Bulgaria won a raucous, contentious Eurovision on Saturday, topping Israel in what turned into both a musical and geopolitical nailbiter in its final moments.
Sitting outside the top oddsmakers’ top five coming into Saturday’s final in Vienna, Bulgaria improbably won both the overall jury vote and the popular vote among the 25 finalists thanks to pop star Dara’s dance-hall thumper “Bangaranga” to collect its first-ever Eurovision title.
Nobody knows what “Bangaraga” means, but Dara said at the show Saturday it’s the “feeling that everybody gets in themselves the moment you choose to lead through love and not fear.”
But Bulgaria was only one of the big news stories of the night. In a year marked by boycotts and hecklers over Israel’s participation, the Middle Eastern country surged into the lead midway through the popular vote after finishing eighth in the jury vote, and held that lead until the last possible second, when Bulgaria’s tally was announced. The presence of Israel’s Noam Bettan in a split-screen with Bulgaria’s Dara prompted both booing and Jewish-solidarity calls of “Am Yisrael Chai” in the background as an entire world — or at least the 160 million people who watch Eurovision — held their breath on who would finish first.
