BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

Thu., April 21, 2005 Nisan 12, 5765

The mystery of the roses in Rabin Square

By Sara Miller, Haaretz Correspondent

A massive heart-shaped bouquet of flowers is currently gracing the fountain in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv. The arrangement of roses - brilliant in hues of red, blue and yellow - is accompanied by a framed message that reads:

Eurovision 2005
Angelica Agurbash
From Belarus with Love

It took a quick search on Google to discover that Belarus' entrant for the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest is indeed Angelica Agurbash.

It took only slightly longer for someone to point out that the songwriter who penned her tune is Zvika Pik, Israel's corroded Tom Jones wannabe, only with thinning long hair and his own reality TV show, ludicrously named "Maestro."

Euro-buffs will recall that Pik was responsible for Dana International's triumphant "Diva" in 1998.

For those who are not subjected to this annual aural punishment, the Eurovision Song Contest allows the European nations (and Israel and Lebanon) to showcase marathon of kitsch rubbish masquerading as singing and dancing.

After every nation has paraded the most dreadful costumes, music and performers, the countries award points for each others' songs. As you can imagine, this is entirely non-partisan and wholly impartial.

Anyway, it seems that Pik wasn't that much of a hit in the Belarus song world after all, because Agurbash dropped "Show me your love" once it had secured her a place in the contest, and went for a little number entitled "Love me tonight."

So is this why the roses suddenly appeared in the square? Unfortunately, the Belarussian embassy in Tel Aviv doesn't have anyone manning any of its three lines, and so it is left to the imagination of the individual to decide the meaning of the flowers. The general consensus seems to be one of three options:

1. Peace offering: We know we rejected your countryman's song after saying we would use it, but please vote for us anyway.

2. A pan-European PR stunt: Look at our lovely roses. Please vote for us. Everyone.

3. Mockery: Yes we rejected your countryman's song after saying we would use it. We don't care whether you vote for us, we will win anyway with our fabulous new song.

In retrospect, option 3 is highly unlikely. If you have any ideas of your own, please let us know. Either way, enjoy the flowers brightening up the square

Source:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArtUnd.jhtml?itemNo=567522&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y


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