If you were the only person ever to represent your country, how would you feel? Would you want your country to send participate again, which would sully your unique record? Or would you be happy that you’re unique?
There is only one country, and one singer, that this all refers to. It’s the diva that is سميرة بنسعيد/Samira Bensaïd. She’s dropped the ‘Ben’ bit these days, but she’s still a figure of some renown across the whole Arab world. Of course, it was 40 – yes, 40 – years ago that we saw Samira on stage, coincidentally in the Netherlands. As we know, her country’s sole appearance wasn’t that memorable. She scored all her points from Italy. But she beat Finland, so it wasn’t a complete disaster. Some of us would like to see Morocco back, as they are full members of the EBU. No matter, this is one of the best songs ever.
Samira is 62 today.
ⴰⵎⵓⵍⵍⵉ ⴰⵎⴻⴳⴳⴰⵣ, ⵙⴰⵎⵉⵕⴰ!عيد ميلاد سعيد يا سميرة