What can a song say about a nation?

Part II of the Eurovision series (78)

In part I of this series, we briefly covered the history and significance of the Eurovision Song Contest. Today, we’ll dig more into a question that seems to be at the heart of this endeavor: what can a song say about a nation?

In March 2022, when researching our move, we discovered Portugal’s Eurovision Song Competition (ESC) entry from last year.

There’s a word in Portuguese that has no English equivalent. Saudade is loosely translated as a feeling of loss or nostalgia, a longing for the way things used to be. Or, as Wikipedia puts it, “an emotional state of melancholic or profoundly nostalgic longing for a beloved yet absent something or someone. It is often associated with a repressed understanding that one might never encounter the recipient of longing ever again.” Happy, it isn’t. But it’s hauntingly beautiful when Maro sings about it:

In a Eurovision competition that seems to be almost defined by excess, Saudade, Saudade was performed with a simple, understated, theme-appropriate staging (which you can see by clicking here). The song finished 9th in the 2022 Eurovision competition. It was the second-best finish ever for Portugal.

Saudade, Saudade was chosen to represent Portugal from a pool of 20 finalists that was itself drawn from hundreds - maybe thousands¹ - of entries from all over the country. Tens of thousands of people (maybe more) voted for it and a Portuguese jury of experts made it their first choice as well.

Why did that happen and what, if anything, does this choice say about Portugal?

There’s a lot going on in these three minutes:

• For starters, it’s sung in a combination of English and Portuguese. From reading comments below the various YouTube videos of Portuguese entries, there seems to be a debate about which language entries from this country should use. This song toes the line.

• The concept of saudade is taken seriously here. The word itself is almost unique to the Portuguese language. It has been used in Portuguese music and literature since the 16th century and is closely linked with fado, a famous Portuguese style of music. The feeling of saudade is both ancient and timeless.

• At a more macro level, the song may tap into the undercurrent of change that swirls through the nation. There has long been an acknowledgement that Portugal, one of the poorest countries in western Europe, sees a steady stream of emigration as some of its younger population seeks higher wages and more opportunity elsewhere. This helps explain why the government has fostered international investment. The various visa schemes they’ve implemented in recent decades have brought billions of euros into the economy. Lisbon is becoming more and more gentrified as foreigners (yes, like us) move in at the expense of native Portuguese who are being priced out of the nation’s capital.

• The above reasons help explain why the song was the winner here in Portugal. Its #9 overall finish, though, probably has more to do with the fact that saudade is universal. Maro conveyed it clearly, demonstrating and evoking the concept without ever defining it. Listeners need speak neither English nor Portuguese to both feel and identify with the emotion in the music. While she wrote her song after the death of her grandfather, who among us has not experienced some kind of loss - a person, a place, a piece of childhood, the proverbial days gone by?

For another example of music’s capacity to transcend barriers of language and culture, we offer you this performance (it’s in Portuguese):

Can you guess what it’s about?

Part of the beauty of Amar Pelos Dois lies in its simplicity. A reading of the lyrics (click here for side-by-side English and Portuguese) reveals there are only four heart-wrenching stanzas, the third of which is a repeat of the second.

Amar Pelos Dois not only won the entire 2017 Eurovision competition for Portugal, it broke and still holds the record for most points earned in a Eurovision final. Voters from 12 nations and juries from 18 ranked it their first overall choice out of 26 entries.

Before you come away from this post thinking Portugal is a nation of morose people, though, we direct you to this year’s nominee, chosen on March 11² (Cabaret fans, you’ll want to see this; we promise!):

A touch livelier, no?

We’re happy to have this song be the one to represent Portugal in May and we’re excited it’s polling well with a couple of months to go before the competition. It’d be nice to see another top ten finish for Portugal.

That’s all for now.

Love from Lisbon,

Scott & Amy

1. Sorry to be wishy-washy, but unlike some countries, Portugal doesn’t release figures.

2. It was a fascinating nail-biter of a finish. Portugal’s internal selection process mirrors the one used in the international finals, with a couple of minor tweaks. For the jury voting portion, Portugal divides the country into seven regions, each represented by its own jury. After a graphic appeared on screen illustrating a particular jury’s choices of songs four through ten, a representative from that jury presented their top three finalists live. One. At. A. Time. Drawing out the tension. Points were added instantly after each announcement was made and the on-screen graphic changed to reflect the new, up-to-the-second standings. After all seven juries reported in, (took about 15 minutes), two songs were tied with the most points. It came down the public televote.

They revealed the tenth place song first and after about five more minutes the two tied jury entries were among five that had yet to be awarded points. So even after announcing the second-place choice it wasn’t a guaranteed victory for Mimicat because, with 13 total entries, three necessarily couldn’t finish in the top ten. There was a non-zero (albeit highly unlikely) chance that Ai Coração was in the bottom three rather than first place.

This song won 19.3% of the public vote, sparing us the second-place finisher’s (with 12.2%) melancholic entry to the finals (granted, this one has the Middle Eastern vibe that seems trendy this year judging by the winners in countries like Spain).