Bodies as Beacons Word on the Week 11th May 2024.
The practice of body art has had a field day. In fact, some are so adorned that there is no more space left! Perhaps a new level of grotesque has been reached in our entry to the Eurovision Song Contest.
Our competitor, Bambie Ray Robinson, sings under the name Bambie Thug. The song, Doomsday Blues, seems to have gone through a number of versions. The current one depends more on the performance of the singer than the power of the lyrics.
Like everything associated with Doomsday it is full of dark imagery. Bambie takes on the guise of a witch, or as one writer has put it, she is Irelands ‘Goth, Gremlin and Goblin’. The song makes use of the personal pronoun ‘I’ which is repeated frequently. The voice ascends into a scream which earns it a unique spot amongst the other entries.
Eurovision has become increasingly political over the years. Originally points were awarded based on the performance of the song. In those days Ireland did well with songs such as ‘The Voice’ with singer Eimear Quinn “. Then Eastern European countries joined and tended to vote for each other!
More recently the performers have gone in for political point scoring so that Robertson has her body painted with words which translate to ‘Ceasefire and Freedom’. This referred to the Gaza war and was picked up by Social Media. The European Broadcasting Union immediately banned it and Robertson washed it off! However, the damage was done and the message went viral!
Robinson’s practice of neopagan witchcraft makes her well suited to sing Doomsday Blues. The performance is heavily influenced by her acting of pagan rituals in a darkened stage with only a couple of male props as back-up.
Apparently Robinson is said to have done blood magic. This involves using her own blood. Her witchcraft has influenced her songs both in writing and performing them, making her somewhat unique in an event where it is hard to be original.
It couldn’t be further removed from the blood of sacrifice used in Scripture. In the Bible the blood had to be from a perfect offering which was substituted in place of the sinner (1 Peter 1:18/9). Jesus Christ was himself the sacrifice enabling the sinner who believes in him to go free from witchcraft and other pagan practices (1 John 3 verse 8).
The believer’s body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, a beacon of light as opposed to darkness (1 Corinthians 6 verses 19 to 20).