Ukraine: Kalush Orchstera confirmed for Eurovision 2022

Ukraine: Kalush Orchstera confirmed for Eurovision 2022
Tuesday, 22 February 2022

  • The Ukrainian national broadcaster, UA:PBC, has confirmed Kalush Orchestra and their song 'Stefania' for Eurovision 2022.

    The runner ups of the national selections and the public voters' favorite entry will eventually represent Ukraine at the 66th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in Turin, Italy the coming May. 

    FollowingAlina Pash's withdrawal from the competition after allegations about falsifying travel documents regarding her entry in the region of Crimea back in August 2015, the Organising Committee decided to offer the Eurivision 2022 spot to Kalush Orchestra who came second in the national final with the song ' Stefania', which however topped the public voting scoreboard. 

    The Urkrainian acts accepted the proposal with the Ukrainian broadcaster confirming today that Kalush Orchestra will represent the nation at Eurovision 2022 with the song 'Stefania'. 

    Oleh Psyuk, lead vocalist of Kalush Orchetra, stated on the decision:

    “We are grateful to everyone who supported us during the national final and gave us first place in the public vote. We promise every Ukrainian that we will justify your choice. In difficult times for our country, we must reaffirm ourselves to the world. That is why we are ready to represent Ukraine with dignity to all of Europe.”

    A few words for Kalush Orchestra

    Kalush is a Ukrainian rap group formed in 2019. The group consists of founder and rapper Oleh Psiuk, multi-instrumentalist Ihor Didenchuk, and DJ MC Kilimmen. Didenchuk is also a member of electro-folk band Go_A. In 2021, Kalush announced the launch of a parallel project, Kalush Orchestra. Unlike the main band, Kalush Orchestra focuses on rap with folk motifs and Ukrainian traditional music. The core members of Kalush were joined by multi-instrumentalists Tymofii Muzychuk and Vitalii Duzhyk.

    Kalush was formed in 2019 and named after Psiuk's hometown of Kalush, Ukraine.The band's first music video for the song "Не маринуй" was released on their official YouTube channel on October 17, 2019.After the release of their second music video "Ти гониш" in November 2019, Kalush signed an agreement with the American hip-hop label Def Jam Recordings. On February 19, 2021, the band's debut album HOTIN was released. On July 23, 2021, Kalush together with rapper Skofka released their second album entitled ЙО-ЙО.

    In the national final on February 12, 2022 Karlush Orchesra with Stefanias  was the public's favorite entry. The artists wrote this track from their own experiences and life stories. The vocalist of the band Oleh Psyuk previously admitted that he wrote the song about his mother.

    Kalush Orchestra will compete in the in the first half of the first semi-final on May 10 in Turin, Italy. 

     

    Ukraine in Eurovision

    Ukraine participated for the first time at the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 when Oleksandr Ponormayov represented the country Hasta la vista. Ukraine has won the Eurovision trophy two times, in 2004 with Ruslana and in 2016 (Jamala). Following both victories the country hosted the contest in 2005 and 2017. The country has achieved remarkable results as it has reached 10 times the top 10 places in its 15 year ESC history.

    Namely, Since the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004, Ukraine is the only country outside the Big 5 to have qualified for the final of every Eurovision they have competed in. Ukraine has a total of seven top five placements, with Verka Serduchka (2007) and Ani Lorak (2008) both finishing second, Zlata Ognevich third (2013), Mika Newton fourth (2011) and Go_A fifth (2021). The only countries with more top five results in the 21st century are Sweden (11) and Russia (10).

    In 2018 Ukraine was represented by Vidbir 2018 winner, Melovin with his entry Under the ladder, achieving a 17th place in the Grand Final.In 2019 Ukraine saw a dramatic national selection Vidbir, which saw Maruv winning with her entry Siren Song. After a serial of dramatic developments between the broadcaster and the winner eventually Ukraine withdrew from the Eurovision 2019.

    In 2020 after two semi final rounds and a total of 16 candidates, the Ukrainian national final for Eurovision 2020, Vidbir 2020, crowned winner the group  Gо_A  and the entry  “Solovey” . Unfortunately their Eurovision journey stayed incomplete as the contest was cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak. 

    The band was invited back for Eurovision 2021 in which they competed with the song 'Shum' which brought one more top 10 result for the nation finishing in 5th place in the Grand final with a total of 364 points in the overall score.

    News Source: UA:PBC/Eurovoix

    Image: Kalush Orchestra Youtube