Blog 2: Song Analysis of "What For?" by Aisha & How It Connects to Latvia's National Identity

Blog Post 1 Summary & Recap

In my previous blog post, I investigated and tried to define Latvia's national identity. Key takeaways from that post were that Latvia is a Baltic State, one of three countries under the 'Baltic umbrella' which share similar cultures. However, Latvia has had a strong relationship with the Soviet Union, that relationship having helped to shape Latvia's identity. In the present day, Latvia focuses on separating itself from its previous occupier, which it does by alienating the minority population of ethnic Russians in Latvia. Some other details which make Latvia different from other countries are its low population of religious individuals, as many are atheists, though the popularly practiced religions are Catholic or Abrahamic based. 

Aisha's Background

In this blog post, I will be analyzing Latvia's 2010 Eurovision entry, "What For?" by Aisha. The 2010 Eurovision Song Contest was held in Bærum, Norway, following the 2009 win by Norway's Alexander Rybak. The performer sent by Latvia, Aisha, was well known inside the country from a young age, having won many music and singing awards that boosted her fame during the 1990s and 2000s (Wikimedia). She was on the Fabrika Musical Theatre reality TV show and had hosted Latvian TV broadcasts before Eurovision (Wikimedia). She was invited to join a rock band during her teenage years, although it didn't end up working out, and her first album as a soloist was released in 2006 (Wikimedia). When Aisha preformed at Eurovision she was 24 years old. She is from Ogre, Latvia, about 22 miles from the capital city of Riga (Wikimedia, Ogre). Aisha is a white cis woman, and her religious affiliation is unknown (Aisha). 

Background of "What For?" + Sound Analysis

Guntars Racs, the most employed and played-back lyricist in Latvia, wrote "What For?" for Aisha, the song being his 3rd chosen as the winning song in the Latvian National Selection (Aisha). The chorus is repetitive, catchy, and upbeat, though has a tone of sadness and despair. The sound of this song is almost haunting, and the genre feels polka-adjacent as it lurches in its sound in the way that you would imagine a pair of dancers dragging across a floor. It is undoubtedly a pop song, though has a clear rock influence. There is what seems to be an accordion as well as a piercing, high-pitched sound in its instrumentation, enhancing the haunting aspect of the song. 

Analyzing Aisha's Performance at Eurovision

Aisha sings "What For?" powerfully, highlighted further by her emotional facial expressions and subtle body movements throughout the performance. She wore a creamy white silky dress, a chunky black cross necklace, and black boots, her blonde hair curled. Her appearance in comparison to her background singers and dancers is stark. The dancers are wearing variants of an alternative style dressed all in black. There is a sort of foggy smoke on the stage floor while Aisha performs; the lights are blue and white, and there are what appear to be window curtains in the background. The performance is very dark overall as the lights remain relatively dim throughout the performance. Because the staging is so dark light-wise, the use of blue stands out and helps to convey a sad, yet upbeat, sentimental feel to the performance. Aisha barely moves from the center of the stage and mostly remains static in that position. However, she does walk forward and at one point in the song, bends down while singing emotionally. The background dancers move about Aisha but always stay behind her in their position on stage. They mostly walk around Aisha in the background but are just as expressive facial-wise as Aisha. The background singers move around much more than Aisha and have a minimalistic choreography at certain points in the song, moving their arms and swaying their bodies while singing. The facial expressions of all the performers on stage appear to illustrate a sad emotion, annoyance, or concern. Some of the formations of the background dancer's choreography reminded me of pallbearers carrying a coffin, as well as a murder of ravens flying when they were crossing paths behind Aisha. What would make this song stand out in terms of its novelty would be that it is not about love, as well as its presence of religious lyrics, which contrast with Latvia's low religious population. However, neither of these 'novel' aspects of the song and performance seem to have influenced the voting results. 

