Georgia: Iriao – For You

Martin: Oh, Georgia. What an addition they’ve been to the Eurovision family. In the last few years alone, the Caucasian nation has given us melodramatic balladry, psychedelic rock, a gothic warrior and a ragtag bunch of skydiving space jumpers. “Eclectic” doesn’t even come close.

Enter Iraio – or, if you believe the official documentation, “Ethno-Jazz Band Iraio”, because their internal selection as the Georgian representatives for ESC 2018 wasn’t weird enough already.

“For You” (the disappointingly mundane translation of the exotic-sounding “Sheni gulistvis”) isn’t really what I’d expect from a genre calling itself ethno-jazz, to be honest. It’s a multi-layered vocal exercise, part monastic choir, part epic historical movie soundtrack. And whatever else it may be, it’s blooming lovely. It feels like a dose of much-needed musical honesty in this patchy semi-final.

At Israel Calling, the guys showed a bit of personality in their interactions, and that’ll be important to stop “For You” from coming across as self-important and overly serious. Get that balance right and, who knows, there could be an unlikely qualification in the stars for Georgia this year. But even if not, they get an unequivocal douze points from me for the sheer variety they keep bringing to the contest.

Felix: So good to see that in 2018, something like this has its place in Eurovision. It’s not a favourite of mine, but I do enjoy it, and will be very happy if Georgia qualifies.

Shi: This is a lovely composition and orchestration that in normal circumstances would be doomed, but in this semi with its limited options, juries will still need to vote for ten songs and great-grandparents have some voting power too (once someone shows them how to use a smartphone). Weirder things have happened.

video and title image source: eurovision.tv