Letter from Spain #63
Eurovision ... and Spain speaking its mind
We were invited to a friend’s Eurovision party on Saturday night. I’ve never been a great Eurovision fan, but I’m a great party fan - and this was a great friend throwing a great party, and so it was … great.
Speaking Spanish all night with Spaniards, Swiss, Austrians, Dutch and Germans, I think I was the only Englishman there. Also, everyone else seemed to know what the UK entry was and some had already heard it before the big night, but I didn’t have a clue. Apparently it was What The Hell Just Happened? by Remember Monday. Well, I can’t remember when whatever-the-hell-it-was happened to be sung, but it didn’t get a very loud cheer at the party. Unlike the German and Swiss entries … and especially the Spanish one, Esa Diva, sung by Melody.
I had assumed that none of the guests would be taking the contest very seriously, but I was wrong.
The Eurovision’s always been a bit of a ‘nul points’ event for me - simply something to laugh out loud at, if only for the costumes - men in armour and prosthetics, metallic bodysuits, cone-shaped hats or a techno frog prince … the more bonkers the better.
There were plenty of moments to laugh out loud on Saturday, especially when the long-haired Estonian in a tie started crooning to a takeaway coffee cup, or when the woman from Malta started bouncing up and down on an exercise ball. And I nearly choked when the Swedish men started singing in a giant sauna set - ‘We’re gonna sauna, sauna, steam it up’ - as it reminded me of Monty Python’s lumberjack song.
I didn’t know this before, but apparently the so-called Big Five – the UK, Spain, Germany, France and Italy – always qualify for the Eurovision final automatically, thanks to their financial contributions to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Money can buy access, but it didn’t guarantee any points, though. The staging for the Esa Diva song from Spain’s Melody was good - the Spanish guests at the party loved it, anyway - but Spain finished 24th out of 26 countries, with just 37 points.
That didn’t go down very well.
The Eurovision might be a celebration of flamboyance, creativity and campness, but it is also competitive, often catty, and certainly controversial. It was nearly 1am here in Spain when it looked like Israel might win the four-hour grand final - and by then it was clear that Spain was finishing 24th. Everyone at the party, and especially the Spanish guests, started to speak and shout their mind … telling it like it is, because that’s what the Spanish do, and that’s why I love them.
They’d done it earlier, too - before the Eurovision had already begun.
At around 9pm, Spain’s national broadcaster, RTVE, had aired a black screen, with a stark white message, in both Spanish and English: ‘When it comes to human rights, silence is not an option. Peace and justice for Palestine.’
Spain - or at least its state broadcaster - had spoken its mind.
They’d openly defied directives from the organisers of the Eurovision by broadcasting the message, despite prior warnings from the EBU instructing them not to mention the Gaza conflict, citing the competition’s strict stance on political neutrality.
Spanish media suggested the EBU’s warning had been prompted by a complaint from Israel’s own public broadcaster, KAN. The complaint alleged that during the second semi-final last Thursday, Spanish commentators had mentioned casualties in Gaza attributed to Israeli military actions, while the Israeli contestant Yuval Raphael was performing.
Today (Monday), Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, known for being one of the most vocal European leaders criticising Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, went even further.
Drawing a parallel with Russia – barred from competing in the Eurovision after invading Ukraine in 2022 – Sánchez said during an event in Madrid: ‘Spain’s commitment to human rights must be constant and consistent, including in Europe. If Russia was required not to participate in Eurovision after the invasion of Ukraine, neither should Israel. We cannot allow double standards, not even in culture.’
I try to avoid writing too deeply about any world conflicts in this ‘Letter from Spain’ blog. I know that Israel’s Eurovision entrant had survived the October 2023 attack by hiding beneath bodies for hours as Hamas gunmen attacked the Nova music festival, killing hundreds. I know this is sensitive - but this barbaric, humanitarian crisis in Gaza has to stop.
When Spain’s national broadcaster says ‘when it comes to human rights, silence is not an option’, they are dead right. When the Spanish prime minister says that he has ‘serious doubts that Israel is complying with international humanitarian law’, he is dead right to have those doubts. Other countries’ national broadcasters and leaders should be saying the same.
