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improbable symphony
I wanted to write a blog entry about Magdi Ruzsa and her effect on Hungarian-Serbian relations, but I need some informed opinions.
I was really disappointed that nobody covering the Eurovision Song Contest last year picked up the story of her coming from poverty in Serbia, entering the Hungarian version of Pop Idol (as an ethnic Hungarian), and not only winning the competition but making Serbian headlines by singing a Serbian song, mainly in Serbian. I think of myself as a fairly cynical TV viewer but when I watch the judges apparently overcome by emotion, I simply assume they're feeling as electrified by this Balkan soul as I am.
Is it true, is it fair, to say that all this happened at a time when a typical Hungarian headline about Serbia would be reporting the beating up of ethnic Hungarians by local thugs, and subsequent political cross-border shouting matches?
It might not be surprising that the Serbs voted Hungary as their first choice when she, a Serb by birth, was the Hungarian entry, but is it as surprising as it sounds that the Hungarians voted Serbia's Marija Šerifović as their number one?
And if Magdi Ruzsa did bring about any change in either people's attitude to the other, is there any evidence that it has lasted?
I was really disappointed that nobody covering the Eurovision Song Contest last year picked up the story of her coming from poverty in Serbia, entering the Hungarian version of Pop Idol (as an ethnic Hungarian), and not only winning the competition but making Serbian headlines by singing a Serbian song, mainly in Serbian. I think of myself as a fairly cynical TV viewer but when I watch the judges apparently overcome by emotion, I simply assume they're feeling as electrified by this Balkan soul as I am.
Is it true, is it fair, to say that all this happened at a time when a typical Hungarian headline about Serbia would be reporting the beating up of ethnic Hungarians by local thugs, and subsequent political cross-border shouting matches?
It might not be surprising that the Serbs voted Hungary as their first choice when she, a Serb by birth, was the Hungarian entry, but is it as surprising as it sounds that the Hungarians voted Serbia's Marija Šerifović as their number one?
And if Magdi Ruzsa did bring about any change in either people's attitude to the other, is there any evidence that it has lasted?
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