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 Along with singers from Italy and Bulgaria, Sobral was a
favorite going into the final of the annual song fest, which was
hosted in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, and he led the voting
throughout the evening. Portugal finished ahead of Bulgaria and
Moldova.
A soft-spoken, 27 year-old with a scraggly beard, Sobral won
with "Amar Pelos Dois" ("Love For Both of Us"), sung in his
native Portuguese. This is the first time Portugal won since it
first entered the contest in 1964. After being announced as the
winner, Sobral performed the ballad again, this time in duet
with his sister Luisa.
"Music is not fireworks, music is feeling," he said after
winning. "Let's put emotion back into music."
Asked later at a press conference whether he was now a national
hero, he said: "Honestly man I just want to live a peaceful
life, if I thought of myself as a national hero it would be a
bit weird, you know."
Ukraine hosted the competition while it also fights a war,
hundreds of kilometers (miles) away in the east, against
Russian-backed separatists.
As is custom in the contest, geopolitics played a part.
Russia boycotted this year's event after Ukraine barred its
contestant from entering the country - a symptom of the
countries' toxic relations since Moscow's annexation of
Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in 2014. Ukraine won last year's
Eurovision with its Crimean Tatar entry Jamala.
In a grim reminder of the continued conflict in the east,
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko canceled his scheduled
appearance at the competition after four civilians were killed
in artillery attacks that Kiev blamed on the separatist rebels.
BRINGING CHANGE
This was the 62nd edition of Eurovision, recognized by Guinness
World Records as the longest-running annual TV music
competition. It began in 1956 with just seven countries. Ireland
have won most often - seven times in all - following by Sweden.
Sobral came into the competition having told local media that he
has a heart problem, without giving details. In the run-up he
wore a sweatshirt drawing attention to the migrant crisis in
Europe, but was asked to stop wearing it by the organizers.
"I hope this can bring a change not only to this contest, but to
music in general, and pop music," Sobral said about his win,
contrasting his song to music normally pumped out "16 times a
day" on radio stations.
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Other hopefuls this year included Italian Francesco Gabbani. He was
tipped to win with a number, viewed nearly 114 million times on
YouTube, that mixes Buddhist imagery with a dancing ape, and that he
explained as poking fun at the West's superficial embrace of eastern
culture.
Jacques Houdek, known as 'Mr Voice' in Croatia, blended pop and
operatic singing styles in the song "My Friend". Romania fielded a
duo that combined rap and yodeling.
Ukraine has won the competition twice, including last year with a
song about the mass deportation of Tatars from Crimea by Josef
Stalin, and its winners performed on Saturday.
Moscow fielded a candidate this year who had violated Ukrainian law
by performing in Crimea after the Russian takeover. Kiev accused
Moscow of deliberately provoking a row.
Russian singer Yulia Samoylova performed in Crimea again on Tuesday,
coinciding with the first Eurovision semi-final.
"I think politics shouldn't intervene," said Liza Ignatieva, a
21-year-old university student in Moscow. "But they broke the rules
of the event by not letting her in. Why they invented new rules for
Russia only? Yes, we have bad relations but they shouldn't do it to
us."
More than 10,000 have been killed in the war between Ukraine and
pro-Russian fighters that erupted in 2014 following the Maidan
street protests that ousted a pro-Russian president, and the
annexation of Crimea.
But during Eurovision at least, Maidan and its surrounding streets
have been filled with fans. Big screens and food stalls have been
set up in the center of the capital, and Ukrainian memorabilia put
on sale.
"And yes, there is a war going on, but it's further, further out,"
said Stephanie Novak, a visiting fan from Australia.
"And I think isn't it the whole point of Eurovision to help bring
Europe together? What could be better than bringing Europe to a
country that is being so affected by war at the moment and to show
them what a beautiful country it is."
(Additional reporting by Sergiy Karazy and Natalia Zinets in Kiev,
Axel Bugge in Lisbon and Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow; Editing by
Mark Potter and Mary Milliken)
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