Austria has barely eliminated Israel to win the Eurovision Song Contest after a tense voice count on Saturday evening in which the management was repeatedly switched and the Victor only became clear at the last minute.
Israel received the Most points in the public moodThat is good for half of the total count. Last year, The competition was overshadowed Through protests about the involvement of Israel because of the military campaign of the country in Gaza.
Austria was represented this year by JJ, a classically trained singer, who performed ‘Wasted love‘A dramatic song about the heartache. He received 436 points on the 357 of Israel.
Sweden, the favorite of before the event, was fourth.
Austria last won the competition in 2014, then Conchita Wurst, a bearded Drag Queen, Pasted with “Rise Like A Phoenix.”
JJ, a 24-year-old whose real name is Johannes Pietsch, is a contrator, which means that his vocal reach is most similar to that of a female mezzo-soprano. He sings in the Opera School of the Vienna State Opera and has appeared on stage in the productions of Mozart’s ‘The Magic Flute’ and Benjamin Britten’s ‘Billy Budd’ in recent months.
If he accepted the trophy of the Eurovision winner, a tearful JJ thanked the voters and called on them to ‘spread more love’ in the world.
The four -hour final of Eurovision in the St. Jakobshalle Arena in Basel, Switzerland, contained all surrealistic and spectacular sights that music fans have expected from the competition, including scantily dressed dancers and, at some point, a singer who was shot and spulde flame standard. About 6,500 fans cheered everywhere in the Arena.
Last year’s competition held in Malmo, Sweden, had a completely different atmosphere. The run -up to the final was tense after some fans, and even some artists in the competition, protested the presence of Israel there because of his actions in the war in Gaza. Some public members in the arena for the event yied out loudly when The participant of Israel, Eden GolanExecuted, although others cheered.
This year Israel was represented by Yuval Raphael, A survivor of the Hamas-conducted attacks in October 2023 on South Israel. During her performance at the Eurovision final, only a handful of angry and calling in the Arena.
Before the final, many Eurovision fans had speculated that Celine Dion, the Canadian singer, would appear on stage. Dion won Eurovision in 1988 and represents Switzerland with “Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi” (“Don’t leave without me”), and fans had hoped that she would resume that number in Basel, although she has hardly appeared in public since 2022, when she announced that she had a rare neurological condition known as known as Stiff person syndrome. In the end Dion was absent at the Saturday event.
JJ, who spent most of his childhood in Dubai, started singing classically at the age of 15 when he moved to Austria. His father, who noticed JJ’s high singing voice, asked him to try the ‘Queen of the night“Aria of” The Magic Flute “, a piece at the very end of that reach, remained in a recent interview. He began to view YouTube videos of performances by Maria Callas and Montserrat Caballé and imitated that repelled soprano, he said.
JJ said he hoped that his performance “would arouse interest in classical music” with the viewers of Eurovision.
After winning the trophy, he sang a second time during the final ‘Wasted Love’ and ended with a penetrating ‘High C.’ Then he burst into tears.
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