Tracing the Atom. Nuclear Legacies in Russia and Central Asia

Abstract

certainly relevant. Finally, and again relatedly, the volume exhibits the ever-so-familiar tendency or attempt to valorise and thus implicitly legitimise one’s own research topic. This comes across particularly forcefully in Vuletic’s introduction (ch. 1), but elsewhere as well. ‘Eurovision entries are multimodal social-semiotic acts of communication that incorporate aural, visual, technological, linguistic, textual and performative facets’, laud Alison Lewis and John Hajek in their largely descriptive account of an online course with superfluous irrelevant technical details (70). I daresay, so is every occasion I put a vinyl on a turntable with friends present. Yes, it is curious how the ESC has evaded the attention of scholars of popular music, media and culture alike. The why is, to me at least, somewhat obvious, especially when it comes to music scholars: until the twenty-first century, the field was obsessed with rockist notions of authenticity, thus rendering the really popular music unworthy of attention. In 1992, Finland was represented in the ESC by Pave (Maijanen), a key figure in the history of Finnish rock music since the early 1980s, yet finishing last, though not with nul but quatre points. The title of the song includes most of its lyrics, qualitatively at least. The performance is available online (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= n-PhSnk-omM) so those wishing to do so may check if their reaction is as multifaceted as mine, combining feelings and sensations of nostalgia, joy, embarrassment, naïvety, and the urge to get up and dance. I do not flag. Yamma yamma.