Blog Post Two revision

                                                                   Blog Post Two

Eastern European Funk was Lithuania's 2010 submission to the Eurovision song contest, which was held in Baerum Norway. InCulto, the band behind Eastern European Funk, is known for mixing different styles and genres into their songs and performances. From Latin rhythms and punk to club music, InCulto is a unique blend of party music with a twist of quirkiness. When you look at the staging and performance of Eastern European Funk, you get the feeling of pure fun - from the dancing stick figures on the back LCD display, to their fake instruments and sparkly trousers,  it’s hard to see the performance not get the urge to dance. While their Eurovision contest music and staging took a theme of lighthearted club music, the lyrical content of the song has a subtly serious underlying theme, shining light on their past involvement in the USSR and showing their place within the EU. What makes the political messaging even more intriguing is Lithuanians struggle with National Identity. The country's view of its identity has changed over the years, but some of the key aspects of the song capture how Lithuania has adapted to modern day Europe, while retaining a unique personality.

For some background, InCluto was started in 2003 by Jurgis Didziulis, who was born in Columbia, but “found himself immersed in the club scene of Lithuania, the homeland of his grandparents”(EBU). Didziulis’ embracing his multicultural background may have something to do with InCulto’s blended sound. At their height, the band became a household name in Lithuania and even got nominated for an “MTV Europe for Best Baltic Act award “(EBU). After their 2010 Eurovision performance the band deleted their website, and stopped uploading music to their youtube channel. 

The distinctiveness and gimmickry of Eastern European Funk, is almost entirely due to the visuals and background. During the performance, the first thing the viewer sees is the choreography. It consists of the five performers playing air instruments (kazoo, guitars, drums, and trumpet) to the beat of the song. Once the vocals start, you can start to see the rest of the stage and a change from air instruments to dancing. While this is happening in the background, the LCD display shows something just as interesting; five stick figures also dancing a very choreographed dance as the colors of the Lithuanian flag mixed in with the colors of the EU flag. Once the image on stage gets set, the six member bring out foam instruments consisting of two trumpets, two guitars, and one drum. These instruments are also the color of the Lithuanian flag. Because the instrumental parts are a big portion of the song, and live instruments aren’t allowed in the competition, this was a good alternative to keep the energy up for the performance. Eventually, InCulto ditches the stand-in instruments and the style of music changes to more of a club style beat. The climax of the performance is at the 2:30 mark, when all the lights go red and the five performers rip off their trousers in time with the switch to club music. The background stick figures keep dancing while the intensity picks up, and instead of pulsating the colors of the flag the LCD changes to a purple and wight sparkle, before the performance finishes. While Eastern European Funk was well received by the crowd, InCulto only got 44 points in the semi finals, earning them 12th place overall, not quite enough to get into the finals.  

Eastern European Funk may seem like an upbeat song intended to make the audience get up and dance, but when looking past the general sound, we find some deeply rooted political themes in the lyrics. The lyrics, “just victims of circumstance”(the Lithounanas2010) refers to Lithuania's time in the USSR,  which they were a part of for around 50 years. In Rindzeviciutes work "Nation and Europe''(Rindzeviciute2003) he says that joining the USSR was seen as self preservation - a way for the country to survive the circumstances of that time period, in other words they joined as “victims of circumstance.” According to the CIA world facebook, Lithuania joined both NATO and the EU in the spring of 2004"(CIA), which explains the meaning behind “we are not as legal as you no sir, we're not equal no though we are both from the EU”. This stanza points out how they might be a part of the EU but the rest of Western Europe still does not see them the same - something that Lithuania has struggled with because of their communist background and late arrival to the EU. Another political line from the song, “We build your homes and wash your dishes, Keep your hands all squeaky clean”  references a classic cliche of day labor. Lithuania has one of the highest emigration rates in the EU27, because of “ low overall employment, high rates of youth unemployment, high numbers of minimum monthly wage earners (even during periods of economic growth)”(Krupickaitė2012). meaning a large portion of Lithuanians work low wage jobs outside their country in order to make a living wage and avoid unemployment . Day labor is often a symbol of lesser class standing throughout the developed world, which is what the lyric is about. There is a clear divide in attitudes between eastern Europe and the rest of Europe, but the song's political section ends on the line “But one of these days you'll realize Eastern Europe is in your genes''. This can be interpreted in many ways, but because of the fun nature of the song, we can assume that it is a positive remark, hope for eventual equality in class standing between Lithuania and the rest of Europe, as well as a hope that Europe can see the impact that Lithuania has had, and continues to have on the surrounding countries.  

Key points of Lithuania's national identity shine through InCulto’s 2010 Eurovision performance. This is evidenced in the lyric from Eastern European Funk, “just victims of circumstance”. This references how Lithuania became part of the USSR not because they believed in communism but, because it was the only option. This is also referenced in the line ”We survived the reds and two world wars,” (the ‘reds’ referring to comunist rule). Under the USSR, Lithuania detached their national identity from the government and put their heritage and national self into the church. As Miranda Zapor Cruz stated in her work on the role of Catholisim in Lithuanian national identity, “ the church portrays itself as the true guardian of the cultural heritage of the past, of national traditions and costumes''(Cruz p497). Interestingly, the reliance on the church, may have something to do with the mishmash of genre in their music, causing them to lean on music outside of the church, and outside of Lithuania. Today, the threat of Communism is no longer a problem, so Lithuania has started to flaunt their identity, as seen in the lyrics “Our Eastern European kinda funk”. This shows that Lithuania has developed, and is proud of, their own identity outside of the USSR and now are sharing their values with the rest of the EU. Lastly the visuals of the performance show the assimilation of Lithuania into the EU, starting with the mixture of the EU and Lithuania flag colors. This is further shown when the performers rip off their trousers - traditionally, costume changes are a longstanding part of Eurovision, and Lithuania joining in on that trope may be a signal to the rest of Europe that they do fit in.

The 2010 Eurovision performance, Eastern European Funk was a mix of gimmicks, dance music, and politics. At a glance the song is just like any other pop song mixed with funk and club music and a few added gimmicks like a  foam kazoo and shiny short shorts. However within its entertaining choreography and overall performance there are highly charged political lyrics referencing Lithuania's past and current standing in Europe.  Although Eastern European Funk wasn't their best scoring performance, it highlighted their national identity by embracing their uniqueness within the EU.

 

 

References

 CIA.(2017) “Lithuania.” Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, 

www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/lithuania/#introduction.

Cruz, M.Z. (2014). The Role of Catholicism in the Development of Lithuanian national identity. Church History and Religious Culture, 94(4), 479-504.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/43946120

EBU. (2017, April 9). Dance the Eastern European funk with InCulto. Eurovision.tv. https://eurovision.tv/story/dance-the-eastern-european-funk-with-inculto. 

Jurgis Didžiulis.(2010).” Eastern European funk”(lithuania). Eurovision song contest 2010 Norway. Youtube.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeOn-GG_eHo

Krupickaitė, D., & Poviliūnas , A. (2012). Social Impact of Emigration and Rural-Urban Migration in Central and Eastern Europe Executive Summary Lithuania. European Commission DG Employment.https://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?docId=8857&langId=en

Rindzeviciute, E. (2003). "Nation" and "Europe": Re-approaching the Debates about Lithuanian National Identity. Journal of Baltic Studies, 34(1), 74-91. 

http://www.jstor.org/stable/43212515

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