As Ukraine co-hosts the Eurovision Track Contest in Liverpool, it is showcasing a track impressed by a well-known final stand. It is going to be carried out by a duo supposed to advertise an inclusive Ukrainian identification.
SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
Ukraine received the world’s greatest track contest final 12 months, and this week, it is co-hosting this 12 months’s competitors in Liverpool. It is the Eurovision Track Contest, identified and beloved for over-the-top theatrics. It is also a platform to showcase cultural identification and, within the case of Ukraine’s entry this 12 months, how identification can evolve. NPR’s Joanna Kakissis stories.
JEFFERY KENNY: La la la (ph).
ANDRIY HUTSULIAK: La la la (ph).
My identify is Andriy.
KENNY: And I’m Jeffery.
HUTSULIAK: And we’re Tvorchi.
KENNY: We’re Tvorchi, digital music duo from Ukraine.
JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE: Meet Andriy Hutsuliak and Jeffery Kenny, the duo representing Ukraine at Eurovision this 12 months. Their band’s identify means artistic in Ukrainian. And once we spoke at NPR’s bureau in Kyiv not too long ago, they began strumming a bandura, an previous Ukrainian stringed instrument.
HUTSULIAK: Something sounds good on this.
KAKISSIS: Hutsuliak and Kenny started making music 5 years in the past in western Ukraine, after they have been each coaching as pharmacists.
HUTSULIAK: You realize, it was fascinating to observe these experiments. You keep in mind the way it was?
KENNY: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
HUTSULIAK: You get it – tin, tin, tin (ph). So put some drops in that tubes.
KENNY: Generally it’s a must to, like, combine it and blend it and wait. Generally you bought to warmth it up.
KAKISSIS: And so they see music the identical approach.
KENNY: (Singing) It is previous midnight, taking a look at phrases…
KAKISSIS: Kenny’s from Lagos, Nigeria, the place he was born Jimoh Augustus Kehinde. Jeffrey Kenny is his stage identify. He moved to the western Ukrainian metropolis of Ternopil in 2013 when he was simply 16 years previous to attend college.
KENNY: Once I first got here, like, it is laborious to not stand out. You realize, it is laborious to not – like, you simply stroll down the road, and, like, individuals simply, like, observing you. So it was humorous. However, you already know, now individuals simply get used to, like, seeing one another.
KAKISSIS: Earlier than Russia’s full-scale invasion, many African college students studied in Ukraine. After the invasion, many fled, and a few stated they confronted discrimination by Ukrainian border guards. Kenny would not excuse that, however he says he sees Ukraine altering.
KENNY: One thing so advanced as, you already know, having the ability to, like, settle for one another’s variations and be one household – sure, it takes time. However I really feel like, you already know, it is my second dwelling. So…
KAKISSIS: Hutsuliak calls himself and Kenny the boys from Ternopil as if to say, you do not have to be a white, Orthodox Christian to be Ukrainian.
HUTSULIAK: Individuals grew to become extra open-minded, extra numerous to new issues. And in addition the atmosphere was turning into higher and higher. So positively we’re a easy instance that Ukrainians selected us to symbolize entire nation.
KAKISSIS: Ukraine has showcased variety previously at Eurovision. In 2016, a Crimean Tatar received the track contest. Ukraine additionally received Eurovision final 12 months…
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “STEFANIA”)
KALUSH ORCHESTRA: (Singing in non-English language).
KAKISSIS: …With a track devoted to Ukrainian girls. Kenny says he is discovered the bravery of Ukrainian men and women inspiring.
KENNY: Like, it made me perceive, you already know, selflessness, if I can say. And also you simply need to do one thing so issues can get higher, you already know, with out the promise of, like, revenue or something.
KAKISSIS: Tvorchi’s Eurovision track, referred to as “Coronary heart Of Metal,” is about resilience.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “HEART OF STEEL”)
TVORCHI: (Singing) Guess I acquired a coronary heart of metal.
KAKISSIS: It is impressed by an epic siege final spring within the southern metropolis of Mariupol, the place Ukrainian troopers and civilians barricaded themselves beneath a large metal plant referred to as Azovstal. Hutsuliak says he was astonished at how lengthy they held out.
HUTSULIAK: You may take a look at the Ukrainians and take inspiration.
KAKISSIS: You need to be the sturdy coronary heart. You need to be the center of metal.
HUTSULIAK: We do not need to be pitied.
KAKISSIS: And with that, Hutsuliak and Kenny placed on their sun shades. They give the impression of being prepared for the stage, and so I’ve to ask.
How do you’re feeling about singing “Coronary heart Of Metal” for us right here in our improvised Tiny Desk live performance (laughter)?
KENNY: OK. (Inaudible) let’s go.
(Vocalizing) Dun, dun, dun, da-dun, dun, dun, da-dun (ph).
OK. That is a superb tempo.
(Singing) Do not be scared to say simply what you suppose ‘trigger irrespective of how unhealthy, somebody’s listening.
KAKISSIS: Kenny additionally provides a line in Ukrainian that speaks to the battle nonetheless raging. He sings, “regardless of the ache, I’ll proceed to battle.” Tvorchi will compete on the Eurovision finals in Liverpool on Saturday.
KENNY: (Singing) Coronary heart of metal.
KAKISSIS: Joanna Kakissis, NPR Information, Kyiv.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “HEART OF STEEL”)
TVORCHI: (Singing) Do not care what you say. Yeah, yeah. Do not care how…
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