BASEL, Switzerland– Ukraine’s artists can not run away war, also at the Eurovision Song Contest.
Rock band Ziferblat remained in Basel, Switzerland to represent their nation when they discovered the home of backing vocalist Khrystyna Starykova in a frontline area of eastern Ukraine had actually been damaged by Russian shelling.
” She’s so solid,” stated guitar player Valentyn Leshchynskyi, that created Ziferblat with his singer double bro Daniil and drummer Fedir Khodakov. “She is 19 years of ages just, yet the influence of this circumstance– I assume she will not quit.
” Certainly it’s tough when you’re shedding your level while you require to remain tranquil to commemorate below since it’s a music event, it’s not concerning the battle.”
The band is readied to contend for Ukraine in Saturday’s Eurovision grand final with “Bird of Pray,” a tune whose extreme vocals and prog rock audio owe something to the 1970s– as does the bell-bottomed pink match Daniil Leshchynskyi put on in Tuesday’s semi-final.
Valentyn Leshchynskyi stated the lyrical message of loss and hope, fixated a phoenix-like bird, reverberates with what Ukrainians experienced in the last few years.
” We wish to develop a desire on the phase– also for 3 mins, for Ukrainians– like the battle will certainly more than in the really future,” he informed The Associated Press.
Ukraine is a long time Eurovision rival– as was its next-door neighbor Russia. Both saw their connection with the continental pop competition changed by Moscow’s major intrusion 3 years back.
Russia was tossed out of Eurovision. Ukrainian folk-rap team Kalush Orchestra won the 2022 competition much less than 3 months after the intrusion. Winning brought the right to organize the competition the list below year. When battle made that difficult, Liverpool stepped in to phase Eurovision with a clearly Ukrainian taste, dressing up the English city in blue and yellow Ukrainian flags.
Also prior to the major intrusion, Ukraine made use of Eurovision for social diplomacy, as a means to inform the globe concerning their nation’s background, songs and language. Ukrainian vocalist Jamala won the competition in 2016– 2 years after Russia unlawfully took Crimea– with a tune concerning the expulsion of Crimean Tatars by Stalin in 1944. Kalush Band’s winning track “Stefania” mixed rapping in Ukrainian with a haunting refrain on a typical Ukrainian wind tool.
Currently the message is that Ukraine is still standing, and still battling.
Daniil confessed to really feeling a “bit of stress” in advance of Saturday. However he stated it was “such a benefit” to stand for Ukraine.
” We have 2 objectives below,” his bro Valentyn stated. One is ahead out at or near the top in Saturday’s 26-nation music face-off. The various other is “to advise Europeans concerning the battle.”
As component of its Eurovision trip, the band is fundraising to get robot de-mining systems to aid get rid of a location of Ukraine he claims is 3Â 1/2 times the dimension of Switzerland.
Ziferblat’s journey to Eurovision accompanied Vyshyvanka Day– the 3rd Thursday in Might, when Ukrainians around the globe wear conventional stitched t shirts as an icon of nationwide satisfaction.
The band participants signed up with ratings of Ukrainians outfitted in elaborately sewn vyshyvanka in a Basel park to consume borscht, sing Ukrainian tunes and applaud on the band in advance of Saturday’s last.
” This is a day that is collecting all Ukrainians with each other,” Valentyn stated. “In Kyiv, the resources, every person is putting on these t shirts and mosting likely to the roads commemorating and you seem like a united country for eventually.”
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Associated Press reporter Kwiyeon Ha added to this tale.
