HUNGARY

The Hungarian Final  was held on February 18th at the MTVA Studios in Budapest, hosted by Csilla Tatár & Levente Harsányi. Before the final there were a series of heats and semi finals to chose the final of 8 songs. The winner was chosen in two rounds of voting. Firstly, the top 4 was chosen by an "expert" jury but in the second round the winner was chosen solely by televoting. Going to Kyiv is Joci Pápai singing his self-penned song “Origo” (Origin)

Joci is joined on stage by an odd can/drum instrument (which he plays), a female fiddler and a very beautiful gypsy dancer (whom he dances with at one point). Joci is dressed in what I would say was a ‘modern take’ on a national costume. It is not the most flattering of outfits, as Joci is quite tall, stocky and very hairy! On the video screens, there are different views of dancers and instruments being played. During the broadcast, they used some very clever framing effects which help place the camera shots of the song on the TV screen.

The song begins with Joci singing with minimal backing which builds up to the ‘jaloma lomma’ chorus. The tune is very mesmerising, although not immediate, but the whole thing grabs your attention very quickly. During the first instrumental he plays the milk churn and you see the dancer and fiddler. The song is structured very cleverly. By the 1.50 mark he has already sang two verses, two choruses and had two sizable instrumental breaks. However, it is here everything goes a bit strange. Suddenly he breaks out into a Scroobius Pip type spoken word/rap part – but in Hungarian – then reverts to the chorus to the end. This part could be when the disconnect happens to the voters at home and might need looking at.

This is a very pleasing entry. Not only is it very different to everything else that has been selected but also feels culturally close to the country it has come from. Between now and Eurovision they may need to make some tough decisions about the staging and setting of the song. I think it would be going against the whole meaning of the song if it was suddenly plonked into English however the rap part might benefit from having some of it in English or have somekind of picture story behind him.. I like the staging as it is but on a bigger Eurovision stage it might look a bit sparse – again this might be fixed by having better background screens. Hungary should be pleased and feel proud to back their entry and I personally think that I final without this in it would be a great loss.

ARTIST - Joci Pápai

SONG - Origo (Origin)

MUSIC - Joci Pápai

LYRICS - Joci Pápai