Italian Paean: Skies Optimism and Music Competition

italian paean: Ekaterina Lyzlova / The Associated Press file photo By David Filipov The Washington Post Tues., March 14, 2017 MOSCOW The Eurovision Song Contest, the international music competition that introduced the world to Abba's mercilessly upbeat pop and the Italian paean to blue skies optimism, Volare, has become clouded by nationalistic feuds.A particularly chauvinistic drumbeat is crescendoing around this year's festival in Kyiv Ukraine said Monday that it may bar Russia's contestant from entering, on the grounds that she illegally toured Crimea after Moscow annexed the peninsula in 2014, according to Toronto Star. Or, it may arrest her. Samoylova is supposed to represent Russia at this year's Eurovision contest with the song Flame is Burning. That this year's instalment would be as politically charged as ever was clear the moment Ukraine's contestant, Jamala, took home the prize in 2016, which gave Kyiv the right to host. Read more Ukrainian singer Jamala wins Eurovision Song Contest Some Russian lawmakers and glitterati have called for a boycott, but instead, Russia has announced that it will send 27-year-old Yulia Samoylova to perform, immediately stirring a new refrain of controversy in Russia and Ukraine. That stung in Russia, especially because the winning entry, performed by an ethnic Crimean Tatar, veered from rules banning political lyrics by alluding to the mass deportation of her people by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, and hinted at mistreatment under Moscow's current rule. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.