On May 14th, when Oleh Psiuk and his band Kalush Orchestra step on stage at the Pala Olimpico stadium in Turin to perform the Ukrainian entry Stefania, the aspirationally apolitical Eurovision Song Contest will be deeply mired in politics.
The six-piece Ukrainian band, which blends folk and hip-hop, are firm favourites to win the contest if, as expected, countries across Europe abandon their traditional voting blocs to support Ukraine and protest the Russian invasion. Each widely anticipated “douze points” that is showered on Ukraine next week will be awarded not to a song, but as a mark of solidarity with citizens of that besieged country.
The original winner of that contest, Alina Pash, was forced to withdraw from the competition after details emerged of her controversial visit to Russian-occupied Crimea
As it happens, the song Stefania is a solid entry, even if it only came second in the Ukraine song contest. The original winner of that contest, Alina Pash, was forced to withdraw from the competition after details emerged of her controversial visit to the Russian-occupied Crimea region in 2015. Stefania, having been the runner-up, was then chosen to represent Ukraine and has since become the soundtrack for viral social media videos depicting the devastation of that country in recent months.
Originally, the song was written for the mother of Kalush Orchestra’s singer Psiuk. He told reporters: “This song which we have created [Stefania], it’s the anthem for Ukraine and everybody is singing it. The song was dedicated to my mother, now it’s the song for all mothers.”
The lyrics, while not expressly about war, are haunting and poignant. A repeated refrain calls for a lullaby. The rapped verse ends with “Lyuli lyuli lyulia”, a typical Ukrainian lullaby a bit like the “tooralooraloora” chorus sung for sleeping children in Ireland. “The field blooms, but she is turning grey / Sing me a lullaby mum / I want to hear your native word,”is a typical lyric from Stefania.
While Ukraine is expected to receive plenty of “douze points” from other countries, those same countries will not have the chance to register a dissapproving “nul points” for Russia, because that country has been banned from the competition. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) initially said Russia would be allowed to take part despite the Russian invasion, asserting that the contest was a “non-political cultural event”. (Tell that to mutually supportive voting blocs of Greece and Cyprus or Sweden and Denmark).
Following strong criticism of this decision from broadcasters across Europe, the decision was reversed a day later when the EBU released a statement to say Russia would no longer be participating in this year’s competition due to “the unprecedented crisis in Ukraine”. An entry by Russia, the statement continued, would “bring the competition into disrepute”.
Wartime dispensation
The military win that Ukrainians desire most of all may still be proving elusive but a potential victory in the Eurovision is nonetheless welcome. “Most of all we would like to have victory at the main frontline. But at this moment, any victory is meaningful and important,” Psiuk, who runs a volunteer organisation providing medicine, accommodation and transport for refugees, told The Guardian newspaper earlier this week. The band has been granted a special wartime dispensation from the Ukrainian government to travel to Italy for the Eurovision.
Because of the conflict, this year hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians will be watching the Eurovision Song Contest from temporary homes in countries all over Europe
Because of the conflict, this year hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians will be watching the Eurovision Song Contest from temporary homes in countries all over Europe, including Ireland. One of them, Nadia Dobrianksa, a human rights lawyer currently displaced by the war and living with some of her family in Cork, says a potential Ukraine win at the Eurovision next Saturday would be unifying even if the prospect of a Eurovision contest hosted in Ukraine next year appears bleak in the current circumstances.
“Eurovision is always a significant event for Ukrainians,” Dobrianska said of the contest which will be viewed by 180 million people across the world. “The value of winning for Ukraine would be immense, because it would show to global audiences the reality of the Russian invasion. Although, if Ukraine does win, it is hard to predict how the actual hosting of Eurovision in 2023 could be arranged given Russia’s persistent bombardments of our cities with long-range missiles.”
