LIFESTYLE MONDAY, MAY 15, 2017 MUSIC & MOVIES

Salvador Sobral from , right, embraces his sister Luisa after performing the song “” fol- from Portugal celebrates as he holds the trophy after winning the Final of the Eurovision Song lowing his win in the Final of the , in Kiev, . — AP/AFP photos Contest with his song “Amar Pelos Dois”. Portugal wins Eurovision Song Contest for the first time ortugal’s Salvador Sobral won the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday performing a jazz-style ballad Pwritten by his sister, taking the top spot for the first time in the country’s history and celebrating with a call to “put emotion back into music”. Along with singers from Italy and , Sobral was a favorite going into the final of the annual song fest, which was hosted in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, and he led the voting throughout the evening. Portugal finished ahead of Bulgaria and . A soft-spoken, 27-year-old with a scraggly beard, Sobral won with “Amar Pelos Dois” (“Love For Both of Us”), sung in his native Portuguese. This is the first time Portugal won since it first entered the contest in 1964. After being announced as the winner, Sobral performed the ballad again, this time in duet with his sister Luisa. “Music is not fireworks, music is feeling,” he said after winning. “Let’s put emotion back into music.” Asked later at a press conference whether he was now a national hero, he said: “Honestly man I just want to live a peaceful life, if I thought of myself as a national hero it would be a bit weird, you know.” Ukraine hosted the com- petition while it also fights a war, hundreds of kilometers (miles) away in the east, against Russian-backed sepa- ratists. As is custom in the contest, geopolitics played a part. boycotted this year’s event after Ukraine barred its contestant from entering the country - a symp- tom of the countries’ toxic relations since ’s annex- ation of Ukraine’s peninsula in 2014. Ukraine won Portuguese representing Portugal with the song “Amar Pelos Dios” Salvador Vilar Braamcamp Sobral aka last year’s Eurovision with its Crimean Tatar entry . In Salvador Sobral reacts as he speaks during a press conference after winning the final of the 62nd edition. a grim reminder of the continued conflict in the east, Ukrainian President cancelled his sched- uled appearance at the competition after four civilians Guinness World Records as the longest-running annual TV attention to the migrant crisis in Europe, but was asked to were killed in artillery attacks that Kiev blamed on the sep- music competition. It began in 1956 with just seven coun- stop wearing it by the organizers. aratist rebels. tries. Ireland have won most often - seven times in all - fol- “I hope this can bring a change not only to this contest, Portuguese singer representing Portugal with the song lowing by . Sobral came into the competition hav- but to music in general, and ,” Sobral said about “Amar Pelos Dios” Salvador Vilar Braamcamp Sobral Bringing change ing told local media that he has a heart problem, without his win, contrasting his song to music normally pumped aka Salvador Sobral performs on stage. This was the 62nd edition of Eurovision, recognized by giving details. In the run-up he wore a sweatshirt drawing out “16 times a day” on radio stations. Other hopefuls this

Ilinca feat. from Romania performs the Moldavian musical trio representing Moldavia with the song “Hey Mamma!” SunStroke Project composed by Bulgarian-Russian singer representing Bulgaria with song “Yodel It!”. (from left) singer Sergei Yalovitsky, saxophonist Sergey Stepanov and violinist and composer Anton Ragoza per- the song “Beautiful mess” Kristian Konstantinov form on stage. Kostov aka performs on stage.

Austrian singer representing Austria with the song “Running on air” Italian singer representing Italy with the song “Occidentali’s Romanian singer representing Romania with the song “Yodel it” Ilinca Bacila aka Ilinca performs on stage. Karma” performs on stage. (left) and Romanian singer Alex Florea (right) perform on stage.