12 Established 1961 Lifestyle Features Monday, May 24, 2021

Switzerland’s Gjon Muharremaj aka Presenter of the Eurovision Song Contest Nikkie France’s Barbara Pravi performs during the final of the 65th United Kingdom’s James Newman arrives on stage during the final of the Gjon’s Tears poses for pictures dur- de Jager speaks during a press conference in edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2021, at the Ahoy con- 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2021. ing the “Turquoise Carpet ceremony” Rotterdam, on May 19, 2021. vention center in Rotterdam. of the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2021. What they’re talking about at Eurovision in Rotterdam

he Eurovision Song Contest is never because guitarist Thomas Raggi had she was pipped at the post, scoring 499 He worked on his song “Tout good idea to leave Eurovision as it has the short of drama and its return after a broken a glass The band later said on points to Maneskin’s 524. l’Univers” with one of the writers of EU, as it also finished last in the song con- Tyear off was no exception, with a their Instagram stories that they were France has been waiting for a “Arcade”, the power ballad sung by test in 2019. nailbiting finish and tense national rivalries. “ready to get tested because we have Eurovision champion since 1977 when 2019’s Dutch winner Duncan Laurence. Here are some key talking points from the nothing to hide.” “We are really shocked Marie Myriam won the competition. That’s But the subsequent public vote brought a First transgender host 65th edition of the competition, held in the about what some people are saying despite the country being one of the so- huge surge for Maneskin that took them Eurovision got its first transgender Dutch port city of Rotterdam: about Damiano doing drugs. We really called “Big Five” guaranteed a place in the into first place, leaving the Swiss feeling host with Nikkie de Jager, better known are AGAINST drugs and we never used final each year, along with Germany, Italy, the sting of defeat. as NikkieTutorials to her more than 13 Drugs denial cocaine,” they said. Spain and the United Kingdom. million followers on Instagram and The singer for Italy’s Maneskin, Nul points for UK Youtube, where she gives beauty tips. De Damiano David, strongly denied taking 44 years of hurt Swiss role The United Kingdom’s James Newman Jager was the online presenter and also drugs when he was asked by a reporter France saw its best chance in years to Switzerland’s Gjon’s Tears-singer Gjon suffered the humiliation of scoring the took part in parts of the main live broad- about footage showing him bent over a break its long Eurovision losing streak slip Muharremaj, 22 — surprised many by end- notorious “nul points”-getting no points cast. She revealed she was transgender in table during the Eurovision ceremony went out of its grasp as singer Barbara Pravi ing up at the top of the leaderboard after at all on the leaderboard. Newman’s song 2020 in a video that has now been viewed viral on social media. “I don’t use drugs. came second to Maneskin. The favorite to the first round of voting by Eurovision’s “Embers” failed to set Europe alight, with more than 32 million times. De Jager’s Please, guys. Don’t say that really, no win a week ago, Pravi was compared to national juries. The 22-year-old, whose both the national juries and the public make-up tutorials have made her one of cocaine. Please, don’t say that,” David told Edith Piaf, with her moody number “Voila” parents are from Albania and Kosovo, vote snubbing him. A good humored the most famous Youtubers in her field, a press conference after the four-piece and an emotional performance against a appeared in the French version of The Newman raised a beer to the cameras to and she has collaborated with US stars glam rockers were named winners. dark background. But despite raucous sup- Voice in 2019. He was then part of Mika’s acknowledge what had happened. Britain including Kim Kardashian, Lady Gaga and He said he had been looking down port from many in the international media team, and reached the semi-final stage. may be wondering whether it would be a Katy Perry. —AFP Shamed BBC journalist Technical glitch blights apologizes over Diana interview virtual Glastonbury festival artin Bashir, the BBC journalist who tricked princess Diana into giving an explosive interview, yesterday apologized to Princes technical fault on Saturday M left frustrated fans unable to William and Harry, but said claims linking his actions to her death were “unreasonable”. A report by Aaccess Glastonbury Festival’s retired senior judge John Dyson published on livestream concert at the famous farm site in southwest England, Thursday found that Bashir commissioned faked after the coronavirus pandemic led bank statements that falsely suggested some of to the blockbuster event’s cancella- Diana’s closest aides were being paid by the security tion. The five-hour virtual show services to keep tabs on her. Bashir, 58, then showed kicked off with a performance by them to Diana’s brother Charles Spencer in a suc- British rockers Wolf Alice, but many cessful bid to convince him to arrange a meeting ticket-holders, who had paid £20 between himself and