Rehearsals for Eurovision start in less than a month, but Estonia and Elina Nechayeva have run into a bit of a roadblock. Everything is okay with the voice and the glitter sticks. But the projection? An overwhelming cost is raising concerns, but not the funds necessary.
All is not well in the kingdom of popera. Elina Nechayeva and Estonian head of delegation, Mart Normet, have been talking about their concerns regarding the stage show. The latest bits of info come from a local talk show called Ringvaade, where they both specified what exactly is going on.
Can’t they just give Cezar a call and ask to borrow a dress?
The dress itself isn’t the issue, costing only a few hundred euros, what’s causing people to panic are the projectors, which they would need to rent out for 6 weeks and would cost around 65 000 euros. Even breaking open every nearby piggy bank wouldn’t cover the costs, so alternative sources had to be found as Mart Normet explains:
We’ve been talking to different ministers, EAS and even the Estonian e-residence program. Elina is one the favourites and statistics from past years have shown that the whoever is second in the odds could still win.
Estonia is hoping for a great result and even a possible victory this year, so a lot is on the line. Since Eurovision is a great way to promote the country itself, hopes were high that the necessary funds would be provided by the government, but just a few days ago the bad news hit – they would not help fund the projection.
Mart Normet is quick to mention that this can’t all just come out of Elina and her partners pocket either:
We have been in constant dialogue over the budget – we are talking about a five figure sum here. “La Forza” isn’t their family project, it’s a matter of representing the Estonian people!
Looks like Elina, her team AND her family are giving it their all to make things work, but an amount this large is not just something one has lying around (unless you are Scrooge McDuck. Are you? Give the Estonian delegation a call!)
A hopeless cause?
Maybe not. Right now, there isn’t a clear plan in sight, but hope dies last as Mart Normet goes on to say:
We have all sorts of thoughts, but we can’t just go ransack someone’s wallet. This isn’t a small amount. The feeling however is great, both the effects and Elina herself, to be so high on polls is a very proud feeling.
Elina herself remains cheerful, deciding to focus on the performance itself and hoping things work out in the end and a solution is found:
I feel I just want to concentrate on the preparations, the people voted and placed their faith on me, I’d like to give something back and make my voters happy.
Surely the voters will stay supporting Elina no matter what. Despite all these issues, work on the staging has not stopped, quite the contrary:
We just got done rehearsing the act, the new graphical effects are of a completely different class!
Sounds intriguing. We hope Estonia do manage to find the funds and bring the show, as originally intended, to Lisbon and wont just result to card tricks or a guy making shadow puppets with a torch and his hands as a replacement for the projection effects. For a quick reminder, here is her performance from this year’s Eesti Laul final:
You know how this works, tell us what you think about all this. Are you hoping Estonia will still manage to get the funds for the effects somehow? Or does the song work just as well without them? Have an old projector lying around in your basement they could borrow?
Let us know in the comments below and on social media @ESCXTRA!
