to be a notable Hinduism practicing population for this to be a display of diversity (Central Intelligence Agency, 2022). It would not make a lot of sense for this to be a case of cosmopolitanism either, when there does not seem to be any diversity to show.

The other repetitive phrase that we see, is “tam-tara-ram”. This phrase is a bit ambiguous, as it could be just a sound or perhaps a reference to one of several songs or bands by this name. Given this previous potential usage of Sanskrit, we can also look and see if tam has a meaning, “Tam is the single-syllable seed mantra of Tara, the Hindu goddess of mercy and compassion who protects and removes fear. She is one of the wisdom goddesses.” This phrase she is repeating could be a Hindu mantra. Similar mantras are a form of prayer or calling to the goddess Tara that removes fear. As she is repeating this mantra throughout, she becomes more confident in her decisions and actions. At the same time, this could also be a coincidence, with no guarantee that this is an intentional, we are left with the question of why this song would make use of Hinduism.

Cultural Influences

While Belarus does not have much of an Indian ethnic population or Hindu spiritualist population, it seems there is strong interest in Hindu culture across Belarus, dating back to the Soviet Union, “An active interest in India formed in Belarus during the Soviet period.  The government… intentionally shaped its citizens’ attitudes toward India and presented it as a friendly country struggling for social transformation… Yoga is the most popular form of Hindu influence in Belarus… Belarusian citizens, however, associate it with a path to a healthier life rath-er than with self-understanding, self-regulation, or as a spiritual experience” (Karassyova, 2020). The reason I missed Hindu practices in Belarus before was because it was not under a strictly religious sense which would be noted in statistics. Hindu culture is something that is genuinely a part of many Belarusians’ lives, and this song could be informing the audience of this, and therefore perhaps is a display of cosmopolitanism, showing that there is diversity in Belarus the western nations are not aware of. This fits very well with my established identity of Belarus, as having a rich culture, but feeling unknown and wanting to change that perception.

The Artists

As it turns out, ZENA herself does not know what “tam-tara-ram” means. In an interview with Wiwiblogs, she claimed it was something between English and Belarussian but was not sure (Adams, 2019). Through this interview, ZENA gives us her view of the song’s meaning. She claims it is a song that encourages young people to follow their dreams and push boundaries, as well as for teenagers to learn how they can express themselves. That’s what the song means to ZENA, but ZENA was not only one involved in writing this song, “Zena explained that after hosting the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018 she was approached by a songwriter… The songwriter Yulia Kireeva, then worked with Zena to create a song that would be suitable for Eurovision… this song was written specially for this contest. We took into account all sorts of little things that I like, I do not like. Considered my range – very large. All the details Granger, 2019). Unfortunately, Yulia Kireeva remained an elusive person whom I could not find any information about. But from this interview there certainly was not any indication of Hinduism or spiritualism. If this was just a use of words in popular knowledge with no insight into their origins, then this might be a bit of cultural appropriation. This interview also highlighted something else, that there is nothing strictly Belarussian being expressed either. At least to ZENA, the song is not meant to be sharing Belarussian culture, but to instead just be a message to young people.

Imagery

Looking at the background visuals, there are several notable images appearing amongst the various lights and colors. The most memorable of these are the images of ZENA’s head, which split open to reveal more images. Seeing as the song is from the perspective of the singer, we can interpret these images as her thoughts and feelings, which she is communicating to us as they leave her head. While many of these images have many interpretations, the use of a white Bengal Tiger reinforces the Indian symbology as mentioned previously, known by many as one of the largest big cats in the world and being a symbol of India due to their habitats. The other two frequently occurring animals are a bird and a shark. The former is potentially a dove of peace given the occasional white coloration. The latter being a shark, contrasted often with the dove, potentially showing a balance between the peace/serenity of the dove and the ferocity and power of the shark. Another frequently reoccurring image is that of a grid, where some of the lines appear to be waves. This would seem to call back to the universe parts of the lyrics, showing the energy being released into the world. From a national identity perspective, it could be seen to affirm Belarus’s want to establish themselves and be more recognized by other nations, sending their “energy” and messages out to the world through things such as this performance. This being said, the writers did not seem to intend Hindu imagery, nor did any of this imagery appear in any rehearsals or promo videos which I saw, we can assume that the background coordinators simply latched onto what they heard in the lyrics.

Through the staging and costuming, we can see Belarus’s appeal to the pop cultures of western nations. With urban clothing and hip-hop dancing, along with English lyrics, it seems Belarus is trying to appeal to western nations, whether that is to increase the number of votes from western nations or to display that they have just as modern a culture as other nations. It also meets ZENA’s want to appeal to young people, that this is a way that they can express themselves.

Concluding Remarks

There is certainly more analysis which could be done on this song, such as looking into the competition for the song’s selection. But ultimately I think the song’s message has been made clear, and it is a great display of what was explored in blog 1, as Belarus tries to be recognized by western nations as a modern and diverse country with a strong culture of art.

Word Count: 1648

References

Adams, W. (2019, May 4). Zena (Belarus) Interview @ Eurovision 2019 first rehearsal. Youtube. other, wiwibloggs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekyFJ28-S7Q.

Cerniel, J. (2015). Skirting the issue: Finding queer and geopolitical belonging at the Eurovision Song Contest. Contemporary Southeastern Europe, 2(1), 136–154. https://doi.org/https://unipub.uni-graz.at/cse/periodical/titleinfo/457420

Central Intelligence Agency. (n.d.). Belarus. CIA World Factbook. Retrieved February, 2022, from https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/belarus/

EBU. (n.d.). Results of the first semi-final of Tel Aviv 2019. Eurovision.tv. https://eurovision.tv/event/tel-aviv-2019/first-semi-final/results/belarus

Granger, A. (2019, March 11). Belarus: Zena approached straight after junior eurovision with song for Tel Aviv. Eurovoix. https://eurovoix.com/2019/03/12/belarus-zena-approached-straight-after-junior-eurovision-with-song-for-tel-aviv/

Karassyova, S., & Tarkan, I. (2022). History of iskcon (international society for krishna consciousness) distribution in belarus. Religions, 13(1), 35. doi:http://dx.doi.org.proxy.seattleu.edu/10.3390/rel13010035

Karassyova, S., & Tarkan, I. (2020). Manifestations of Hindu culture in modern Belarus. Handbook of Hinduism in Europe (2 Vols), 2, 833–848. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004432284_030

Outerson, M. (2022, February 5). Eurovision 2019: Belarus’s Zena in focus. EuroVisionary. https://eurovisionary.com/eurovision-2019-belaruss-zena-in-focus/.

Republic of Belarus. (2022). Official website, Belarus | Belarus.by. (2022). https://www.belarus.by/en

Yogapedia Inc. (2018). Yoga, meditation and life. Yogapedia. https://www.yogapedia.com/

ZENA. (2019). “Like It” (Belarus). Eurovision Song Contest 2019 Tel Aviv. Eurovision Song Contest. https://www.eurovision.de/videos/2019/ESC-2019-Zena-singt-Like-It-fuer-Belarus,weissrussland630.html