The Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra won the 66th Eurovision Song Contest in Turin on Saturday evening. Switzerland was ranked 17th, represented by Apenseller Marius Pierre.
The Kalush band, which mixed hip-hop and traditional music with the song “Stefania”, collected 631 points more than the British singer Ryder and his title “Space Man” (466 points) and the Spanish singer’s Channel (466 points) with “Slow Mo”. 459 points).
>> Review the performance of the Ukrainian team:
After being selected in 12th place by the arbitral tribunal, Swiss participant Marius Pierre suffered a setback in the referendum. The audience gave him zero points, as well as his song “Boys to Cry” (“Boys Cry”). With 78 points, Switzerland is ranked 17th, which is a better place than the racing companies had predicted.
Germany occupied last place this year with 6 points. France is final.
>> Performance of Marius Bear:
Second win for Ukraine
“Our courage attracts the world, our music conquered Europe,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zhelensky responded on Facebook.
Ukraine’s second victory in the competition since 2016 – two years after the annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula to Crimea by Russia – entitled Jamala and the song “1944” describing Stalin’s exile by the Tatars.
Just like the two semi-finals organized in Turin this week, a wave of the country’s blue and yellow flags entered the arena of the Bala Olympic in the capital, Piedmont (northwest of Italy), under the grappshot of the Russian military. 25 finalists performed.
“Please help Ukraine and Mariupol! Help Azovstal,” Kalush orchestra singer Ole PC took to the stage and applauded. Political news on Eurovision is generally banned, but organizers have announced that Ukraine will not be disqualified for these comments.
“In this context, we understand the deep feelings surrounding Ukraine, and we consider the views of the Kalush Band and other artists expressing their support that the Ukrainian people should be more humane than political,” the EU said. Radio-Television (EBU), event organizer.
Interim Army to the group
The European Union expelled Russia from the conflict the day after Russian troops entered Ukraine on February 24.
Ukraine received the highest score of 12 – from several former republics or satellite countries of the Soviet Union: Poland, the European country with the highest number of Ukrainian refugees since the beginning of the war, Moldova, Latvia, Romania and Lithuania.
At stage six, members of the Ukrainian team, all of fighting age, benefited from the temporary distribution provided by the Kiev government, but they had to return home to pick up their weapons as soon as the match was over. One of them was staying in the country.
“A member of the band joined Q’s regional defense on the third day of the war,” singer Ole PCU told AFP before the final on Saturday night. “We are very concerned about him and hope he will be safe and healthy when we return.”
According to Eurovision’s rules, the next edition of the competition will be held in Ukraine, which in the words of Ole Psiak “is a new, integrated, developed and prosperous Ukraine”.
ats / others