Bulgaria Musicians, Citizens Protest against Local Eurovision Contest Results

Society | February 24, 2009, Tuesday // 00:00
Bulgaria Musicians, Citizens Protest against Local Eurovision Contest Results: Bulgaria Musicians, Citizens Protest against Local Eurovision Contest Results Prominent Bulgarian musicians and members of the social network Facebook are protesting Tuesday against Krasimir Avramov's song "Illusion," which was selected to represent Bulgaria in the "Eurovision 2009" finals in Moscow. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

Prominent Bulgarian musicians and members of the social network Facebook are protesting Tuesday against Krasimir Avramov's song "Illusion," which was selected to represent Bulgaria in the "Eurovision 2009" contest finals in Moscow.

The demonstrators are gathering at 1:30 pm in front of the building of the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) in Sofia. BNT is the official organizer of the Bulgarian edition of the Eurovision contest.

Avramov's song won Saturday with 55,52% of the spectators' vote. Poly Genova and her song "One Lifetime Is Not Enough" took the second place, while Mariana Popova with "Crazy" was third.

Bulgarians had 15 minutes to vote by phone or text message for their favorite song. The concert, held at the National Place of Culture, was aired live by BNT.

As soon as the results were announced, the song and its author, Krasimir Avramov, became subject to fierce criticism on the part of some of the country's top musicians. Renowned composer Nayden Andreev appealed to Avramov to immediately withdraw his bid, while famous performers, Yordanka Hristova and Kiril Marichkov, directly accused Avramov of singing out of tune.

The brewing scandal, which is escalating quickly, is the most serious one since Bulgaria began participating in the "Eurovision" contest. In addition to comments about the poor quality of the song and the performance, there are accusations that the contest was an inside job and results were forged.

There is an online petition in Facebook demanding that the vote's results are annulled. The petition is titled: "Krasimir Avramov's Song for Eurovision Is a Disgrace to Bulgaria." In less than 48 hours, the online group collected 5,000 signatures.

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