Diana and earn her trust. ($28, 23 euros) to access a stream Bashir told the Sunday Times he was “deeply sor- of the event, complained on Twitter ry” to Diana’s sons Prince William and Prince Harry. that they missed it as their access “I never wanted to harm Diana in any way and I codes were invalid. don’t believe we did,” he told the paper. But William In this file photo journalist Martin Bashir speaks dur- “You’ve got thousands and said Bashir’s actions and the interview had made “a ing the ABC portion of the Television Critics thousands of us tweeting you say- ing we can’t get in due to invalid major contribution” to the demise of his parents’ Association Press Tour at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in relationship and “contributed significantly to her codes. Almost 10 minutes in and File photo of people attending the Glastonbury Festival.—Reuters Beverly Hills, California. —AFP fear, paranoia and isolation” in her final years. In his we’ve all missed the start,” wrote event was cancelled for a second smaller venues will be hoping to Twitter user Aimee Young. Event own release, Harry said that the deceptive practices ple” in her marriage-her, Charles and his long-time year, said had hoped the event would reopen, drew some criticism. had played a part in his mother’s death. “The ripple producers Driift Live tweeted: be “like the festival but without peo- “I think what the live industry mistress and now wife, Camilla Parker-Bowles-and “Hello! We’re looking into the effect of a culture of exploitation and unethical also admitted adultery. Bashir was little-known at ple”. “We’re very excited to be able really needs right now is some col- issues of invalid codes urgently.” to show the farm in a way that peo- lective, collaborative, joined-up practices ultimately took her life,” he said. Diana the time but went on to have a high-profile career died in a Paris car crash in 1997, aged 36. Organizers later sent out a free link ple have never really seen it, with thinking,” Mark Davyd, founder and on US television networks, and interviewed stars in time for an atmospheric sunset Bashir disputed the accusations, saying “I don’t these incredible artists,” she told chief executive of the Music Venue such as Michael Jackson. The pop singer’s family performance by US pop rock trio feel I can be held responsible for many of the other BBC radio. The event will also be Trust, wrote on Twitter. The virtual also blame Bashir for his death, saying the fallout Haim in Worthy Farm’s stone circle. played on delay across four interna- Glastonbury event also clashed with things that were going on in her life, and the com- from the interview led to him to increasingly They were followed by Glastonbury plex issues surrounding those decisions. “The sug- tional time zones, with Eavis adding the final of the Eurovision Song depend on drugs. veterans Coldplay, who performed there will be “a number of unan- Contest in Rotterdam. Glastonbury, gestion I am singularly responsible I think is unrea- Bashir worked for the BBC as religion editor in front of the skeleton of the sonable and unfair,” he told the paper. nounced surprise performances”. held on a dairy farm in Somerset, until he stepped down just last week, citing ill Pyramid stage, where the headline Paul Dugdale, the event’s director, southwest England, was forced to health, hours before Dyson’s report was submitted acts usually perform. Frontman said he hoped to recreate the event’s cancel in 2020 — the year of the ‘I loved her’ to BBC bosses. Former BBC chief Tony Hall, whom Chris Martin joked that he had sense of adventure. “The overarching event’s 50th anniversary-because of He argued that the 1995 interview had been con- Dyson criticized for his “woefully ineffective” 1996 “never played in front of thousands vision of it was to... just try and take coronavirus restrictions after some ducted on Diana’s terms, and that they remained firm probe into Bashir’s deception, resigned as chair of of cows before” as he and his band people on a bit of a journey. 135,000 people had already bought friends after it aired to an audience of 22.8 million Britain’s National Gallery on Saturday. A govern- braved the rain to perform classic “Glastonbury is an adventure, and tickets. Headliners were meant to people. “My family and I loved her,” he said, reveal- ment review of the BBC’s funding and governance hits such as “The Scientist”, you never quite know what’s around include pop superstar Taylor Swift “Clocks” and “Fix You”. Other per- ing that Diana had visited Bashir’s wife and newborn is due next year, which Home Secretary Priti Patel the corner and often the best parts and Beatles icon Paul McCartney. child in hospital and that the princess threw a birth- formers include Blur’s Damon of the festival are the parts you Organizers had hoped to stage the yesterday called a “very, very important moment.” Albarn and Michael Kiwanuka. day party for his eldest child at Kensington Palace. “There’s no question about that trust and confi- weren’t expecting, and that’s really event in 2021, but reversed course Bashir has said that he regretted showing Diana’s dence has been undermined, and now it’s a time for fun,” he said. Britain is gradually after England entered a third lock- brother forged documents, but that it had “no bear- ‘An adventure’ opening up after its latest Covid-19 down at the start of the year follow- the BBC to absolutely reflect upon the findings of Organizer Emily Eavis, who ing” on the revelations aired during the interview. this report and rebuild that trust and confidence,” lockdown, and the timing of the ing a surge in coronavirus infections, announced in January that the annual Glastonbury event, when many hospitalizations and deaths.—AFP In it, Diana famously said “there were three peo- she told Sky News. —AFP

