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This weekend, more than 20 former Soviet nations competed at Intervision 2025. Russian President Vladimir Putin revived the song contest after Russia was banned from Eurovision in response to its ongoing war in Ukraine. From Moscow, NPR's Charles Maynes reports.
CHARLES MAYNES, BYLINE: Tatiana Zhiltsova says when it comes to song contests, there is no shame in rooting for your home team.
TATIANA ZHILTSOVA: (Singing in Russian).
MAYNES: It just won't be at Eurovision, which she sees is too liberal and, in her words, too gay friendly.
ZHILTSOVA: (Speaking Russian).
MAYNES: "We're just fine here with our own values," she tells me. "What we saw at Eurovision was offensive and something we won't accept."
And now she no longer has to. Zhiltsova was one of several thousand fans who flocked to an arena outside Moscow Saturday for Intervision, President Vladimir Putin's answer to Russia's ban from Eurovision and bid for a conservative cultural counterweight to the West - only it's one with unexpected roots in the past.
DEAN VULETIC: If anything, Intervision was more of an anti-Soviet idea than an anti-Western one.
MAYNES: Dean Vuletic is a leading scholar on Eurovision and its communist cousin, Intervision.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).
MAYNES: He says communist governments launched the project in the mid-1960s, first in Czechoslovakia and later Poland as, yes, a copy of Eurovision amid the Cold War. Yet the early Intervisions lacked the urgency of the space or arms races than both in their heyday. Instead, he says Intervision was mostly a bridge to the West.
VULETIC: So you hear these Cold War echoes more in this revival of Intervision than you did during the Cold War.
MAYNES: Given the war in Ukraine and Russia's current fallout with the West over it, politics hovered over the event.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: (Non-English language spoken).
MAYNES: The U.S. contestant, a native Australian with an American passport, pulled out at the last minute, under what organizers lamented was pressure from Down Under. And Ukraine denounced the show for whitewashing the death and destruction of Russia's invasion. In fact, there was no mention of the war at all. President Putin opened the event with a video address in which he spoke of a fast-changing world where traditions and values must be preserved.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN: (Speaking Russian).
MAYNES: For the new Intervision is couched firmly in Russian ideas of waning Western influence and the rise of new global centers of power. Organizers repeatedly noted the 23 participating countries represent some 4 billion people, nearly half the planet, and there was no denying for global talent in search of a new spotlight, Russia put on a show.
CHARLOTTE LU: Yes, we are excited to see him on international stage.
MAYNES: Charlotte Lu traveled all the way from Shanghai, China, to support her favorite singer Wang Xi, aka Elvis Wang.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ELVIS WANG: (Singing in Chinese).
(CHEERING)
LU: His voice is like velvet.
MAYNES: I also met Olutheren Smith, who was competing for South Africa and couldn't have been happier to have a grand stage.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MZANSI JIKELELE: (Singing in non-English language).
OLUTHEREN SMITH: So not a lot of youngsters get this opportunity. And so I just want to be the person that they can look up to and say it is possible.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DUC PHUC: (Vocalizing).
MAYNES: Ultimately, Vietnam's Duc Phuc, a pop crooner who charmed judges and the audience, took the trophy and $360,000 in prize money.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SHAMAN: (Singing in Russian).
MAYNES: Vietnam's victory may have been aided by a gesture from Russia's contestant, a nationalist pro-war singer known as Shaman.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SHAMAN: (Speaking Russian).
MAYNES: Following his performance, a power ballad, Shaman asked judges to leave him out of the vote, arguing it wouldn't be right for the home country to take the title. Besides, Shaman added, when it came to hosting a high wattage event surrounded by so many friends from around the globe, Russia had already won. Charles Maynes, NPR News, Moscow. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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