Eurovision Favourites: Ukraine Government Gives Kalush Orchestra Permission To Tour Europe Ahead Of Turin Final

Russia’s unprovoked invasion.Bookmakers have given Kalush Orchestra’s song “Stefania” a 46 percent chance to win the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest, which has been televised across the continent annually since 1956.Oleh Psiuk, 27, the rapping frontman of the band, insists his song will win the competition on the merits, not because of an outpouring of support for his war-torn homeland, according to The Times of London.The contest is decided both by a panel of music industry experts and viewers at home.“Now we have first place with the bookmakers, but before the beginning of the war we were fifth. It turns out people really like our song, so huge gratitude to everybody who have paid attention to Ukrainian music,” Psiuk said.“Stefania,” a love song to Psiuk’s mother that features elements of traditional music and rap, was written before the war began, but has taken on a new meaning as fans equate the lyrics with the Ukrainian motherland, the artist told the paper.

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Ukraine, it has become an anthem to the nation's war-ravaged motherland.“Stefania” is the most-watched song on YouTube among the 35 national entries that will compete in the Eurovision Song Contest next week in Italy's northern industrial city of Turin. While some oddsmakers and data analysts have pegged others to win, the song by Kalush Orchestra is quickly becoming a sentimental favorite.“I’ll always find my way home, even if all roads are destroyed,’’ Kalush Orchestra frontman Oleh Psiuk wrote in “Stefania.”The lyrics have become more poignant as Russian missiles pound Ukrainian cities and villages, forcing over 11 million to flee the country already.“Indeed, some stuff in here was written long before the war, and it was dedicated to my mother,’’ Psiuk told The Associated Press at his hotel in Turin, wearing a bright bucket hat that makes him instantly recognizable to anyone who has streamed “Stefania.”“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.

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NEW YORK -- The Metropolitan Opera and the Polish National Opera are organizing a Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra to tour Europe and America from July 28 to Aug. 20.The orchestra is to gather in Warsaw on July 18 for rehearsals, and will include musicians from Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv and Odesa, plus Ukrainian members of European orchestras, the companies said Monday.Keri-Lynn Wilson, a Canadian-Ukrainian conductor who is married to Met general manager Peter Gelb, will lead musicians who include members of the Kyiv National Opera, National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra and Kharkiv Opera, plus the Tonkunstler Orchestra of Vienna, the Belgian National Orchestra and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.The tour will open at Teatr Wielki, the Polish National Opera, on July 28 and include a televised performance at the BBC Proms in London on July 31. That will be followed by stops at the Chorégies d’Orange Festival in France (Aug.

Ukrainian media companies have launched a $20M fund to help sustain the embattled nation’s ailing TV industry and are seeking investment from the biggest global networks and streamers.

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Eurovision Song Contest.The rap group, who formed in 2019, replaced Ukraine’s original entrant Alina Pash, who withdrew from the competition in February.On February 12, Pash was announced as the winner of Vidbir, the nationally televised selection show that Ukraine uses to find its Eurovision entry, with her song ‘Тіні забутих предків’ (‘Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors’).Kalush Orchestra finished in second place with their track ‘Stefania’, which is an ode to powerful mothers. They are now the favourites to win Eurovision overall, with their odds currently sitting at 19/3 (via Oddschecker).According to the BBC, the six members of the band were on tour in Ukraine when Russia invaded. “The day the war began, we were returning from the tour from the city of Dnipro,” rapper Oleh Psiuk said.

Glastonbury co-organiser Emily Eavis has urged the government to “fix the UK’s visa process for Ukrainians” amid the ongoing Russian invasion of the country, revealing that she has pledged to host a family at Worthy Farm.As BBC News reports, the government launched its ‘Homes For Ukraine’ scheme last month in a bid to house refugees who are caught up in the current humanitarian crisis, which is now in its sixth week.Each participating household is being offered £350 (tax-free), and is not expected to cover food and living costs but can do so if they wish. Over 100,000 UK citizens and organisations signed up within the first day – with Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling the level of support “fantastic”.However, numerous glitches and delays in the application process have since been reported.

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