Khalib Zaman has been announced as Polasciana’s entry for the 2020 Global Festival music competition to be held in Bahía Blanca this December. Zaman, 27, was chosen internally by PTV executives for his ‘extraordinary’ talent, and will perform his self-penned song ‘Love’ together with fellow Polascianan singer Amala Sidenko. Following in the footsteps of last year’s winning entry ‘Avant Toi’ for Montelimar – the first entry to win the contest without singing at least part in Havenish – the duo will perform solely in Sarian.
Announcing Zaman and Sidenko at a press conference earlier today, PTV said that they had ‘high hopes’ for the duo in the show, and had allocated ‘significant funding’ to support their bid. Discussing the entry, Bogdan Tarasovich who will lead the Polascianan delegation in December said the song had been written ‘in the last few weeks’ and the ’emotive’ lyrics were written following former Eastern Republican president Nado Milutinovic’s death. “This is in part a tribute to Nado Milutinovic who we lost recently – an event which has stirred the nation, and together we felt his hope for life and humanity would make a fitting message to the world in December” said Mr Tarasovich. He continued that “Khalib and Amala represent the very best of Polasciana’s thriving cultural scene, and the entry is absolutely stunning. We have high hopes for what they can achieve in the Republica del Sur and are allocating significant funds to enable them to compete.” The lyrics include powerful lines such as “I don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Maybe it will be a rise, or maybe a disaster. But have your trust in me, even if I’m tired and wounded, I always have my freedom, but I don’t know how to live without you.”
Zaman said it was “a massive honour” to be representing the country, and when pressed whether he was concerned that the entry being sang in Sarian may be a barrier for their success, said he hoped the world reacted with a connection to the quality of the song itself and the performance which he said would be ‘visually beautiful’. Sidenko said she “believed” in the track and said “I fell in love with it as soon as I heard it. Khalib has done an amazing job with the team at PTV – we couldn’t be more honoured to be representing the country in December”. The song starts with swirling strings, building to a climactic finish and haunting vocals.
Polasciana has failed to qualify from the opening rounds of the contest since 2011 when the rules of the competition changed, but many critics today said they felt this was the country’s “best attempt yet”. “This entry draws on real contemporary themes which have done really well in the show over the last few years. It’s clear PTV have tried to bring something fresh – and I feel this could provide Polasciana with its best result yet” said one blogger, whilst another said “This is the first real entry we’ve heard from Polasciana since it won the predecessor to Globe Fest, Gala, back in 2009. I can see this doing really well.”
