Yes, the splinter had to get that dig in, tying the bombastic festival to excess, not only musical, to Edward Elgar’s famous march, composed to mark the coronation of his namesake, King Edward VII in 1902. Ostensibly to celebrate, nay, pay tribute to England’s power and glory. Which, almost one and a quarter centuries hence, is a pale shadow of its once dominant grandeur.
Here in Anno Domini 2026, I was stuck behind a wee screen solely to satisfy curiosity. One could have been forgiven for wondering why Europeans tune into this spectacle. And others, as these lines prove. (Among the participants are antipodeans, for heaven’s sake. Australia has been sending an entry to the fan-vote driven, balanced by so-called discerning expert judges, extravaganza for over a decade. Last checked, the dust-covered globe showed that the land of the didgeridoo is nowhere near the continent that once claimed to be at the forefront of advancing culture.)
Does kolkapatriotism, an Estonian word that connotes exaggerated belonging to place, especially locality... play a role in the fan’s choices? Or are modern audiences just tone deaf?
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