The Fort Worth Press - Ukraine's Kalush Orchestra throws down motherland's beats at Eurovision

USD -
AED 3.67298
AFN 67.384996
ALL 90.930513
AMD 386.175669
ANG 1.798582
AOA 911.49704
ARS 987.764796
AUD 1.520288
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.696955
BAM 1.807328
BBD 2.014989
BDT 119.253338
BGN 1.80481
BHD 0.376977
BIF 2900.548912
BMD 1
BND 1.322749
BOB 6.895532
BRL 5.762597
BSD 0.99793
BTN 83.886707
BWP 13.395803
BYN 3.265906
BYR 19600
BZD 2.01157
CAD 1.39255
CDF 2910.000154
CHF 0.86748
CLF 0.034741
CLP 958.597109
CNY 7.1227
CNH 7.119295
COP 4362.01
CRC 512.311083
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 101.894377
CZK 23.446801
DJF 177.71268
DKK 6.89063
DOP 60.103407
DZD 133.516994
EGP 48.737904
ERN 15
ETB 119.252592
EUR 0.923535
FJD 2.280598
FKP 0.765169
GBP 0.770975
GEL 2.730049
GGP 0.765169
GHS 16.216791
GIP 0.765169
GMD 69.510995
GNF 8607.019424
GTQ 7.714273
GYD 208.788061
HKD 7.771398
HNL 25.174192
HRK 6.88903
HTG 131.517179
HUF 376.946015
IDR 15658.85
ILS 3.712875
IMP 0.765169
INR 84.0917
IQD 1307.316983
IRR 42104.999989
ISK 137.15044
JEP 0.765169
JMD 157.879417
JOD 0.709304
JPY 153.00603
KES 128.999956
KGS 85.801853
KHR 4056.776388
KMF 455.449632
KPW 899.999774
KRW 1379.264996
KWD 0.30657
KYD 0.831685
KZT 489.206572
LAK 21877.743381
LBP 89415.792635
LKR 293.064732
LRD 191.612838
LSL 17.675809
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.817306
MAD 9.845031
MDL 17.88838
MGA 4613.124116
MKD 56.926531
MMK 3247.960992
MNT 3398.000028
MOP 7.985954
MRU 39.458485
MUR 46.110014
MVR 15.360218
MWK 1730.476006
MXN 20.14388
MYR 4.37901
MZN 63.909949
NAD 17.675809
NGN 1641.570371
NIO 36.723529
NOK 10.958145
NPR 134.220156
NZD 1.670945
OMR 0.384997
PAB 0.997921
PEN 3.756261
PGK 3.99671
PHP 58.228038
PKR 277.18023
PLN 4.009161
PYG 7944.443418
QAR 3.638497
RON 4.59426
RSD 108.085005
RUB 97.018184
RWF 1357.199292
SAR 3.755738
SBD 8.333542
SCR 13.606272
SDG 601.491881
SEK 10.670155
SGD 1.323685
SHP 0.765169
SLE 22.700818
SLL 20969.496802
SOS 570.343435
SRD 34.328008
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.731772
SYP 2512.530268
SZL 17.680625
THB 33.770499
TJS 10.628101
TMT 3.5
TND 3.091161
TOP 2.342098
TRY 34.291785
TTD 6.763388
TWD 31.984997
TZS 2720.000316
UAH 41.276464
UGX 3657.533614
UYU 41.528439
UZS 12758.859677
VEF 3622552.534434
VES 42.245336
VND 25295
VUV 118.722039
WST 2.801184
XAF 606.158083
XAG 0.029645
XAU 0.000367
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.750095
XOF 606.166485
XPF 110.206533
YER 250.325026
ZAR 17.68735
ZMK 9001.201112
ZMW 26.570499
ZWL 321.999592
  • CMSC