Unpacking the Meaning of "What For?" + Symbols

The song "What For?" appears to be a portrayal of someone asking God why for the purpose of violence, hardship, death, and life struggles. This idea of the meaning of "What For?" where Aisha is asking God for an answer is interesting, as the majority of Latvia is nonreligious. Some lyrics I thought helped answer questions about the meaning of this song were "I've asked my uncle Joe / but he can't speak" and "The sun in the color black / is rising high". Whom Aisha is referring to when she says "Uncle Joe" is likely Joseph Stalin, a Soviet Leader commonly referred to as Uncle Joe by Western media (Wikimedia Stalin). He oversaw the Great Purge, which led to over a million imprisonments, the Gulag system of forced labor, and at least 700,000 executions between 1934 and 1939 (Encyclopedia). He had absolute power over the Communist party and the government (Wikimedia Stalin). During the second world war, the Soviets annexed the Baltic States - where Latvia is located - and established Soviet-aligned governments, which were put in place until the collapse of the USSR in 1991 (Encyclopedia). This history is important to note, as Latvia is still trying to separate itself from its history of being a former Soviet state and is actively pushing for worldwide acknowledgement as an independent country. Stalin is estimated to have overseen between 6 and 9 million deaths during his time as a leader of the Soviet Union (Wikimedia Stalin). Many of these deaths were deliberate killings, others were a result of the gulags, famine, terror campaigns, disease, and war (Wikimedia Stalin). In Aisha's song "What For?" she raises the question: "why... blood still leaks... What for are we crying? / What for are we dying?" which could be about the deaths caused by the terror of the Soviet occupation within Latvia and other countries annexed by the USSR during the 20th Century. Stalin additionally put in place a "5-year plan" from 1932 to 1937 to eliminate all religious expression in the USSR (Why Stalin...). Stalin declared that the concept of God would disappear from the Soviet Union, had most of the clergy arrested and imprisoned from the 1920s and onwards, and oversaw the closing of many religious spaces (Why Stalin...). Joseph Stalin was seen as a god by devout followers inside the USSR, as he strengthened and stabilized the union (Encyclopedia). In Aisha's song, she asks God what are people suffering for. In this question, she could either be referring to a religious god or Joseph Stalin, as his presence in the USSR had seemed to replace a religious god. Using the nickname 'Uncle Joe," however, it seems unlikely she is referring to him when she says "God" as by using the term "uncle" she almost compares Stalin to a relative or kin. The line where she refers to Uncle Joe states; "I've asked my uncle Joe/ but he can't speak". His inability to answer or speak could be due to his death as this song was performed nearly 60 years after his passing or could be because of his responsibility for the deaths of millions of people, therefore making him unable to answer the question of why people are suffering due to supposed shame. many people who are causing harm do not want to admit their actions or the results of their actions. "The sun in color black," also stood out, because a black sun can be a symbol used from occults. It can represent death and a vengeful god bringing an Apocalypse and an eclipse of day (Rising of...). The black sun is also a type of sun wheel symbol that originated in Nazi Germany, later being used by neo-Nazis and other far-right individuals and groups (Wikimedia Black Sun). Aisha's reference to this black sun could be a way of further portraying the meaning of the song as asking God, or a powerful being such as Stalin, why are there so many deaths happening. By referencing someone who had directly and indirectly ended the lives of innocents such as Joseph Stalin and the Nazi party, he meaning of "What For?" appears tot be questioning God or another powerful and influential being, what the meaning of life is if one has to deal with suffering or even death at the hands of hatred and power. 

Meaning Summarized & Othering

In the context of Latvia's national identity, "What For?" could be a representation through the song of Latvia trying to further separate and westernize itself from its former occupiers - the Soviet Union. In referencing uncle Joe, which is likely meant to be Stalin, as well as mentioning a symbol used by occult groups and neo-Nazis, Latvia actively separates itself from groups of people who have hurt and killed millions under their rulings, through use of an implied statement that the country's values lie opposed or opposite.

 

References

Aisha. Eurovision Song Contest. (n.d.). Retrieved March 1, 2023, 

    from https://eurovision.tv/participant/aisha

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (2023, March 1). Joseph Stalin. 

    Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved March 1, 2023, from 

    htttps://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-Stalin

Rising of the black sun meaning. Credo Quia Absurdium. (2021, April 

    25). Retrieved March 1, 2023, from 

    https://quiabsurdum.com/meaning/rising-black-sun/

Wikimedia Foundation. (2023, February 23). Aija Andrejeva. 

    Wikipedia. Retrieved March 1, 2023, from 

    htttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aija_Andrejeva

Wikimedia Foundation. (2023, February 18). Black Sun (symbol). 

    Wikipedia. Retrieved March 1, 2023, from 

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sun_(symbol)

Wikimedia Foundation. (2023, March 2). Joseph Stalin. Wikipedia. 

    Retrieved March 1, 2023, from 

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin

Wikimedia Foundation. (2023, February 11). Ogre, Latvia. 

    Wikipedia. Retrieved March 1, 2023, from 

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogre,_Latvia

Why Stalin tried to stamp out religion in the Soviet Union - history. 

    History.con. (n.d.). Retrieved March 2, 2023, from 

    https://www.history.com/news/joseph-stalin-religion-atheism-ussr