On the Rachel Maddow show this week, Rachel and Kent were a little mean about Eurovision. Sadly some otherwise liberal US folks nevertheless find it hard to truly comprehend that other nations might actually sometimes prefer their own cultural styles over imported US ones.
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For my American friends that fancied hearing the winner without hearing them giggle over it about us silly Europeans not having invented any proper music, here it is. For the record, I rather like it.
The ancient Scandanavian dancing style in the video is known as Laus, or Halling, and it is a pretty spectacular dance-form requiring extreme levels of fitness, not to mention a degree of fearless disregard for one’s own safety! It was fantastic to see it on display at Eurovision. Watch out for the bit at the end when they kick the hats down from the poles!