Jamala wins Eurovision 2016 song contest

In reporting on Ukraine’s victory, Russian state television questioned how the extravagant song contest can be held in a country where “there is a hole in the budget, a war is being waged in the east and in the capital there is often disorder”. “An unbelievable performance and victory!”

People believe her emotions and crowned her the victor of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

Several Russian politicians and commentators blamed the result on hostility towards their country.

The song had caused controversy with its alleged political undertones, referencing the deportation of Crimean Tatars under Stalin. It references the year when Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin deported nearly all of the Tatar ethnic group.

Her fans say they hope times will change.

“This pain speaks to all the people who have experienced their own tragedies in the past, such as (the) Holocaust”, she added.

Jamala, whose real name is Susana Jamaladynova, isherself a Crimean Tatar who has not been home since shortly after Russia’s 2014 annexation of the peninsula. “Right now, Crimea is occupied”, Jamala said.

Lazarev’s club anthem “You Are the Only One” had the most striking visual effects.

“Thank you, Europe – welcome to Ukraine!” the artist said triumphantly as she accepted the Eurovision trophy in Stockholm on May 15.

Event organiser, the European Broadcasting Union, had said Ukraine’s offering did not contain political speech.

But Eurovision ruled that Jamala was “historical” in nature and allowed her song “1944” to compete.

The Eurovision Song Contest has a cult following in the gay community.

The song has resonance for contemporary Ukraine, where memories of that horror were revived by Russia’s seizure of Crimea, and Jamala’s poignant lyrics tell the story of a people with a history of persecution that continues to this day.

Russian MP Elena Drapeko blamed the loss on what she called an “information war” and “general demonisation” of her country.

“It was not the Ukrainian singer Jamala and her song “1944” that won the Eurovision 2016, it was politics that beat art”, Frants Klintsevich, deputy chairman of the Russia’s Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security, told local reporters.

Under a new system, the final scores at Eurovision are a combination of a popular vote and the votes of a professional jury. Photo / AP Russia’s Sergey Lazarev reacts as the results are announced. And Russia’s annexation of Crimea continues to be a sore point in Ukraine and the West.

Im, who was born in South Korea and is a former Australian “X Factor” talent show victor, was in the lead following a count of the jury votes, but her song “Sound of Silence” was bumped down to second place when the popular vote was added.