Rapping, breakdancing Ukrainians win Eurovision in musical morale increase
TURIN: Ukraine won the Eurovision Tune Contest Sunday, riding a wave of public support throughout Europe for the embattled country and buoyed by an infectious hip-hop melody.
Kalush Orchestra vanquished 24 competitors in the ending of the world’s most significant live music event with “Stefania”, a rap lullaby integrating Ukrainian folk with modern-day rhythms from an energetic, breakdancing band.
“Please help Ukraine and Mariupol! Assist Azovstal today,” implored frontman Oleh Psiuk in English from the phase after their performance was met by a cheering audience.
Being available in 2nd place was Britain with Sam Ryder’s “Area Male” and its dizzying notes, followed by Spain, with the sexy reggaeton “SloMo” from Chanel.
Ukraine vanquished ratings of excessive acts at the gaudy, eccentric annual musical event, including Norway, whose Subwoolfer sang about bananas dressed in yellow wolf masks or Serbia’s Konstrakta, who questioned nationwide health care while carefully scrubbing her hands onstage.
“Only at Eurovision do people celebrate bananas, heartbreaks and wash their hands in one and the very same show,” Swedish fan Martina French fries told AFP Saturday ahead of the finale.
“Eurovision is a way to show that different countries can commemorate quietly together.”
The pleasure of Eurovision is in the camp and the clowning, although the nearly three-month war in Ukraine hung heavily over celebrations.
The European Broadcasting Union, which arranges the event, prohibited Russia on February 25, the day after Moscow invaded its neighbour.
Composed prior to the war, Kalush Orchestra’s “Stefania” mixes conventional Ukrainian folk music with an invigorating hip-hop beat and nostalgic lyrics remembering the motherland.
The band pulled off a crowd-pleasing cultural mashup with the sound of unknown flute-like folk instruments and the sight of embroidered ethnic dress onstage included to breakdancing and rapping.
President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the group for topping the contest.
“Our nerve impresses the world, our music dominates Europe!” he wrote on Facebook.
Representing Ukraine at Eurovision while enjoyed ones suffer back house has been difficult, with one band member currently battling to safeguard Kyiv, Psiuk informed AFP.
“We are extremely worried about him, and we want to see him safe once we are back.”
Other more sober offerings consisted of Greece’s “Pass away Together” by Amanda Georgiadi Tenfjord and “Brividi” (Shivers), a duet from Italy’s Mahmood and Blanco.
Italy hoped the gay-themed love tune would bring it a second successive Eurovision win after last year’s “Zitti e Buoni” (Shut up and Behave) from high-octane glam rockers Maneskin.
After a quarter-century of being shut out from the top spot, Britain had actually intended to have a winner in “Space Male” and its high notes belted by the affable, long-haired Ryder.
On the style front, Lithuania’s Monika Liu generated as much social networks buzz for her bowl cut hairstyle as her sensuous and elegant “Sentimentai”.
Meanwhile, Sheldon Riley of Australia- one of Eurovision’s couple of non-European entries- sang his self-affirmation ballad “Not the Exact same” through a gleaming face veil packed with crystals.
And considering that no Eurovision is total without a smattering of gyrating and undulating bodies onstage, Spain’s Chanel concerned the rescue with her energetic dancing and unforgettable “booty hypnotic” refrain.
Eurovision’s winner is chosen by a cast of music industry professionals and members of the public from each country, with choose one’s house country not permitted.
Published at Sun, 15 May 2022 00:23:41 +0000
