May 11, 2024, 8:09 PM
May 11, 2024, 8:09 PM
Switzerland won this Sunday (05/12/2024) at dawn with the song “The code” by Nemo, an edition of Eurovision contest marked by controversy, especially around Israel’s participation in the midst of the war in Gaza.
“I hope that this competition can continue to encourage peace and dignity for everyone,” said singer Nemo, 24, after the final of the competition held in the Swedish city of Malmö.
The victory of Nemo, a 24-year-old rapper and non-binary gender, has managed to end almost four decades of Eurovision drought for Switzerland, the country where the first edition of the quintessential European song festival was held in 1956, in the city of Lugano.
Switzerland had only won in that first edition with “Refrain”by Lys Assia, and had achieved it again in 1988 with “Ne partez pas sans moi”, sung by the Canadian Celine Dion, who years later would become a world star.
The 36 years that Switzerland has had to wait made the country, which is also the headquarters of the organizing body of the festivals, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), one of the winners that had not returned to the top for the longest time.
They were only surpassed by Belgium, which has not won the competition for 38 years.Luxembourg (41), France (47), Monaco (53) and, of course, Spain, which since Salomé’s “I Live Singing” 55 years ago, does not know what victory is, although there is still more than one twenty nations that have never won, including “historical” ones like Cyprus or Malta.
