Bulgaria's Polly Genova Hits Eurovision Stage in Defiance

Bulgaria's contestant Polly Genova and her band will take part in the second semi-final of the Eurovision contest in Dusseldorf Thursday evening amid low expectations of success.

The audience will also watch the same day the performers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Slovakia, Ukraine, Moldova, Sweden, Cyprus, Macedonia, Israel, Slovenia, Romania, Estonia, Belarus, Latvia, Denmark, and Ireland.

The ultimate showdown has been scheduled on May 14.

Genova and her Bulgarian-language song "Na Inat" ("In Defiance") won the internal Bulgarian competition for Eurovision in February 2011.

The stage performance of Polly Genova's Na Inat song will feature the entire band in white, with a screen showing rain dripping down glass in the background. Fireworks are expected to mark the very end of the song performance.

Competing for Bulgaria on Eurovision stage is a dream come true for Polly. She says she wants to dedicate her performance to her grandma, who passed away as Polly prepared for the contest.

Surveys show that the Bulgarian contestant has very slim chances of success, not least because often the competition is decided by political back-scratching.

"I do not think that politics have such a huge role to play. Honestly, I don't care about these things so muuch. What is important for me is that we all feel proud of our performance and I personally want to be satisfied with the good job we have done," Polly Genova told Darik radio hours before the start of the second semi-final.

Even though the fact that Polly Genova's song is not in English, which is said to be greatly reducing her chances to win Eurovision, the Bulgarian public and many foreigners have favored it because of its powerful message - urging young Bulgarians to stay and try to achieve their dreams in Bulgaria "in defiance" of all difficulties; the message is further perceived as being directed towards all young people encouraging them to fight for their dreams.

"I have no regrets for my decision to keep the lyrics of the song in Bulgarian. I'm very proud of that. I am glad that we took this decision because I feel so much better on stage this way," Polly commented.

Bulgaria has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest six times since its debut in 2005, but it was only the duo Elitza and Stundzhi that brought success to the country and reached the finals in 2007.

After the initial excitement over their participation in the contest Bulgarians already consider the Eurovision experience to be either sloppy or dire.

Still amidst a period of effacement and chalga-risation of Bulgarian music, the intensity of Bulgaria's duo Elitsa and Stundzhi four years ago convinced many that the music jamboree still matters, at least as a medium of the traditional and authentic on a modern note.

The official Eurovision 2011 Video of Polly Genova's song "Na Inat" ("In Defiance") VIEW HERE

You can view Polly Genova's live TV final performance of her song "In Defiance" ("Na Inat") HERE; you can view an earlier video of the song HERE

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