Just hours after celebrating its victory in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, Ukraine’s folk-rap band Kalush Orchestra has released a new video in which they performed their winning song “Stefania,” against a backdrop of scenes from their war-ravaged country and portraits of women in combat gear.
In a message on YouTube describing the new video that was posted on Sunday, Kalush frontman Oleh Psiuk said:
“I once dedicated this song to my mother, and when the war broke out, the song took on a lot of new meanings.
“Although there is not a word about the war in the song, many people began to associate the song with mother Ukraine. Moreover, society began to call it the anthem of our war. But if ‘Stefania’ is now the anthem of our war, I would like it to become the anthem of our victory.”
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At the end of the video, there is a screen message that notes that the video was filmed in Bucha, Irpin, Borodyanka, and Hostomel—all cities near Kyiv “that suffered the horrors of Russian occupation.
“Dedicated to the brave Ukrainian people, to the mothers protecting their children, to all those who gave their lives for our freedom. Every man, every woman, every innocent child. The war in Ukraine has multiple faces, but it is our mother’s face that keep our hearts alive in the darkest times.”
Now compare that with the video of the song that was submitted as Ukraine’s official entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 more than two months ago. It was apparently recorded before the war began.
In the Eurovision vote tally, British singer Sam Ryder led after the count of jury votes from music industry professionals. But the Kalush Orchestra overwhelmingly won the country-by-country telephone public vote, receiving a record 439 points. The Ukrainian band ended up with 631 votes to 466 for Britain’s entry. Here’s the moment when the final results were announced:
At a news conference after the concert, Psiuk, speaking through an interpreter, thanked everyone who had voted for the group and said:
“The victory is very important for Ukraine especially this year, Lately, the Ukrainian culture was attacked, and we are here to prove that Ukrainian culture and music are alive and they have their own beautiful signature.”
The band members did not have much time to celebrate their Eurovision victory before a worldwide audience of tens of millions. On Sunday, Psiuk and other Kalush members bid farewell to their loved ones and headed back to Ukraine to do their part to support the war effort.
Psiuk, an Eminem-obsessed rapper, originally wrote the winning song before the Russian invasion as a tribute to his mother, Stefania, but it took on new meaning after the war began. The music combines close vocal harmonies rooted in folk music, upbeat rap verses by Psiuk, and flute-like melodies played on traditional Ukrainian woodwind instruments, the sopilka and the telenka. Kalush is the town in western Ukraine in the foothills of the Carpathian mountains where Psiuk was born.
The song contains such lyrics as: “You can’t take my will power from me, as I got it from her,” and “I’ll always find my way home, even if the roads are destroyed.”
The Kalush Orchestra had to overcome many obstacles just to reach the Eurovision finals in Turin. The band did not even know it would be Ukraine’s official Eurovision until just a few days before the Russian invasion. Kalush had placed second to singer Alina Pash in the televised competition to determine Ukraine’s entry. But Pash withdrew after it was determined that she had visited Russian-annexed Crimea in 2015, violating the eligibility rules for the competition.
After the war broke out, the band members were scattered around the country and couldn’t rehearse together for the live finals in Turin, Psiuk told Germany's Der Spiegel news magazine, adding they would meet for online practice whenever they could.
And they were involved in efforts to support the war effort. Dancer Slavik Hnatenko, who also runs the band’s social media, chose to remain in Ukraine because he was fighting with Kyiv’s territorial defense force. In a video interview before the finals, Hnatenko told The New York Times that he felt the band’s appearance at Eurovision was “equally important.” “It’s a chance to show the world that our spirit is difficult to break,” he said.
Psiuk himself started a volunteer organization called “De ty” (“Where are you?”) to provide homeless Ukrainians with medicine, transportation, and housing, and said he was prepared to fight if asked.
Ukraine’s government has required men aged 18 to 60 to stay in the country in case they are needed in the war. But President Volodymyr Zelenskyy granted the Kalush members special permission to leave the country to take part in the Eurovision concert. The band traveled by land to Poland and then flew to Italy. They were able to rehearse together and play several benefit concerts in the weeks before the finals. And on Saturday night, the Kalush Orchestra came through in the Eurovision finals.
After performing the song, Psiuk put his hand to his heart and shouted: “I ask for all of you, please help Ukraine, Mariupol. Help Azovstal right now.”
The defenders in the besieged Azovstal responded to Kalush’s victory by releasing a video of one of their own soldiers singing “Stefania.”
But Russian forces had their own evil response to Kalush’s appeal. On Sunday, Russian forces attacked the Azovstal plant with incendiary or phosphorus bombs, according to Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol.
And even worse, Ukrainian officials reported that Russian troops wrote these inscriptions on bombs Sunday that were meant to be dropped on the steel plant: “Help Mariupol, Help Azovstal right now” and “Kalusha, for Azovstal, just like you asked.”
A day after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, the European Broadcasting Union, which produces the event, banned Russia from participating in Eurovision 2022, saying its inclusion could bring the competition into disrepute “in light of the unprecedented crisis in Ukraine.”
The Eurovision Song Contest, a pop culture extravaganza, is the most-watched non-sports event on television worldwide. And the results reflected the global solidarity behind Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression, and just how much of an international pariah Russia has become under Vladimir Putin.
Zelenskyy, who was a popular entertainer and successful television producer before running for president, hailed Kalush’s Eurovision victory as a big morale boost for the Ukrainian people after nearly three months of war.
The Eurovision winner gets to host the competition the following year. Zelenskyy’s dream is that someday the event could be held in Mariupol, which before the war hosted the StartUP GogolFest contemporary arts festival every spring. In a Telegram post, he said: “Our courage impresses the world, our music conquers Europe! Next year Ukraine will host Eurovision!.
“We will do our best to one day host the participants and guests of Eurovision in Ukrainian Mariupol. Free, peaceful, rebuilt! I am sure our victorious chord in the battle with the enemy is not far off.”
Monday, May 16, 2022 · 7:56:25 PM +00:00
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Charles Jay
Members of the Kalush Orchestra returned to Ukraine on Monday where they were greeted in the town of Krakovets near the Polish border by servicemen and women. They then gave an improptu performance of “Stefania.”
"Eurovision is a very important thing, especially, this year. But the life of so many people – this is much more important," Psiuk said at the border, according to Reuters.
Psiuk says the band plans to auction off their Eurovision trophy, hoping it will raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Ukraine's war effort.
"There are people who are simply ready to donate. This is simply to motivate them a bit more – they may own this trophy. Someone might think it is cool to have a Eurovision 2022 winner's statuette at home," he said.