Performances of Cyprus: 2010-2012

          Welcome back fellow Eurovision watchers! This blog post will explore the different visual and lyrical and literary devices the country Cyprus had used in their performances through the consecutive years of 2010 to 2012 in their participation of Eurovision. In these performances, each country participating has three minutes to represent their country to all of Europe. They do this using different devices and such. An example of these different devices this blog post will be examining will include but are not limited to performers background, lighting, staging, props, costumes, etc… 

          In the 2010 performance of Cyprus, the song “Life Looks Better in Spring” was sung by Jon Lilygreen & The Islanders. Jon Lilygreen is a 22 year old male who is actually from Wales in the United Kingdom. Lilygreen dabbles in contemporary type music. The band he plays with—The Islanders—are a group that perform along with singers all over Europe in places such as Wales, Scotland and Cyprus, just to name a few. Jon Lilygreen & the Islanders, the performers, go for a fairly simple performance. While singing their verses, the stage lighting is all blue with a main spotlight on Lilygreen himself. When the chorus commences, the lighting changes to a warmer orange light. Lilygreen is wearing a bright white t-shirt making him the center of attention while the band and background singers are all wearing black. His white t-shirt also appears a sort of a glow on him, giving a dream-like scenery to the performance. He is also playing the guitar during the performance, which as the audience knows he is not actually playing it for real, making it a prop. Overall this performance was very laid back and serene. The lyrics of the song explain two people who were once in love, but have now broken up. During the verses when the artist is singing, the lights are cold and dark which is reflects the lines “That old December, the fears, the cold,” which brings the audience to believe it is the winter time. Winter symbolizes coldness and darkness. By the time the chorus comes around and the lighting changes to a warmer tone, the artist sings “We know it's over, so tell me it's over and life will be better in spring”. Spring symbolizes rebirth. When Lilygreen & The Islanders sing this, they are telling a story of how their love had died down between the two lovers in the winter time, however in the spring time they could possibly have another shot at love or life. This song is very different from the previous performances of Cyprus. It is also one of the few performances that is very simple. The simplicity is what differentiates this performance from the next two performances. 

          In 2011, Cyprus went a more traditional route. The song they chose was “San Aggelos S’Agapisa” sung by Christos Mylordos which means “Like An Angel I Loved You” in English. This song and overall performance was more traditional because it was sung in Greek, which is the official language of Cyprus, and the artist was born in Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus. The song starts out with the camera focusing on a lady some feet in front of the artist wearing all black. As the music begins, the camera moves in front of the artist and fans from a flute player, to the singers. The stage is foggy and has a constant color of yellow. In the background on the screens, there are these blue prismatic shaped that are constantly moving along with these lollipop-snapped figures that continue to sway. While singing, the performers also successfully attempt to sway along to the music with their feet keeping in place. This is reminiscent of Michael Jackson's anti-gravity lean in Smooth Criminal (1988). Anyways, about halfway through the song, after the artist sings a verse, the camera flashes back to the woman from the beginning and she is swinging this white ball on a piece of rope, and singing these Greek orthodox-sounding hymns. Then the camera changes angles to this dancer who moving in tune with the hymns. The meaning of the song is someone who loves their significant other very dearly, despite the pain they put them in. The song is in a first person point of view, and the artist sings how his loved one “crossed [him] and you make [him] bleed,” but still the wrist “would have died for” them. He forgives his loved one for the wrong doings she/he put him through, and wants their love back. This performance and the previous one are very different in many aspects. The only similarity between them, could be the simplicity of the setting and how they both do not use many props, and how they are both a type of love song as is the next performance.

           The next performance Cyprus performed was its most popular performance in Eurovision. In 2012, Cyprus chose the artist Ivi Adamou, and she sang a song called “La La Love”. This song is one of the only true pop-style songs Cyprus has ever performed in Eurovison. Adamou is from Paralimni, Cyprus but now resides in Greece. The colors in this performance mainly are blue, light pink, and a black that outlines the designs on the screens in the background. The singer and her background vocalists are all wearing pink-beige dresses and skirts. The only prop the artist has on stage is this small stone wall, that she starts out the song on top of, but then her background dancers/vocalists lift her down off of it. Towards the end of the performance, she is then lifted back onto the stone wall. The lighting is pretty flashy, especially compared to the other two performances. This performance also has the most choreography of the other two. The artist even has a dance break in between the second to last chorus and last verse where the lights go dark for around 10 seconds. This song is about a overflowing amount of love for a person. How so much love between two people can make each other feel fearless and powerful, as evident when Adamou sings “Nothing to fear, when you are near”. The overall mood of this song is very upbeat, lively and catchy. Overall, this performance is extremely different from the first two performances in many aspects. 

From 2010-2012, the performances by Cyprus have differed in many ways. The one feature which links all these performances together is how all the songs are about love. Yes, of course they all take on a different take on love. In 2010, Jon Lilygreen & The Islanders talk about love in the way of two people separating during harsh times, then coming back together when the time is right again. Christos Mylordos in 2011 brought up how despite the pain and suffering loved ones can do to each other, there is always room for forgiveness if the love is great enough. Finally, in 2012 Ivi Adamou bring up how love can be so strong and powerful that it makes the couple feel invincible. Other than this though, the performances differ greatly from the genre of music and lighting and mood. One performance was very traditional with the lyrics being sung in Greek and the Greek orthodox hymns. Another was more folk/contemporary and the last was more pop. The 2010 and 2012 performances are definitely more western than Cypriot with the lyrics being sung in English, and the genre of the music. With the differences of these performances, the audience can see the range of diversity within Cyprus. 





Citations:

Christos Mylordos. (2011). San Aggelos S’Agapisa (Cyprus). Eurovision Song Contest 2011 Düsseldorf. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxkBW0ey5BU

Ivi Adamou. (2012). La La Love (Cyprus). Eurovision Song Contest 2012 Baku. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex133UhxB64

Jon Lilygreen & The Islanders. (2010). Life Looks Better in Spring (Cyprus). Eurovision Song Contest 2010 Oslo. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGNtoR2hom4