Kiev (AFP)
- Portugal won the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time ever early Sunday
with a melancholy ballad performed by a singer who suffers from a serious heart
condition.
The
fado-tinged song "Amar Pelos Dois" was performed by 27-year-old
Salvador Sobral, who is awaiting a heart transplant.
It scored a
crushing victory, winning top marks both from the televoters and the countries'
professional juries.
The
black-clad singer took to a small separate stage for his minimalist performance
of the song written by his sister.
But the
glitzy contest was marred by the ongoing fighting with Moscow-backed
separatists in eastern Ukraine and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko opted not
to attend after four civilian deaths.
The
ceremony in the capital of ex-Soviet Ukraine began with a glittering light show
as the contestants took bows on a stage lit up in the colours of their
respective national flags.
"Say
hello to the world!" shouted co-presenter Volodymyr Ostapchuk.
The annual
celebration of catchy europop, ludicrous costumes and glittering divas watched
by some 200 million TV viewers was being hosted by Ukraine for the second time.
Another
favorite with the bookmakers was Bulgaria's big-voiced 17-year-old singer
Kristian Kostov who gave a confident performance of "Beautiful Mess".
During the
contest, it emerged that Kostov had performed in Crimea soon after its
annexation by Moscow -- the reason Ukraine banned Russia's singer.
But Ukraine
let Kostov stay because he was just 14 at the time.
The latest
edition of the contest, that began in 1956 with just seven countries, offered
the usual wacky stage acts and cheesy beats.
Italian
Francesco Gabbani invoked Hamlet and Desmond Morris's anthropology book
"The Naked Ape" in his song, while a gorilla-costumed dancer boogied
alongside him.
Azerbaijan's
act featured a man wearing a horse's head on a stepladder while Romania
presented an unlikely combination of yodeling and rap with two giant cannons on
stage for no apparent reason.
Macedonia's
contestant Jana Burceska failed to make the final but received a televised
marriage proposal during a semi-final, screaming "Yes!" as her
boyfriend knelt down with a ring.
Britain may
be experiencing a post-Brexit vote chill in Europe, but pulled out all the
stops with a big ballad performed by Lucie Jones.
Ahead of
the show, fans streamed into the venue, an exhibition centre outside the city
centre, wearing flower garlands and draped in national flags while some waved
rainbow gay pride flags.
"It's
just so great. Everyone loves it. And you just wanna be here!" shouted
Jasmine from Britain, wearing a garland of ribbons and flowers.
For the
contest, Kiev's main Kreshchatyk Street was transformed into a Eurovision fan
zone with a large stage, beanbags and European Union flags.
Fans with
flags painted on their faces snapped selfies, danced, sang and drank beer.
Amid
heightened security, some 10,000 police were deployed on the streets, some
carrying semi-automatic weapons.
Ukraine is
hosting Eurovision amid a continuing armed conflict with pro-Russian
separatists in the country's industrial east that has now killed more than
10,000.
A top
Ukrainian official said Saturday that "Russian invading forces" had
killed four civilians in shelling hours before the contest started.
And that
news led President Poroshenko to cancel his appearance at Eurovision.
He wrote on
Facebook that "due to the shelling of Avdiivka and the death of peaceful
civilians, I took a decision to cancel my presence at the Eurovision
final."
Russia was
also conspicuously absent.
Kiev barred
Russia's Yuliya Samoilova because she had illegally entered Crimea to perform
there after Moscow's disputed annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine.
Russia
responded by refusing to air the contest and viewers in separatist eastern
Ukraine were also unable to watch.
Russia has
vowed that Samoilova will compete in 2018, placing Ukraine in a tricky dilemma
over whether to participate alongside her.
Ukraine
first hosted Eurovision in 2005 when the contest symbolised the country's quest
to open up to Europe after the 2004 pro-Western Orange Revolution.
Last year
its contestant Jamala won with a song called "1944," referring to the
Stalin-era deportation of her Crimean Tatar ethnic group from the Black Sea
peninsula.
Jamala took
to the stage during voting and in an unintended moment, a man wrapped in the
Australian flag mooned in front of her.
This year,
Ukraine has used the contest to take tentative steps to soften the climate of
homophobia prevalent in the ex-Soviet Union.
The
authorities handed out a map of gay-friendly venues to fans of the contest with
a massive gay following.
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