The German press reacted much more actively than Ukrainian publications to Ruslana's victory in this year's Eurovision contest. And this reflected not only the offense over Max (Max Mutzke), who represented Germany, and not even the irritation that the "eastern bloc" defeated the western one on its historic stage. Instead, what stands out is a sparing objectivity that deserves many compliments: multi-talent, energy, extraordinary spectacularity of the performance, the fieriness of the rhythm and the originality of the costumes.
Actually, Germany still does not know Ukraine. At the mention, Russia surfaces (as the Soviet Union was always called in Germany), Chornobyl, the mafia and criminality, corruption of the authorities, etc. The list can be shortened to a few deep archetypes: danger, the unknown, cold (or better: eternal winter), poverty. Vodka would stand out positively against this background: quality. But in the absence of Ukrainian imports, they know only "Moskovskaya" and "Wyborowa."
Therefore it is hard to overestimate what Ruslana did for Ukraine with her victory: The front pages of most German publications were ablaze with portraits of the combative Ukrainian woman at full height with a yellow-and-blue flag in her hands.
"A wild amazon defeated our Max"
Under such an eloquent headline, a huge article appeared in the popular tabloid Abendzeitung. Despite the great mystery of the age of the "sexy" Ruslana — the newspaper writes about 29 years, while Bild says 26 — attention was drawn to the singer's costumes and the "Zhyttia" ballet.
Unlike Max, who "opened his eyes as many as 5 times" during the entire performance, Ruslana presented a "hot show" and made the audience go wild. The excursus about the singer's and composer's work ends with the thoughts of experts.
Ado Schlier, who commentated on Eurovision broadcasts 26 times: "Ruslana won fairly, she can sing and dance. She is a professional." Member of the once legendary group Modern Talking Thomas Anders: "The winner's song is not a song as such, but it was fantastically presented. And the woman is very attractive."
"With her wild show on stage, the beautiful Ruslana knocked her competitors out of the competition," picks up the theme Tageszeitung, another tabloid. The newspaper emphasizes that it was precisely the majority of the 150 million viewers who voted for the "temperamental singer" from Ukraine: The name was programmatic, and Ruslana convinced Europe.
Bild — the newspaper with the largest circulation in Germany — prints a huge portrait of Ruslana and mentions the mad success of the broadcast. With 11.5 million television viewers and 43.6% of the television space, the first national channel ARD gave Ruslana and Ukraine enormous advertising. Also, the majority of the experts surveyed note that talk about "political voting" in Ruslana's case is simply meaningless.
"The wild dancer Ruslana — a child of the new Ukraine"
Under such a headline, an article about the Ukrainian woman appeared in Sueddeutsche Zeitung, one of Germany's most analytical newspapers, which enjoys enormous popularity among the intelligentsia and the political elite.
"Ruslana is not simply a pop star who can only dance and at the same time look the way men would want. In Ukraine's young wild capitalism, she asserts herself as a composer, arranger, film producer, company owner and energetic champion of cultural heritage," notes the publication and makes a thorough review of Ruslana's work.
"I will do everything so that my country becomes better known and is not associated only with the Chornobyl disaster," the newspaper quotes the singer's words. Stefan Raab (a well-known German TV host and the author of the song for Max) wanted to change Eurovision — and the stairway succeeded, Sueddeutsche states in one of its headlines.
"That night the winner's name was Ruslana. Success was celebrated by a slender woman with a whip and her song 'Wild Dances.' And this with energy as if the day had only begun, and not already lasted 24 hours. Then at last she had had enough of the bustle. She sat in the winner's long white Cadillac and disappeared behind the tinted windows and into the night," opens the article about Eurovision another very authoritative German newspaper — Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
The publication reveals to the reader the "incredibly hard work" behind Ruslana's success, in whose honor a music club in Istanbul has already been named. Germany awaits the English-language album, which will come out in June, as well as Ruslana's tour of the country. Because thanks to her (Ruslana), the European schlager industry "will go on a pilgrimage to Kyiv in 2005," the newspaper sums up.
"The final chord of Eurovision had long since faded, but the intoxicated-with-victory Ruslana was still beating the microphone into her palm and making the 7,100 delighted spectators in the Arena clap in time," could not fail to mention the conservative Die Welt, generally skeptical of Ruslana's victory.
Despite numerous emphases on the political engagement of the voting, it managed to admit that the "brilliant winner" presented the most spectacular show of the evening.
Summing up this broad review, one wants to emphasize once again: never before has so much been mentioned about Ukraine, especially in such a positive context. Now it is up to the organizers of Eurovision 2005, because they have a rare chance to prove that Europe was not mistaken: in Ruslana, in Ukraine, and in Ukrainians.