Puneet Varma (Editor)

Kinek mondjam el vétkeimet

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Country
  
Hungary

Language
  
Hungarian

Lyricist(s)
  
Szilveszter Jenei

Artist(s)
  
Friderika Bayer

Composer(s)
  
Szilveszter Jenei

Conductor
  
Péter Wolf

Kinek mondjam el vétkeimet? ("To whom can I tell my sins?") was the Hungarian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1994, performed in Hungarian by Friderika. This was Hungary's début entry in the contest, and consequently the first time that Hungarian had been used on the contest stage.

With music and lyrics by Szilveszter Jenei, who also provided live backing on an acoustic guitar, the song is a ballad, with Friderika wondering who she can confess her sins to. The sins in question are never mentioned explicitly, however the imagery of the song ("the lightless night", "no faith, no love") suggests that they are serious. One possible interpretation is that the song is about a girl who got pregnant and was subsequently left by her lover. ("There's no faith, no love, no caressing hand for me." "I'm crying without tears to my unborn child.")

The song was performed twenty-second on the night, following Spain's Alejandro Abad with "Ella no es ella" and preceding Russia's Youddiph with "Vyechniy stranik". At the close of voting, it had received 122 points, placing 4th in a field of 25. In the initial voting, in fact, the song received three consecutive 12-point scores (the highest possible) to lead the field and earn Hungary the distinction of being the only débuting entrant to date to lead the voting at the start, before fading to place fourth. This result, coupled with Poland's Edyta Górniak placing second with "To Nie Ja", presaged the dominance of Central and Eastern European entries in future years - a dominance, ironically, in which Poland and Hungary would play very little role.

It was succeeded as Hungarian representative at the 1995 contest by Csaba Szigeti with "Új név a régi ház falán".

An English-language version was later recorded, titled "Who Will Be There" and featuring similarly bleak lyrics. Friderika sings at one point that "I will never know the beauty of my child".

References

Kinek mondjam el vétkeimet? Wikipedia