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Facing Eurovision ban, Teapacks enjoys its comeback
By The Associated Press

The local pop band Teapacks is enjoying a comeback - thanks to a Finnish official trying to ban the group's "Push the Button" song from the Eurovision song competition. The song has been interpreted as a jab at Iran's hard-line president and his nuclear ambitions.

The song - a tongue-in-cheek melange of styles including hip-hop, French chansons and klezmer, and sung in three languages (English, French and Hebrew) - refers to "some crazy rulers" who "hide and try to fool us with demonic technologic willingness to harm."

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After hearing "Push the Button" last week, Kjell Ekholm, one of the competition's Finnish organizers, said: "It's absolutely clear that this kind of message is not appropriate for the competition." Ekholm added that he would bring it up with the competition's organizers at the European Broadcasting Union. Ekholm was concerned that the song was referring to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, and that this constituted a political statement not allowed in the competition.

The song isn't about Ahmadinejad, Oz said, but about "living in the shadow of danger and laughing in the face of terror." Oz said he expected to hear the organizers' final decision on the song early next week. If they decide to ban it or demand a change to its lyrics, he said, Teapacks will pull out of the competition.

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