Manizha 3x

With Russian Woman, Russia is sending singer Manizha (= Манижа Сангин, 1991) to the Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam (May 18-22). A song with a message, though not everyone is happy with it.

Strong

There’s not much to the message if you just listen to the chorus. Every Russian woman should know she is strong, but that’s in English ( 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 have summarized it as: how does she represent Russia, and what can someone who isn’t 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: the song itself, and its quality. Here we’ll keep it short: here are three others.

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 music video featuring sign language is perfect. 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

• 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)

Most of the music here is also in an R1 playlist on YouTube (in order of release).
See also Best Russian Music and Russian Song Lyrics.