The members of Kalush Orchestra had been granted particular permission to go away Ukraine, and can return instantly after Eurovision ends. One stayed behind to assist defend Kyiv.
Opening Ceremony – Eurovision TV
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Opening Ceremony – Eurovision TV
The members of Kalush Orchestra had been granted particular permission to go away Ukraine, and can return instantly after Eurovision ends. One stayed behind to assist defend Kyiv.
Opening Ceremony – Eurovision TV
A lot of the world’s consideration has been targeted on Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion in late February.
However the nation will take the highlight on a special type of world stage on Saturday, when folk-rap group Kalush Orchestra competes within the grand remaining of the Eurovision Track Contest 2022.
These parallel occasions are inextricably linked, as frontman Oleh Psiuk instructed NPR in a Zoom interview. He mentioned it is an enormous accountability to signify Ukraine and its tradition to the world, particularly as Russia is actively attempting to destroy it.
“We want help to point out everyone that our tradition is admittedly attention-grabbing and has a pleasant signature of its personal,” he mentioned. “It exists, and we’ve got to struggle now at all the entrance traces.”
The band is comparatively new, however its model and tune rapidly grew to become iconic
Kalush Orchestra has grow to be a recognizable fixture of this 12 months’s competitors, thanks largely to its members’ distinctive outfits, dance strikes and wind instrument abilities.
Its tune, “Stefania,” combines rapped verses and a folks refrain. Psiuk wrote it about his mom earlier than the conflict, but it surely has since taken on a brand new, extra patriotic which means.
“Many individuals started to understand it like Ukraine is my mom,” he explains. “And this manner the tune has been very near Ukrainian individuals.”
Psiuk explains that the group’s distinctive model is current not solely in its music, however “in our photos, within the idea, in something we do.”
The six-person band mixes fashionable streetwear with conventional clothes, from embroidered vests to Psiuk’s signature pink bucket hat, and incorporates Ukrainian woodwind devices just like the sopilka and telenka.
Whereas the present iteration of the band has solely been round since final 12 months, it has its roots in a three-person rap group known as Kalush, which Psiuk helped present in 2019. It is named after his hometown within the western area of Ivano-Frankivsk.
Psiuk’s household continues to be there. In his few spare moments between rehearsals and interviews, they inform him in regards to the missiles flying overhead.
“It is like a lottery,” he mentioned. “You by no means know the place it strikes, so … we’re very anxious.”
Kalush Orchestra from Ukraine singing “Stefania” performs throughout rehearsals on the Eurovision Track Contest in Turin, Italy on Could 9.
Luca Bruno/AP
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Luca Bruno/AP
Kalush Orchestra from Ukraine singing “Stefania” performs throughout rehearsals on the Eurovision Track Contest in Turin, Italy on Could 9.
Luca Bruno/AP
The musicians struggle for his or her nation on and off the stage
The band’s members are all males of combating age, and needed to get non permanent permits with the intention to depart Ukraine for the competitors in Turin, Italy.
One in every of them, Vlad Kurochka, or MC KylymMen (which interprets to CarpetMan) selected to remain in Ukraine, the place he is been serving to to defend Kyiv.
The opposite musicians will return dwelling instantly after Eurovision ends, Psiuk mentioned.
He plans to return to the volunteer group he began known as “De Ty” (which interprets to “The place are you”). Its roughly 35 volunteers coordinate issues like transportation, medication and lodging for individuals throughout Ukraine, who submit requests through a Telegram channel.
And Psiuk mentioned whereas the band is not capable of concentrate on creating new music in the meanwhile, it does have some already within the works.
What a Eurovision win would imply for Ukraine
Psiuk hopes the band will return to Ukraine as Eurovision champions, including that any type of win would assist enhance the nation’s morale.
“I want to deliver some excellent news to Ukraine, as a result of excellent news [hasn’t] been in our nation for a very long time,” he mentioned.
He encourages followers watching at dwelling to forged their votes in Saturday’s finale and present the band’s music to their buddies. And he hopes their help for Ukraine will not simply finish when the songwriting contest does.
Psiuk mentioned it is necessary for individuals to attend peaceable rallies, put up on social media and preserve elevating consciousness in different methods.
“The extra individuals discuss Ukraine, the faster the conflict will probably be over and it’ll not begin in different nations,” he mentioned, including that he’s grateful for the help his nation has acquired to date.
It is customary for the nation that wins Eurovision to host the next 12 months’s competitors. Does Psiuk suppose that may occur in 2023?
“Sure,” he mentioned emphatically. “I am certain that Ukraine will host Eurovision, and can gladly do this within the rebuilt, entire and completely happy Ukraine.”
