Manizha 3x

With Russian Woman, Russia is sending singer Manizha (= Манижа Сангин, born 1991) to the Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam (May 18-22). A song with a message that won’t resonate with everyone.

Strong

There’s not all that much to the message, judging by the chorus. Every Russian woman should know she is strong (lyrics). Still, it was enough to cause controversy. See, for example, Russia’s Eurovision entry to be investigated for ‘illegal’ lyrics (The Guardian, 18-03-2021) and Conservative Russia in retreat as Tajik refugee raps her way to Eurovision (The Telegraph, 13-03-2021).

Tajikistan

To add to that, Манижа Сангин (1991) was born in Tajikistan. Critics summarized: how can she represent Russia, and what can someone who isn’t really Russian have to say to Russian women? See also (in addition to the links below) Russia’s 2021 pick for Eurovision Song Contest provokes a stream of xenophobic comments online (Meduza, 2021).

Russia Eurovision entrant abused for women’s rights and LGBT stance
(BBC News, 24-03-2021)

What was barely discussed, was the song itself, and its quality. We will keep the review to: here are three other songs, and let’s quickly move on to those.

Про тебя (About You) (2021)

Also live on Авторадио and a video version.
Lyrics

Город Солнца (City of the Sun) (2020)

Also live on Авторадио (2021).
Lyrics

Громче слов (Louder Than Words) (2018)

Actions speak louder than words (действия громче слов) – so the sign language is a perfect choice for this music video. There’s also a backstage video (2019, 2 m).
Covers here and here, and autoharp for the brave.
More sign language (and lyrics) in Tired (2018).

Lyrics

More Manizha

• Недославянка (Nedoslavyanka) (2019)
• Mama (2018)
• Сейчас дважды не случится (It Won’t Happen Twice Now) (2018)
• Люстра (Lustre) (2017)
• Изумруд (Emerald) (2017)

See

• Singer Manizha on Eurovision selection (Evening Urgant, 2021, 11 m)
• The film “Where I Am”. The story of Manizha Sangin (ICOM Russia, 2021, 8 m)
• Manizha – Big interview about her work, personal life, Zemfira, and Tajiks (Super, 2018, 17 m)

See/read

• Russian-Tajik singer Manizha is headed for Eurovision 2021. Here’s how her music has evolved over the years (Meduza, 2021)
• Meet Manizha, Russia’s choice for Eurovision 2021 (Russia Beyond, 2021)
• The Real Meaning of Manizha Mania (The Diplomat, 2020)
• All hail Manizha, the Tajik-Russian musician rewriting the rules on what it means to belong (The Calvert Journal, 2020), also see Meet Manizha, the Tajik singer making waves on Instagram (2017)

Discover more Russian music, playlists and song lyrics at Music in Russian
Discover more about Russia and Russians at Rad Russia
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