When Ukrainian singer Oleh Psiuk first wrote the folk-rap mash-up “Stefania,” he had no idea that the song, which originally paid tribute to his mother, would end up as a popular wartime ode to Ukraine.
Ukrainian song takes center stage at Eurovision amid war
“The rap, flute loop, the bucket hat, the break dancing, the sparkly waistcoat. We will never be as cool as Kalush Orchestra,” the Eurovision Twitter account posted Tuesday after the group’s performance.
Psiuk, 27, rapped in his signature pink bucket hat while a bandmate played the Ukrainian flute.
“I’ll always find my way home, even if all roads are destroyed,” he sang. “And my willpower can’t be taken from me, because she gave it.”
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Psiuk said the lyrics to “Stefania” resonate with Ukrainians grappling with the suffering brought on by Russia’s war.
“Some stuff in here was written long before the war, and it was dedicated to my mother,” he told the Associated Press. “After it all started with the war and the hostilities, it took on additional meaning, and many people started seeing it as their mother, Ukraine, in the meaning of the country.”
Ukraine has banned most men age 18 to 60 from leaving the country, but authorities gave Psiuk and his bandmates special permission to travel to Italy for the competition.
If Kalush Orchestra — which mixes hip-hop with Ukrainian folk dance — wins the Eurovision final Saturday, Ukraine gets the right to host the 2023 contest. The competition, first held in 1956, draws votes from the public, and while its organizers in the European Broadcasting Union have billed it as a “nonpolitical” event, it has often reflected the political dynamics of its time.
In fact, the band replaced Ukraine’s original act, Alina Pash, earlier this year because of a probe into a visit Pash made in 2015 to Crimea, the peninsula that Moscow annexed in 2014. And after the Kremlin launched its war on Ukraine, Russia was banned from this year’s contest.
In 2016, the Ukrainian entry by Crimean Tatar singer Jamala scored Ukraine its second Eurovision win. When the contest was held the next year in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, Russia was barred from joining.
Armenia and Georgia were among the contenders to pull out in past years over tensions with other countries, while bearded Austrian drag queen Conchita Wurst’s victory in 2014 sparked debates about LGBTQ rights.
Annabelle Chapman contributed to this report.
Source: WP