As they say here: basta ya. The barbarity must stop.
In addition to writing my books set in Spain and developing one of them for the screen (see below), I also founded the ‘Spain in English’ news site and chat briefly every Wednesday to Giles Brown on Talk Radio Europe about the latest news from Spain. If you’re interested, here’s the clip from Weds 14 May:
Books, Reviews, Research, News & Events
The Madrid Connection … coming this autumn
‘The Madrid Connection’, the sequel to ‘The Barcelona Connection’, will be published this autumn, and I already have two dates in the calendar in Madrid and Barcelona to launch it. I will post further details about these events, the book - and how to pre-order it - over the summer months.
The Barcelona Connection - Research & development for the screen
Development for the screen: ‘The Barcelona Connection’ is currently in development as a film, and I hope I will be able to post further news about this here in due course.
Research: In my weekly ‘Letter from Spain’ from #7 right up to #42, I included notes about all the research I carried out for The Barcelona Connection. Many of the posts include photos and descriptions of locations that appear in the book, from Nîmes, Figueres, Cadaqués, La Bisbal d’Empordà and, of course, many areas of Barcelona. There are also posts about Salvador Dalí’s Hallucinogenic Toreador and ‘The Face’, the Dalí Museum in Figueres, the Picasso Museum and MNAC in Barcelona, even Girona Airport and nearby motorway service station - as well as the G20 Spouse Party, museum visits and ‘art attacks’. I hope the notes about the research are of interest … and I hope you might buy, read and take The Barcelona Connection with you to some of the locations that appear in the book! If you do, please send me a photo and I’ll post it here …
The Barcelona Connection - Book & Reviews
A murder. A kidnapping. A lost Salvador Dalí painting. Just 36 hours to resolve all three. Every crime scene is a work of art …
Benjamin Blake is no ordinary detective. Specialising in the criminal underworld of stolen and forged art, things don’t always go the right way for Benjamin. But when they don’t, he has a stubborn determination to put them right.
Within hours of being sent to Barcelona to authenticate a possible Salvador Dalí painting, Benjamin is left stranded without his cell phone at a service station alongside a bloody corpse in the early hours of the morning, after being savagely attacked with his hire car stolen, together with the painting.
Helped and hindered by the fiery Elena Carmona, pursued by a psychopathic hitman, Benjamin becomes the prime suspect in a politically motivated kidnap and murder. All this on the eve of Barcelona hosting a G20 summit and UN climate change conference, with the police in hot pursuit fearing a wider terrorist threat.
From Nîmes in the South of France, across the border to the sweltering humidity of Girona, Barcelona, Figueres and Cadaqués, The Barcelona Connection is a fast-paced, gripping page-turner sprinkled with black comedy, blending the real with the surreal, art crime and mistaken identity … and where the clues at the crime scene might just be the mirror image of a long-lost work of art …
If you can’t locate a copy of The Barcelona Connection in your local store, it can be ordered from any bookshop simply by giving the ISBNnumber: 978-1-7393326-1-7.
It is also available in print or as an eBook via Amazon and Barnes & Noble, or you can also click here to choose where else to order your copy from.
Click here for the latest reviews on Amazon and on Goodreads.
A review by Michael Eaude of The Barcelona Connection was published in the October 2023 edition of Catalonia Today.
‘Short, fast-moving scenes and the deft joining of two completely different plots … the novel is not just breathlessly rapid and action-packed, but overflows with humour and satire.’
‘The excellent plotting, the local knowledge, the surreal humour, the political satire and the speed of events … it’s an admirable and very readable crime novel.’
A review by Dominic Begg of The Barcelona Connection was published in La Revista, a publication of the British-Spanish Society.
‘The Barcelona Connection is a fast-moving page-turner with a helter-skelter plot.’
