Ukraine set for third win at Eurovision
UKRAINE could secure its third Eurovision victory at this year’s competition after their entry Kalush Orchestra qualified as favourites for this weekend’s final.
The folk-rap band gave an energetic performance in Tuesday night’s semi-final to take their place in Saturday’s final in Turin, Italy. Kalush Orchestra’s song Stefania, earmarked to be a winning tune, was written as a tribute to founding member Oleh Psiuk’s mother. But Mr Psiuk has spoken of the resonance that its emotive lyrics, such as ‘I will always walk to you by broken roads’, have had with the people of Ukraine since Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
‘The song was dedicated to my mother, but after the war the song has acquired lots of nuances because a lot of people are perceiving it as if Ukraine is my mother,’ the band’s founder told NME.
Alongside Ukraine, Armenia, Greece, Iceland, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, Nor
way, Portugal and Switzerland also progressed to Saturday’s final. The next semi-final will be held tonight and will see countries like Sweden, ireland and Australia battle it out.
‘Thank you for supporting Ukraine,’ Mr Psiuk said after the band’s performance. ‘We understand we need to stay focused because we want to promote Ukrainian culture. This is our goal.’
Ukraine is tipped to win the competition after leading bookmakers’ odds and it will be the third time they do so if they manage to top the points leaderboard.