Spain’s Eurovision Entry, in a First, Is Sung Entirely in English
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Version 0 of 1. MADRID — Dozens of countries, representing a wide range of languages, vie for the Eurovision song contest every year, but English has been by far the most dominant tongue, with 26 victories. So this year, Spain, which has not won since 1969, decided: If you can’t beat them, join them. For the first time, Spain’s Eurovision entry will be sung entirely in English, after television viewers in February selected “Say Yay,” performed by Bárbara Reyzábal González-Aller, who uses the stage name Barei, to represent the country. The contest concludes on Saturday in Stockholm. But the decision not to enter a song in Spanish has stung some guardians of the language. Dario Villanueva, the director of the Royal Spanish Academy, said that having Spain’s candidate sing in English was proof of “an inferiority complex.” Another academy member, José María Merino, told the Spanish newspaper El País that “given that Spanish is a language spoken by 500 million people, presenting a song in English is surprisingly stupid.” “I understand that a country with a language that has a limited number of speakers would try to use a language known by many, but this is unacceptable,” Mr. Merino said. For her part, Barei says that English is the language that comes naturally to her when she writes music, and that while she was proud of speaking Spanish, English “is much more international.” Songs written entirely or mostly in English have won Eurovision 26 times since it began in 1956. Songs in French have won 14 times, while Dutch and Hebrew songs won three times each. This week, only three of the songs selected by 43 countries will not include any lyrics in English, a record low. The issue has also divided Spanish singers, including those who have — unsuccessfully — represented Spain in recent decades in Eurovision. Edurne, who finished 21st last year, told a Spanish online television channel, El Televisero, that she supported the decision to sing in English and “innovate” to turn around Spain’s poor Eurovision track record. “Today, English is a world language, and it doesn’t seem to be bad to sing in English,” Karina, a contestant in 1971, told a publication aptly called La Nueva España, or The New Spain. But Remedios Amaya, who placed last in the 1983 contest, said that the Spanish candidate should be representing Spain — and not England. The idea of not singing in Spanish “doesn’t even get into my head,” she told a regional newspaper, La Voz de Galicia. José María Lassalle, the Spanish state secretary for culture, said this week that the choice of English for Spain’s Eurovision entry was “the kind of polemic that isn’t worth having.” Over all, Mr. Lassalle said that “Spanish is in extraordinary health,” and that the debate over whether English was affecting Spanish-speaking culture should be considered on a global scale. “The spread of Spanish in the United States clearly offsets whatever progress English is making in a country of 45 million people” like Spain, he said. In fact, three of the six Spanish finalists to represent Spain in Eurovision chose to sing in English. Barei later said that she and others had been urged by Spain’s national television network, which broadcast the domestic competition in February, to include at least some Spanish in their songs. Mr. Merino of the Royal Spanish Academy said the broadcaster should have done more because it had “a moral and cultural obligation” to spread Spanish and the country’s cultural patrimony. |