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Eurovision 2024: Triumphant Evergreen

Thessaloniki, Yahlia | Annika Ulishyk | 07-05-2024

With May comes Eurovision once more, and as always the rush of cultural sharing and appreciation spreads through the region with record breaking speed. This year marks the Federal Kingdom's fourth official appearance in the Eurovision Song Contest. Nardin's entries have come a long way since a disappointing start in year one, with appearances in the Grand Finals in each of the last two seasons. While still an impressive finish, 2023's contest in Snowby still held some heartbreak as Nardin placed only 11th, Aurora Connection's 'With Steadfast Spirit' just not having as strong a performance as had been hoped.

Evergreen, The Taiga Rangers newest album

As usual, January's Narthic Dreams song contest held in Venilik saw fierce and spirited competition as many groups and artists from across the nation musically jousted for the right to sing on the region's biggest stage at Eurovision in Yahlia. The Thessaloniki contest having the theme 'Triumph Together,' many of the performances in this season of Narthic Dreams showcased a plethora of musical stories of odds overcome, causes fought for, and hope for a brighter tomorrow. Winning the popular vote for the second time in three years was The Taiga Rangers, the eco-hard-rock band who had propelled Nardin to a third place finish back in 2022. While the popular vote had unseated them last year, The Taiga Rangers continue to prove they are one of Nardin's top artistic groups. This year the Rangers go after Eurovision gold with their environmental anthem 'Evergreen.'

Having formed in early 2021, the group's identity of "eco hard rock" lay in their mission to use their platform to inspire climate awareness and positive action towards combating the use of fossil fuels. Many of their songs focus on promoting a specific biome or endangered species in Nardin, and 'Evergreen' in no different. The band has pledged that all proceeds from their new album of the same name will go directly to conservation efforts in Klarsdinsk National Park, particularly towards the planting of trees to rebuild old growth forests that have been lost to deforestation.

'Evergreen' tells the story of the Klarsdinsk National Park that it is dedicated to; it laments of how the forest, once one of the largest in the nation, had dwindled into a shell of its former self with the rise of industrialization. After receiving its protected status in the 1930s, slow but steady conservation efforts have over time returned much of its former glory and beauty. The song crescendos in a defiant triumph of nature against the march of modernity:

'Evergreen' looks to propel the Federal Kingdom to new heights in Eurovision 2024. No matter the outcome, there can be no doubt that this is a song that environmental groups the region over will resonate with. Onwards to Thessaloniki!

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