We can rightly consider 20 May to be jeans “official birthday”. 140 years ago on that date, Jewish immigrant Loeb Levi Strauss received a US patent for the production of dark blue trousers made of canvas, designed for miners in the gold mines… which, later on, became the clothes that conquered the whole world.
Historians long traced the origin of jeans by their names in English… denim and jeans. The first one refers to the French city of Nîmes, which is famous for its durable fabrics, the second to Genoa in Italy, with its textile mills. Written sources preserve only fragmentary information, but it appears that in the middle of the 17th century Genoa shipped cheap fabric of this type to northern Europe (especially, England). The English imported this fabric from Genoa (which later became known as denim), sewed it into clothing, and sold it throughout Europe as “Jane” or “Gin”. Art historians allegedly found an image of people wearing jeans (a woman in a denim skirt and a boy in a denim jacket, which is visible through gaps in his bright clothes) in the paintings of an unknown Italian master in the middle of the 17th century, dubbing him, “The Master of Blue Jeans”.
The above images prove that “there’s life in the old dog, yet”. When we retain the ability to laugh at our foibles, we’re healthy. Pass the jug and smile…
On Saturday, Denmark’s Emmelie Charlotte-Victoria de Forest won the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 before an international TV audience of around 125 million, winning the annual competition with a barefoot performance backed by flutes and drums. The 20-year-old won with the song Only Teardrops, competing against contestants from 25 other countries in a final held in Malmö in southern Sweden, scoring an overall 281 points. Eight out of the 39 participating countries gave the Danish contender the highest-possible score of 12 points. Russia’s Dina Garipova took fifth place, singing What If, scoring 174 points. She received top scores from two countries… Latvia and Estonia.
19 May 2013
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Dina Garipova
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RussiancosmonautsPavel Vinogradov and Aleksandr Misurkin wished singer Dina Garipova success and victory at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Sweden. Vinogradov said in a transmission from the International Space Station (ISS), “Our hearts ache for Dina Garipova, who represents our country at Eurovision”. Misurkin added, “We wish that our compatriot wins; she has beautiful voice, and we hope that she’ll win”. The Eurovision final kicked off at the Malmö Arena on Saturday evening. The 58th annual Eurovision song contest is underway in Malmö, Sweden. Russia’s Dina Garipova has already sung her soulful ballad What If. bookmakers consider Garipova, 22, who became Russia’s entry at Eurovision after winning the popular “Voice” television show last year, as one of the favourites at the contest, although Denmark’s Emmelie de Forest with Only Teardrops is still on top of the most-likely winner list.
Singers from 26 countries began battling it out on Saturday night for the crown of glitzy pop in the Eurovision Song Contest, returning this year to the homeland of ABBA, the Swedish band it propelled to global superstardom. One of them is Russian Dina Garipova. Bookmakers are tipping Denmark’s entry, 20-year-old Emmelie De Forest with her song Only Teardrops, to take out the competition comfortably. Other hot contenders for the title include Norway, the Ukraine, Russia, and Azerbaijan. The 26 countries competing in Saturday’s final are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, the Ukraine, and Britain. The show, one of the world’s longest-running television programmes, landed in the city of Malmö on Sweden’s southern coast after Loreen (Lorine Zineb Nora Talhaoui) won the contest last year in Azerbaijan with her dance track Euphoria. Former ABBA members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus together with Swedish DJ and producer Avicii (Tim Bergling) composed the opening act; Swedish singer Sarah Dawn Finer will belt out the ABBA classic The Winner Takes It All during the three-hour programme.
On May 18, the popular Eurovision Song Contest will have its finals, which, this time, take place in the Swedish city of Malmö. 26 participants have already made it to the finals, and one of them is Russian Dina Garipova. Some people estimate Garipova’s chances to win as high. Amongst other participants with good chances, they name Emmelie De Forest from Denmark, Margaret Berger from Norway, Zlata Ognevich from the Ukraine, Farid Mammadov from Azerbaijan, and Alyona Lanskaya from Belarus. Belarusian singer and TV host Georgi Koldun is a big-time fan of his compatriot Alyona Lanskaya, and he said, “The finals of the contest will most likely be a hard battle. It’s quite hard to predict who’ll win in the end, because the singers who made it to the finals are all very talented. Their songs are quite remarkable, and each of them has their own distinctive manner of performing”.
