Bondage clad underground techno band becomes Iceland's Eurovision entry
Hatari have a very provocative stage appearance. mbl.is/Eggert
Icelandic band Hatari won the Eurovision song contest prelimenaries yesterday evening and will therefore represent Iceland in Tel Aviv. They beat the saccharin sweet Eurovision veteran Friðrik Ómar by a majority of public votes with a song titled Hate will prevail.
Hatari (English: Hater) are a group of young Icelanders who burst into the underground music scene a couple of years ago. Their audience grew wider at the end of last year when the band actually announced that they were quitting. It was therefore a surprise when Hatari suddenly appeared as contenders for the Eurovision song contest prelimenaries. The band, who hold a powerful stage presence in BDSM style gear and masks and shout anti capitalist lyrics are more geared towards the underground art schoolers than the typical Eurovision song contest audience. When the band won yesterday, one of the singersMatthías Tryggva said on Rúv national television, "Our feelings are of overwhelming respect towards this project for which our nation has selected us. It brings us one step nearer to our plan, to destroy capitalism."
Hatari have also made claims that their entry to the contest is a political statement against the Israeli government and they’ve challenged Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s divisive prime minister, to an Icelandic wrestling match on Magen David Square.
However, their entry, which could be likened to a kind of art installation, is not without critics in Iceland, who say that Iceland should have boycotted the contest in Israel and that Hatari are doing nothing for Palestine by taking part with a message (albeit a sarcastic one) - of hate.
Their song is called Hatrið mun sigra, which means Hate will prevail and can be seen here below with English subtitles.
Hatari fer til Tel Aviv í maí. mbl.is/Eggert Jóhannesson
