The Ukrainian group Kalush Orchestra won the 66th Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday evening in Turin. Switzerland, represented by Appenzeller Marius Bear, finished in 17th place.
The group Kalush Orchestra, whose song “Stefania” mixes hip-hop and traditional music, collected 631 points, ahead of the British Sam Ryder and his title “Space Man” (466 points) and the Spanish singer Chanel with “Slo Mo” (459 points).
>> Review the performance of the Ukrainian group:
After being elected in 12th place by the jury, Swiss participant Marius Bear suffered a setback in the public vote. Spectators awarded him zero points, as well as his song “Boys Do Cry” (“Boys Cry”). With 78 points, Switzerland ended up finishing 17th, a better place than the betting houses had predicted.
The last place this year was occupied by Germany with six points. France is penultimate.
>> The performance of Marius Bear:
Third win for Ukraine
“Our courage impresses the world, our music conquers Europe”, reacted the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on Facebook.
This is Ukraine’s third victory in this competition following that of 2004 and especially the 2016 edition – two years following the annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea by Russia – with Jamala and the title “1944”, a song recounting the deportation of the Tatars by Stalin.
As in the two semi-finals organized this week in Turin, a tide of blue and yellow flags of the country under the grapeshot of the Russian army swept into the arena of the Pala Olimpico in the Piedmontese capital (north-west of the Italy) where the 25 finalists performed.
“Please help Ukraine and Mariupol! Help Azovstal,” Kalush Orchestra vocalist Oleh Psiuk called on stage and received a standing ovation. Political messages are generally banned at Eurovision, but the organizers have made it known that Ukraine will not be disqualified for these remarks.
“We understand the deep feelings around Ukraine in this context and consider the comments of the Kalush Orchestra and other artists expressing their support for the Ukrainian people to be of a humanitarian nature more than a political one,” the European Union said. Radio-Television (EBU), organizer of the event.
Interim military dispensation for the group
The EU had excluded Russia from the competition the day following Russian troops entered Ukraine on February 24.
Ukraine received the maximum score – 12 points – from several former republics or satellite countries of the Soviet Union: Poland, the country in Europe that has received the largest number of Ukrainian refugees since the start of the war, Moldova , Latvia, Romania and Lithuania.
At six on stage, the members of the Ukrainian group, all of fighting age, benefited from a temporary dispensation issued by the government of kyiv, but they will have to return home to take up arms as soon as the competition is over. One of them stayed in the country.
“A member of the group joined the territorial defense of kyiv on the third day of the war,” singer Oleh Psiuk told AFP before Saturday night’s final. “We are very worried regarding him, we hope to find him safe and sound when we return.”
According to the rules of Eurovision, the next edition of the contest should be held in Ukraine, which would be in the words of Oleh Psiuk “a new, integrated, developed and flourishing Ukraine”.
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