Dina Garipova decided that she‘d wear the same romantic pink dress in the finals in which she sang in the semifinals. However, some of the spectators found this costume a bit “sugary”. Others, on the contrary, liked it, because, as they say, in this dress Dina strikingly resembles Princess Madeleine of Sweden (Duchess of Hälsingland and Gästrikland). Meanwhile, Dina doesn’t care what people think of her dress. She just likes it and feels comfortable in it. Unlike many modern singers, Dina doesn’t move in tune with her song on stage. She just stands and sings, because she wants to draw the listeners’ attention, firstly, to the song itself. The song that Dina chose for the Eurovision contest is What If. Its main message is that people should unite to make life better. In a VOR interview, Dinasaid, “I’ll try to sing this song with all my soul. I think that the songs’ authors put a very important message into it, and I’d like to get this message across to the audience”.
According to Eurovision’s rules, the votes of TV viewers determine the winner. TV viewers from countries that take part in the contest can vote in the contest, but a viewer can’t vote for their country’s entrant. Besides, there’s also a jury at the contest. The choice of the winner is split between a 50 percent share from the TV viewers’ choice and a 50 percent share from the jury’s vote. Yuri Aksyuta, the musical director of Pervy Kanal, which is broadcasting the Eurovision contest in Russia, said, “As a rule, all the songs sang at this contest are new. the audience only knows a few of them befroehand. The majority of the contest’s participants are trying to surprise the public with some unusual performance or special effects. Dina Garipova just stands and sings her simple, but very nice, song”.
Dina herself said that she’s taking part in the contest not for the sake of winning, noting, “Of course, I’d like to win, but if I don’t, I won’t take it as the end of my life. There is a saying that I find very wise, ‘Believe in success, but be ready for the worst’. This year, many young singers are taking part in the Eurovision contest… everyone is talented in their own way. It’s very hard to guess what the public may like and what not, but I’d accept any decision of the public, whatever it may be”.
Of course, a literal translation was impossible here. A “чемодан” is a suitcase and a “чебурек” is a traditional Tatar food (click here for a description). Therefore, I chose “carry-on” and “chipolata” as substitutes (they begin with “C” and they’re of the same sorts as the Russian words (one is luggage and the other’s food). That is, the spirit of Yolkin is catered to; I’ve put my pinch of incense on the altar, which means that this is a righteous translation.
The crocodile is the famous character Gena the Crocodile from the Cheburashka series of multifilms, and the meteorite fragment is in the shape of the much-loved Cheburashka. Any Russian would see this in a flash! It’s like putting up Popeye or Taz… it’s that much a part of Russian “visual culture”. Below is a vid of Gena singing his “birthday song” (his most famous number) in a full-length Cheburashka multifilm (it’s at the beginning).
У церкви стояла карета. The Coach Stood by the Church
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Вальс юнкеров (Белый вальс). The Waltz of the Cadets (A White Waltz)
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Тихая осень. Autumn Silence
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Миленький ты мой. You’re My Darling
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Верую. I Believe.
ВЕРУЮ
в доброе
в Бога
в любовъ
в мир
в людей…
I BELIEVE
In kindness
In God
In love
In peace
In people…
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To end this musical section, I give you a “handful” (five pieces) by Zhanna Bichevskaya. You either love her or hate her. I’m one of the lovers… no doubt on that score. We need to remember ALL of our history, both Red and White… otherwise, we slice off our own right hand. Don’t ever be led astray by those who wish to whitewash the past in any way… such people are evil and are Satan’s Own Servants… there’s no other way of putting. If you love God, you love the Truth, and that’s that…
