Ukraine was crowned the winner Saturday of Eurovision Song Contest.
The contest tweeted the winner.
The Ukrainian band was the beneficiary of a last-minute wave of 439 votes from the tv viewers that put it in entrance.
Winning Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra’s “Stefania” was written as a tribute to the frontman’s mom, however grew to become an anthem for the war-torn nation.
“Indeed, some stuff in here was written long before the war, and it was dedicated to my mother,” frontman Oleh Psiuk told The Associated Press.
“After it all started with the war and the hostilities, it took on additional meaning, and many people started seeing it as their mother, Ukraine, in the meaning of the country,” he continued. “It has become really close to the hearts of so many people in Ukraine.”
The other countries’ artists who finished in the annual contest’s Top Five were: United Kingdom: Sam Ryder –Spaceman; Spain: Chanel – SloMo; Sweden: Cornelia Jakobs – Hold Me Closer; and Serbia: Konstrakta – In Corpore Sano.
Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy celebrated the win in a statement on Telegram.
“Our courage impresses the world, our music conquers Europe!” he mentioned, in line with an NBC News translation. “Next year, Ukraine will host Eurovision!”
He mentioned it will be the third time the nation has hosted the competition. Zelenskyy vowed to sometime host the occasion within the war-devastated metropolis of Mariupol.
“We will do our best to one day host the participants and guests of Eurovision in Ukrainian Mariupol,” he mentioned. “Free, peaceful, rebuilt!”
He thanked Kalush Orchestra for representing the nation and rising on prime.
“I am sure that our victorious chord in the battle with the enemy is not far off,” Zelenskyy mentioned.
Eurovision mentioned Saturday in a press release that its separate jury voting course of could have been the topic of “irregular” balloting.
As a consequence, it mentioned, it substituted jury votes with an combination calculation for the final semi-final and the ultimate. “The EBU takes any suspected attempts to manipulate the voting at the Eurovision Song Contest extremely seriously and has the right to remove such votes,” Eurovision’s European Broadcasting Union mentioned.
The long-running singing competitors present options artists representing every European nation, and a few non-European international locations like Australia.
The contest’s Ukrainian commentator, Timur Miroshnychenko, did his job from a bomb shelter.
“This yr, I feel it’s extra symbolic than ever as a result of, of course, trigger on twenty fourth of February not one of us was fascinated by Eurovision or stuff like that,” he said before Saturday’s announcement of a winner.
In February, the European Broadcasting Union, which organizes the contest, said Russia would be allowed to participate despite the country’s attack on Ukraine. However, less than 24 hours later, organizers reversed course and said no Russian act would be a part of the show.
“The determination displays concern that, in gentle of the unprecedented disaster in Ukraine, the inclusion of a Russian entry on this yr’s Contest would deliver the competitors into disrepute,” a assertion learn.
Dennis Romero contributed.