- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
- Five of the best: Pakistan-England Test thrillers
- Man sets arm on fire as marches across US mark Gaza war anniversary
- Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution
- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
The Palestinian who almost represented Iceland at Eurovision
Jerusalem native Bashar Murad was determined to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest, but with no option to represent Palestinians, he opted to try his luck singing for Iceland.
"I'm an artist, I make pop music, and Eurovision is like the Olympics of pop music", the up-and-coming pop singer told AFP in a recent telephone interview.
Unlike Israel, a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) that oversees Eurovision and therefore can participate in the competition, Palestinians are not granted a spot.
This year's contest is taking part in the shadow of the war raging in Gaza, and has prompted thousands to protest in Malmo, Sweden, where Israel's contestant Eden Golan qualified for Saturday's big finale.
Murad too sparked controversy earlier this year when many saw a political, not artistic endeavour in his decision to compete in Iceland.
"They didn't even look at the song. They just looked at me and at the fact that I'm Palestinian," he said.
He said he had received death threats, while an actor on an Israeli satirical talk show mocked him, as others took to social media to criticise him.
"If Palestine was free, I wouldn't need to go to Iceland to compete," said Murad.
The heightened tensions caused by the war in Gaza made his candidacy particularly charged, but Murad says his Eurovision dream began long before.
- 'Wild West' to 'Vestrith villt' -
Murad said he submitted his song to the Icelandic committee in August 2023, "and then two months later, October 7th happens, and the world goes mad".
He did not win the qualifications but he made it to the last round of Iceland's pre-Eurovision song contest and was expected to win with his song "Wild West".
Against expectations, he lost to Icelandic artist Hera Bjork and her song "Scared of Heights" by just 3,000 votes out of the 200,000 cast.
In the end Bjork failed to make it through the semi-finals, leaving Iceland without a representative at the Eurovision finals on Saturday.
For Murad, whose father founded the renowned Palestinian band Sabreen, the choice of Iceland as a hoped-for conduit to Eurovision, wasn't completely random.
He already knew the Icelandic band Hatari, an industrial techno outfit that drew attention during the 2019 Eurovision finals in Tel Aviv, when band members waived a Palestinian banner.
Through their drummer and producer Einar Stefansson, Murad learned he did not have to be Icelandic to represent the island nation.
He would however have to sing in Icelandic in the semifinals.
Murad and Stefansson co-wrote his entry song, including the Icelandic version of it, "Vestrith villt", for the semi-finals.
Akin to Beyonce's "Texas Hold'em", "Wild West" and the album it is found in fuses American folk, country and pop music, part of a wider trend of pop music artists "going country".
- 'Obstacles' -
Murad, who is currently doing an artist residency in Paris, said he is keenly aware of the expectations that come from his own people, stressing he represents only "one Palestinian experience" of many.
In a campy, satirical music video for his song "Antennes", Murad addresses these themes.
Donning a mariachi hat and lipstick under his large moustache, he looks around uneasily as a pretend audience asks him in Arabic why he doesn't dress according to "our customs".
Murad said he hoped his experience would "highlight how many obstacles we have to go through as Palestinian artists".
"As a Palestinian, I don't have the luxury to choose" whether or not to be political, he said, arguing that the audience's perception of him based on his background already colours everything he does.
"I wish I could sing about more universal themes than the occupation" of the West Bank since 1967, he added, although that specific theme was absent from his Eurovision song.
"But this is the reality I am born into. It's the lens through which I see the world."
F.Moura--PC