“Growing up I learned to sign by watching older enjoys a rich variety, and some signs differ from TikTok helping deaf people in my family. Then when I went to school one part of the American South to the next. Some my friends didn’t understand what I was signing. I remember a dire lack of resources at their schools, realized that BASL was unique and wanted to put and untrained teachers who did not teach them the Black Americans it out there for people to learn it,” she said. full diversity of standard American Sign Language. Those differences were also noted decades “We Black students were repetitive, we lacked preserve their brand ago by Carolyn McCaskill, a professor at variety, our sign language was quite limited,” Gallaudet University in Washington, one of the recalled Pamela Baldwin, who went to school in largest institutions for the deaf and hard-of-hear- Arkansas during and after segregation, in an inter- of sign language ing in the world. As a child in Alabama, she first view with McCaskill. That lack of resources learned sign language at a school for deaf Black explains the informality of a dialect that relies on a nglish is not my first language,” writes children, before going to study at a school for range of communication elements rather than the Nakia Smith on her TikTok account, white children once segregation ended. “The sole use of pre-established signs. Nakia Smith Dr. Carolyn McCaskill “Ealthough the 22-year-old grew up in signing they used was so different, even though Texas. The young African American woman has the schools were only 10 minutes away from each Emotional vs... robotic the younger generation wants to preserve the lan- been deaf since birth, and uses her large online fol- other,” she said. “Black people sign with more rhythm, more guage,” she said. McCaskill launched the nation’s lowing to promote her little-known dialect: Black The earliest schools for the deaf and hard-of- style, using words that reveal our emotions, more first-ever Black deaf studies center in 2020 with American Sign Language. In her video clips, she hearing in the United States date from the early free-flowing,” one former deaf Black student from colleagues at Gallaudet, which offers a minor in the tells her 400,000 followers about the differences 1800s, but in 17 southern states and Washington, Texas said during a conversation posted online by history and culture of deaf African Americans. She between her language and the standard American separate schools for Black students were estab- McCaskill as part of her research. “We match the hopes her center will serve as a base for the Sign Language (ASL). Among other things, she lished towards the turn of the century. In these 18 flavor. I don’t mean to offend white people, but preservation of the dialect, but recognizes the signs with two hands rather than one, uses more establishments, a distinct means of communicating their signs lack affect, it has no tone, it’s robotic- importance of figures like Nakia Smith and her space and makes more use of facial expressions. through signs evolved organically from ASL. These like signing that shows no emotion.” Today, Black popularity on social media. Smith tells her followers that to sign “paper” in schools lasted for some 70 years, until desegrega- American Sign Language survives primarily by “Her videos went viral and reached out to dif- ASL, a person mimics a sheet of paper by tapping tion, which was long enough to allow the emer- being passed on from generation to generation, as ferent pockets of the community, which is great,” the left hand with the right hand, while moving the gence of a dialect with its own characteristics. in the case of Smith, who learned it from her she said. For her part, Smith wants more visibility latter outwards. In Black American Sign Language, For her book, “The Hidden Treasure of Black grandfather. This makes it almost impossible to for sign language, standard or Black, and would the person waves both thumbs outwards at shoul- ASL” McCaskill interviewed dozens of deaf estimate how many people actually speak it, said like to get involved in the entertainment industry der level. “Black ASL came from ASL, but has more African Americans to catalog the specifics of the McCaskill. to help bring about change. “I want to see it in seasoning. It’s more emotionally involved,” she told dialect. Thanks to the geographic remoteness of “We have older Black deaf individuals who are popular culture, in books and TV shows, wherev- AFP, with her brother acting as interpreter. the communities, American Black Sign Language passing away due to aging, but it’s very vibrant, er,” she told AFP. —AFP