    -0.0200

    24.55

    -0.08%

  • BCE

    -0.1250

    32.335

    -0.39%

  • CMSD

    0.0150

    24.855

    +0.06%

  • SCS

    0.0550

    12.265

    +0.45%

  • BCC

    4.7950

    136.435

    +3.51%

  • RBGPF

    -2.0000

    61

    -3.28%

  • RIO

    -0.4800

    66.1

    -0.73%

  • RYCEF

    0.0400

    7.25

    +0.55%

  • NGG

    -0.1000

    65.02

    -0.15%

  • JRI

    0.0260

    13.006

    +0.2%

  • GSK

    -1.1450

    37.025

    -3.09%

  • VOD

    0.1200

    9.4

    +1.28%

  • RELX

    -0.8100

    47.1

    -1.72%

  • BP

    0.0800

    29.44

    +0.27%

  • BTI

    -0.0300

    34.43

    -0.09%

  • AZN

    -2.0700

    73.15

    -2.83%

Ukraine's Kalush Orchestra throws down motherland's beats at Eurovision
Ukraine's Kalush Orchestra throws down motherland's beats at Eurovision / Photo: © AFP

Ukraine's Kalush Orchestra throws down motherland's beats at Eurovision

With their infectious musical fusion of roots and rhythm, Ukrainian folk hiphop band Kalush Orchestra is riding a wave of goodwill at the Eurovision Song Contest this year -- while eyeing the contest's top prize.

Text size:

Tapping traditional Ukrainian folk music but mashing up an invigorating hiphop beat with a haunting, lullaby refrain, "Stefania" was written last year by the band's frontman, 27-year-old rapper Oleh Psiuk, as a tribute to his mother.

But the song selected to represent Ukraine at Eurovision -- just days before Russia's invasion -- has taken on outsized meaning for a country nearing its third month of war. It contains nostalgic lyrics such as "I'll always find my way home even if all the roads are destroyed" and celebrates cultural identity and the motherland.

Standing out in the competition long cheered for its flamboyance and camp, the band received a standing ovation on Tuesday after passing the semifinals. It is considered by bookmakers a favourite to become Eurovision's outright winner at the finale on Saturday.

"My mum is in Ukraine and many of my relatives are in Ukraine but there is really no safe place in Ukraine at the moment," Psiuk told AFP through an interpreter.

"It's really like a lottery, where you cannot know where exactly you'll get in danger. So we are very worried about everyone and our relatives that are in Ukraine."

Such worries have fuelled the band's drive during Eurovision, he said.

"We feel here as if on a mission because at the moment, as we speak, Ukrainian culture is being destroyed," Psiuk said.

"But it is our role to show it is alive and it has a lot to offer. It's unique. It really represents every Ukrainian who is now suffering in the world today."

- Flutes and fusion -

Although considered nonpolitical, the world's biggest song contest, watched by millions of people, inevitably reflects greater geopolitical tensions.

This year, the European Broadcasting Union banned Russia from the contest a day after it invaded Ukraine on February 24. Russia had competed in Eurovision since 1994.

Perhaps the most original and energising act at this year's competition, the six-member all-male Kalush Orchestra sprang from Psiuk's original hiphop group Kalush, named for his hometown in western Ukraine.

The band is made up of Psiuk, Ihor Didenchuk, Tymofii Muzychuk, Vitalii Duzhyk, Oleksandr Slobodianyk and MC KylymMen ("CarpetMan").

Its new sound incorporates traditional folk instruments, including the telenka, which is played with one hand controlling the pipe's open end, and another flute-like instrument, the sopilka.

Performing in richly embroidered traditional garb, the band is also instantly recognisable for Psiuk's bubblegum pink bucket hat and the carpet-like bodysuit worn by the breakdancing MC CarpetMan.

But it is Kalush Orchestra's sound that makes the band unique. It "mixes old ancient folk, even forgotten sounds, with super modern and understandable-for-everyone hiphop rap elements", Psiuk told journalists last week.

- 'Fighting age' -

To win Eurovision, Kalush Orchestra will have to be chosen above 24 other finalists competing on Saturday. Votes are cast by a mix of music industry professionals and the public from each country -- who are not allowed to vote for their own nation.

Were Ukraine to win, next year's Eurovision would be held in the country, which Psiuk vowed would be a "new, integrated, well developed, flourishing Ukraine".

Although one band member who joined the army three days after the invasion remains in Ukraine defending Kyiv, Ukraine's government gave the group special dispensation to travel abroad to compete at Eurovision.

"That's why we want to be as useful to our country as we can be," Psiuk told journalists.

"Representing your country is responsible anytime but representing it in a time of war is... a maximum responsibility for us."

Psiuk says the band will return to Ukraine directly after Eurovision.

As their press release written ahead of the contest explains: "They will be allowed to leave for the final on 14th May but must return as men of fighting age the day after."

D.Ford--TFWP