Ishe looked exhausted, pink bob screwed on her head, thrown back on a sofa, black sweatshirt, two-day beard on a gray complexion. Oleh Psiuk is the founder of Kalush, a favorite Ukrainian rap group of bookmakers for the Eurovision Song Contest this year. In 2019, the rapper from Kalush, a small industrial town in western Ukraine at the foot of the Carpathians, posted an ad on Facebook to recruit musicians sensitive to Ukrainian folklore. He thus meets the multi-instrumentalist Ihor Didenchuk and the dancer Vlad Kurochka alias MC CarpetMan. Their first single “Shtomber Womber”, an original mix of rap, folk, pop and traditional Ukrainian songs, allowed them to sign with the prestigious New York rap label Def Jam, with whom they released two albums. For the French market, they sign with Sony. Not bad.
The group grows, enlists two other multi-instrumentalists and renames itself Kalush Orchestra. “We have three folklore experts in the band who have studied hundreds of these songs in college. Kalush Orchestra is a mix of old folklore forgotten for generations and contemporary rap. No one had ever done this before us, ”says Oleg, an Eminem flow fan who raps about friendship as well as the coronavirus.
A special authorization
It was with “Stefania”, a song dedicated to Oleg’s mother, that they decided to participate in the national Eurovision Song Contest last February. The title is catchy, with its choirs and its flute tune, its slightly old school beats… They lose the local final against singer Alina Pash, then, surprised, climb to the top of the podium when she has to give in to them instead, the victim of a scandal. The information leaked on the Internet: Alina Pash would have traveled to Crimea via Russia in 2015, which has been prohibited by the Ukrainian government since the annexation of the region in 2014… In 2019, already, the singer Maruv had to abandon the competition, as she planned to shoot in Russia. “It’s not my problem, I didn’t create these rules,” Oleg simply comments. Kalush Orchestra will therefore represent Ukraine at Eurovision this year. But their joy is short-lived: the decision falls a few days before the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
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They are no longer sure they can participate. All men of fighting age (which is their case) are prohibited from leaving the country and can be called upon to join the army. MC CarpetMan joins the Territorial Defense Forces in Kyiv. “On the third day of the war, I created an organization of volunteers to help relocate people and transport medicine and food,” says Oleg. “My whole family is still in Ukraine. They have all remained where they lived before the war, and where the sirens of air alerts now sound three times a day. There are currently no safe zones in Ukraine. A few friends joined the front. Two lost their lives. Difficult in these conditions to repeat. But the group got special permission to travel.
Eurovision has always been an important event in Ukraine, but it is even more so since the war.
Eurovision is a formidable communication weapon. Since its creation in 1956, it has been the most watched program in the world, after the final of the Football World Cup. Because, contrary to what its name suggests, the annual event created by the director general of Swiss public television and organized by the European Broadcasting Union is not reserved for countries of the European Union. Forty countries, whose regimes are sometimes controversial, participate. And if after ABBA’s victory with “Waterloo” in 1974, the competition had become a little old-fashioned, it became cool again in the 2000s with participants like Sébastien Tellier or drag queen Conchita Wurst. Last year, Eurovision was seen by 183 million viewers, two-thirds of whom were between 18 and 34 years old. The Americans are so jealous of it that they have just created their own version: The American Song Contest…
“We never thought the contest was cheesy,” says Oleg. “Eurovision has always been an important event in Ukraine, but it is even more so since the war, because everyone is now aware that we must defend the image of our country internationally. Today, he answers us from Turin, where he is about to participate in the semi-final, with all the other members of his group, except MC CarpetMan, who preferred to continue his fight against the Russians in the east. . Their manager is also still in kyiv. He did not receive permission to leave the territory. “Our permit is temporary, we must return immediately the day after the competition,” recalls Oleg.
A hymn to the motherland
“Stefania” has become a hymn to all mothers and the motherland, and all profits from the song are donated to associations that work for the Ukrainian population. “I will always find my way home, even if all the roads are destroyed,” says the text. At the beginning of April, they met in Lviv to record a clip of “Stefania”, which recalls the staging of President Zelensky in his presidential palace, with mattresses and blankets on the floor… When we ask Oleg about the subject, he strangely refuses to answer: “We didn’t have this idea in mind, you just have to see the video, and everything is in the video. We insist. “True creativity cannot be described in words, all I can tell you is that we made a video and that was it,” he snapped. We don’t ask him again either to try to describe what he likes so much in folk songs, or in traditional Ukrainian melodies… He looked deeply bored by the question.
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Ukraine has already won Eurovision in 2004 and 2016, and is now credited with a 34% chance of winning in the final on May 14. The chances of France with the Breton group Alvan & Ahez are only 1%. As for Russia, its participation was cancelled. “Russia has been disqualified from so many events… It’s a good thing because a lot of Russians say they don’t quite understand the situation, what’s going on, but now they have to understand that something is wrong since the world is on our side,” says Oleg. If they win, it will be up to Ukraine to host the contest in 2023… “If we win the contest, it will be a victory for all Ukrainians,” prays Oleg. “Every win is important to us right now. We hope that if we win, it will lift the spirits of our compatriots. We hope to host the competition next year in a whole, prosperous and peaceful country. »