Eurovision shouldn’t be political. A nice golden rule. Of course, there have been times when this rule has been stretched slightly. And times when a country’s chosen song needed a tweak.
In 2011, our friends in Belarus picked today’s birthday girl Анастасія Віннікава/Anastasia Vinnikova to sing for them. Her first song was not original, and perhaps was a little too political for Eurovision’s discerning ears. So she got another song along similar lines, but more patriotic than political. Her pleasant little banger got Düsseldorf rocking, but didn’t have a similar effect on the juries or televoters of Europe. She got a couple of ten-points, but not quite enough to get 10 more points to make the Grand Final.
Anastasia is 30 today.
З днём нараджэння, Настасся!