Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Jews In Hungary Celebrate Roma Singer’s Eurovision Progress

(JTA) — Roma and Jewish groups in Hungary celebrated as a Roma singer’s song about oppressed minorities advanced to the finals of the Eurovision song contest.

Joci Pápai, 35, is the first Roma to represent Hungary in the continental song competition among 42 countries. He made the cut in the semi-finals Thursday night in Kiev, along with performers representing Israel and 25 additional countries.

“If he wins that contest, and because of this Hungary would be the host of the next contest, then it would be really something,” Adam Schonberger, a Hungarian Jew who runs Aurora, an organization that encourages dialogue and cooperation between Roma and Jews, told JTA Friday.

Schonberger noted, however, that deep-seated anti-Roma prejudice among segments of the political right in Hungary would likely make it difficult for many Hungarians to rally around Pápai if he wins in the finals Saturday.

Pápai told reporters in Kiev: “I am so proud that, in the history of Eurovision, as a Gypsy I managed to get to the final.” He sang “Origo” (“Origin”) for everyone from a minority “who has ever felt oppressed. I left a piece of my heart here in Kiev,” he said.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.