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From Ponomariov to Kalush Orchestra: who represented Ukraine at Eurovision and how the stars have changed

From Ponomariov to Kalush Orchestra: who represented Ukraine at Eurovision and how the stars have changed

Ukraine debuted at the international song contest "Eurovision" back in 2003. For 20 years of participation in the battle of the best vocalists in the world, our country has won three times, in particular in the past, when the stage of the show was "lit up" by the group Kalush Orchestra.

In anticipation of the song contest "Eurovision-2023", which begins on May 9, OBOZREVATEL decided to remember who represented our country in previous years. Read in the article how the Ukrainian performers have changed.

In 2003, the composer and People's Artist Aleksandr Ponomarev represented Ukraine at the competition. He participated in the 48th song contest, which took place in Riga, Latvia. The singer performed the song Hasta la Vista, with which he took 14th place among all participants.

 
 

In 2004 Ruslana Lyzhychko with her "Wild Dances" went to the Eurovision Song Contest in Turkey. The singer, who decided to surprise Europe with authentic Western Ukrainian motifs, won the contest and brought her first victory to Ukraine.

 
 

In 2005, Ukraine was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest by the musical group from Ivano-Frankivsk"Grinjoly" with the song "At Once We Are Bagatoy", which became the anthem of the Orange Revolution. They took 19th place.

 

Tina Karol represented Ukraine in the 2006 Song Contest held in Athens, Greece. The singer took 7th place with the song "Show Me Your Love".

 
 

The next one to surprise Europe was Andrei Danilko as Verka Serdyuchka with the song Dancing Lasha Tumbai. Then he didn't have enough votes to win. The artist took an honorary second place. After that, Danilko received the title of People's Artist.

Later, in 2016, Serdyuchka's stage costume went to the ABBA The Museum (Stockholm), where an interactive exhibition "Good Evening Europe!" was held in honor of the 60th anniversary of the Eurovision contest. Also, since 2016, Andrey Danilko is a permanent member of the jury of the "Eurovision. National Selection".

 
 

In 2008, in Belgrade, the Serbian capital, Karolina Kuek, known under the pseudonym Ani Lorak, performed for Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest. She won second place with the song Shady Lady.

After the annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of war in the east of our country, the singer began to actively perform in Russia, which caused criticism in Ukraine and accompanied the singer's concerts in various Ukrainian cities with protests and clashes with law enforcement. After more than a year of full-scale war, the singer has still not decided on her position but continues to live and work in the terrorist country.

 
 

In 2009, Ukraine was represented at the Moscow Song Contest by Svetlana Loboda, a former member of the group "VIA Gra" with the song Be My Valentine! She took 12th place.

After the temporary occupation of Crimea began, she continued to perform in Russia, in particular, she participated in Moscow propaganda TV shows and subsequently gave up her concerts in Ukraine. Like Ani Lorak, after eight years of Russia's war with Ukraine, she too sought to return home.

At the same time, on the anniversary of the full-scale attack of the Russian invaders on Ukraine, the singer presented a powerful music video for the patriotic song "Po-Ukrainian," which quickly broke into the top 5 music videos of Ukrainian-language YouTube. In the video, the star conveyed the pain and indestructibility of the spirit of the people of Ukraine.

 
 

At the 55th Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo in 2010, Ukraine was represented by the singer Alyosha, Elena Topolya. With her song Sweet People she took 10th place.

 
 

In 2011, singer Mika Newton, real name Oksana Gritsay, won at the National Selections. She represented Ukraine at the competition and took 4th place with the song Angel, despite the negative predictions.

 
 

In 2012, singer Gaitana won the right to represent Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Be My Guest and took 15th place.

 
 

In 2013, Zlata Ognevich entered the top three of the most important song contest in Europe with the song Gravity. The singer took third place with 214 points. After the contest, she received a Diploma of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and a watch from Prime Minister Mykola Azarov for her exceptional contribution to the development of Ukrainian art.

 
 

In 2014, the representative of Ukraine at the international song contest was Maria Yaremchuk with the song Tick-tock. She took 6th place.

 
 

In 2015, Ukraine refused to participate in the competition because of the events taking place in the country: the occupation of Crimea and Donbas, as well as difficult times after the Revolution of Dignity and the change of power.

However, in 2016, our state made a fairy-tale comeback - singer Jamala with her song "1944" won. With her song about the deportation of the Crimean Tatars, which the singer dedicated to her great-grandmother, she stunned Europe.

 
 

Next year, in 2017, after Jamala's victory, the Eurovision Song Contest was held in Ukraine. Our state was represented by the group O. Torvald, which performed with the song Time and took 24th place. Now the group consists of 5 members and continues its creativity.

 
 

Melovin, Konstantin Bocharov, winner of the 6th season of the TV show "X-Factor," performed at the 63rd Eurovision Song Contest in 2018 with his song Under the Ladder, coming in 17th place.

 
 

Singer MARUV won the 2019 National Selection with her song Siren Song, but she refused to perform because of a scandal. The conflict arose because the singer had concerts scheduled in Russia. Even the fact that she wanted to cancel the performance did not affect the decision of the organizers to keep her in the competition. Subsequently, the other participants also refused to perform at Eurovision.

 

In 2020, the contest was not held because of the coronavirus pandemic. And in 2021, Ukraine was represented by the band Go_A with the song SHUM, based on the Ukrainian game song "Green Noise". According to the results of the audience vote, the band took 2nd place, but by the total number of votes, it took 5th place.

 
Go_A Group

The Ukrainian rap group Kalush Orchestra won the international Eurovision Song Contest 2022, which was held in Turin, Italy. The victory of Kalush Orchestra was brought by the song Stefania, called the anthem of the liberation war in Ukraine. After his performance in the final of Eurovision 2022, the frontman of the Kalush Orchestra, Oleg Psyuk, called on the world to save Mariupol and Azovstal.

 
 

According to the rules, this year's Eurovision Song Contest was supposed to be held in Ukraine as the winning country, but because of the full-scale war and the constant threat of the aggressor state of Russia, the contest will be held in the country of the runner-up - Great Britain.

As reported by OBOZREVATEL:

- "Eurovision-2022" winners, the Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra honestly answered that after winning the vocal competition, their income increased. However, the team's expenses have also increased. In addition, the artists regularly help the Armed Forces of Ukraine;

- This year, a duet TVORCHI will represent Ukraine at Eurovision. On May 4, they had their first rehearsal on stage in Liverpool. The musicians wore new costumes designed by the world-famous Ukrainian designer Ivan Frolov;

- As Ukraine won the show last year, our artists automatically got into the final. That is why Ukrainians will perform for the first time at Eurovision 2023 on May 13, the day of the grand final.

Only verified information in our Telegram channels Obozrevatel and Viber. Do not be fooled by fakes!

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