Enlarge image
Joy, but no frenzy: Kalush Orchestra
Photo: ALESSANDRO DI MARCO / EPA
Despite their record-breaking Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) victory, Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra finds it hard to celebrate their success.
"Maybe we will have a big celebration after the war, because the victory is great, winning the ESC is fantastic, but so much is happening right now," said rapper Oleh Psjuk at an online press conference.
“People you know are getting killed or fighting in this war or losing their jobs in Ukraine.
That's not really the best basis for a celebration,” the musician continued.
The Russian war of aggression in Ukraine is also an attack on the culture of his homeland, said Psyuk.
Nevertheless, he is hopeful when he thinks about the future.
When asked if he believed in hosting the next ESC in Mariupol, as announced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj after his band's victory, Psyuk said: "If Zelenskyj says it's possible, it will be possible.
I believe in a show in a rebuilt country.«
Kalush Orchestra won the Grand Prix in Turin on Sunday night by a wide margin.
Germany was last with Malik Harris and »Rockstars«.
The six-piece band from western Ukraine received 439 audience votes and overtook the competition from Great Britain, Sweden and Spain.
No contribution to an ESC has received so many votes from the audience.
Video shoot in the war zone
Kalush Orchestra sang the song "Stefania" - a tribute to Psyuk's mother.
On Sunday, the band released a music video on YouTube, which received more than three million clicks within a few hours.
The clip shows, among other things, female soldiers who carry children across rubble fields or who are standing in bombed-out high-rise buildings.
According to the record company, it was also recorded in Bucha and Irpin, suburbs of Kyiv that were hit particularly hard in the Russian war of aggression.
"We decided to shoot the video in Ukraine to show everyone how Ukraine looks today," explained Psyuk.
In the caption to the video, he wrote, "Now if Stefania is the anthem of our war, I want it to be the anthem of our victory."
In his own words, the rapper is looking forward to returning to Ukraine because he can see his family there again: "I really missed my home." Ukraine back.
According to their frontman, Kalush Orchestra also want to release a new song soon.
atb/dpa