‘The background to this thriller is realistic and familiar to those who know Barcelona well. It’s a world of cynical, ambitious politicians; civil servants promoted via enchufe; friction between Spanish and Catalan investigators; disruptive anti-capitalist activists; bumbling US dignitaries and security guards; the continuing influence of old supporters of Franco; the soulless 21st century, exemplified by apartment hotels seemingly without human staff-members …’
Here’s a link to a review of the book by Eve Schnitzer published by the Spain in English online newspaper.
‘Tim Parfitt very cleverly weaves together two parallel though quite different stories, set against the background of a contemporary Barcelona that is even busier than usual with major international meetings.’
‘Two plot lines interweave, with some highly ironic as well as suspenseful results … this book has a lot to offer the reader, from pure entertainment to solid information and, possibly, a fuller understanding of the complexities of Spain and Catalonia in particular.’
Here’s the link to an article I was asked to write for The Art Newspaper about my research on Salvador Dalí.
A Load of Bull - An Englishman’s Adventures in Madrid - Book & Reviews
Eighteen years since it was originally published, ‘A Load of Bull - An Englishman’s Adventures in Madrid’ has been re-issued with a new introduction, new cover and five extra chapters that were cut from the original book.
It is available in print and as an eBook worldwide, in both formats. You can also order the new paperback or digital edition via Amazon and Barnes & Noble, or the digital version on Apple, Kobo, Smashwords, or on many other platforms by clicking here.
If you’ve never read the book, I hope you will now acquire a copy and laugh out loud. If you did read and enjoy the original edition, I think you’ll love this new edition with additional chapters! More details about the book and links to many reviews are below.
As with previous posts showing images and locations that form part of the research I carried out for The Barcelona Connection novel (above), I am also planning to publish an archive of photos here of Madrid that relate to many chapters in ‘A Load of Bull’ - although it will take time! In Letter from Spain #52, I cover Chapter 1 - the Centro Colón aparthotel (entrance) Watch this space for further images …
A LOAD OF BULL - An Englishman’s Adventures in Madrid
The hilarious true story of an Englishman sent to Madrid to help launch Spanish Vogue …
In the late eighties Tim Parfitt blagged his way into a job at Condé Nast in London and from there into a six week stint in Madrid to help launch Spanish Vogue. Six weeks turned into nine years, and helping out turned into running the company. Along the way, Tim Parfitt discovered the real 'real' Spain. He never saw a Costa and he certainly never bought an olive grove. Instead, he discovered a booming city in hedonistic reaction to years of fascism, where sleep was something you only did at work and where five hour lunches invariably involved a course of bull's testicles.
Tim Parfitt's rise from unwanted guest to paparazzi-pursued mover in Spain's glamorous social scene is a hilarious comedy of errors. Frothing with a language designed to make foreigners dribble, hospitalised by tapa-induced flatulence and constantly frustrated by the unapproachable beauty of the women parading through the Vogue offices, he nevertheless falls in love with a city, a country and its people - despite the fact he hasn't a clue what they're on about.
You can click here for all the reviews of A Load of Bull on Amazon, as well as on Goodreads.
Links to newspaper and magazine reviews:
‘A hugely entertaining memoir ... frequently laugh-out-loud funny.’ (The Daily Express)
‘Parfitt is no ordinary Englishman … his light touch and neat line in self-deprecating humour perfectly suits this entertaining urban spin on the old tale of Brits having fun under the Spanish sun.’ (The Sunday Times)
‘A love letter to Madrid ... brilliantly captures a truly eccentric and hedonistic place.’ (The Daily Mirror)
‘Often hilarious ... a side-splittingly funny travel memoir.’ (BBC Online)
‘Vivid yet affectionate … fascinating, escapist stuff.’ (OK! Magazine)
‘Magnificent ... brilliant and moving, hilarious and truthful.’ (La Vanguardia)
‘Don't miss it … Madrid through the eyes of an Englishman.’ (Vogue España)
Spanish edition
A Load of Bull was also published in Spanish under the title, Mucho Toro - las tribulaciones de un inglés en la movida. Click here or on image below for the current eBook version.
Contact Details
You can email me at: tim.parfitt@hotmail.co.uk