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Ukraine: Voting to determine jury members for Eurovision 2024 is now open!

Suspilne, the public broadcaster of Ukraine, commenced the voting procedure, in order to select the jury members for Eurovision 2024, which will determine 50% of the Ukrainian voting.

The voting begun through the Diya app, and it will come to an end with the selection of the jury members. Ukrainian citizens, have until the 1st of April to vote for their favourites. Ten candidates, have been shortlisted, from which, the five most voted, will make up the Ukrainona jury for Eurovision Song Contest 2024:

  • FIЇNKA – singer, actress, songwriter, finalist of Vidbir 2023
  • Oleksiy Bondarenko – music columnist, founder and editor-in-chief of “Lirum”
  • Oleksandr Varenytsia– PR specialist, co-founder of Go West, an agency for the promotion of Ukrainian music on the international market
  • Iryna Horova – producer, founder and CEO of the record label POMITNI
  • Olena Kolyadenko – head of the Freedom Ballet dance team, producer of Freedom Jazz and KADNAY
  • Max Nagornyak – blogger, music critic and founder of Bezodnya Music
  • Anna Sviridova – professional musician, radio and TV presenter
  • Kostyantyn Tomilchenko – creative producer of the television shows “Ukrayina maye talant”, “X-Factor” and “Maska”
  • Alyosha – singer, composer and songwriter, represented Ukraine at Eurovision 2010
  • Yevhen Triplov – songwriter and music producer of songs for many Ukrainian artists, including Tina Karol, MONATIK, ZLATA OGNEVICH, Wellboy and Anna Trincher

The candidate with the highest amount of votes, will be the president of the jury. If for any reason a member is not able to vote, they will be replaced by the next candidate in number of votes. The jury members will be revealed on May 11, the day of the Grand Final.

This year, Ukraine is represented by alyona alyona & Jerry Heil, with their song “Teresa & Maria”, and they will take part in the first half of the first semi-final of Eurovision 2024, on May 7:

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Ukrainian participation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024, in Malmö!

Sourcecorp.suspilne.media

Ukraine: These are the guest artists of Vidbir 2024!

Tomorrow, Saturday 3/2, Ukraine‘s national final for Eurovision 2024 will take place, alongside other national selections. Vidbir 2024 will be broadcasted live from Kyiv, with eleven artists taking part, in order to determine the country’s representative for Eurovision 2024!

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Ukraine: Watch Jerry Heil & Alyona Alyona perform “Teresa & Maria” on TV for the first time!

Just a week prior Vidbir 2024, the Ukrainian national selection format for Eurovision 2024, Jerry Heil & Alyona Alyona gave their first televised performance of their entry “Teresa & Maria”, in the morning show “Сниданок з 1+1“.

Teresa & Maria” is already a big favorite to win the Ukrainian selection and fly to Malmö, counting 800 thousand streams on Spotify and 1.4 million views on Youtube, something that no other Vidbir 2024 entry has accomplished yet.

Vidbir 2024

After the selection of a committee and an online wildcard, the following eleven artists will compete in Vidbir 2024

  1. YAKTAK  —  “Lalala”
  2. INGRET  —  “Keeper”
  3. NAZVA  —  “Slavic English”
  4. ANKA  —  “Palala”
  5. Drevo  —  “Endless chain”
  6. alyona alyona & Jerry Heil  —  “Teresa & Maria”
  7. MÉLOVIN  —  “DREAMER”
  8. SKYLERR  —  “Time is running out”
  9. Ziferblat  —  “Place I Call Home”
  10. YAGODY  —  “Tsunamia”
  11. NAHABA  —  “GLASS”

The Ukrainian national final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 will be held on February 03 at 18:00 CET, broadcasted by UA public TV channel (UA:First). The winner will be decided by a combination of 50% TV audience and 50% jury vote.

You can also check out the reaction video of the EurovisionFun team on Vidbir 2024 finalists:

The winners of Vidbir 2023 and hence the representatives of the country in Liverpool were TVORCHI with their song “Heart of Steel”, finishing in the sixth place of the scoreboard.

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all the news!

Sweden: How will Malmö’s budget of 30 million Swedish crowns be used for Eurovision?

A bit more than six months have passed since SVT revealed that Malmö will be the host city for the Eurovision Song Contest 2024, on July 7.

There will be televised semi-finals on 7 and 9 May. On Saturday 11 May, the final will be broadcast all over the world from Malmö Arena.

This week, Malmö‘s top politicians hammered out how Malmö‘s taxpayers’ money should be used around the giant event. The Chair of the Municipal Executive Board Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh said on the matter:

“A completely unanimous municipal executive board supported the distribution. Much of the work will be done out in the committees and therefore we set aside money there.”

Already last autumn, in last year’s budget, agreements were signed for around SEK 10 million – including with Malmö Arena, Malmömässan and Malmö Live.

The rest of the money that is supposed to be used for the music festival was invested by the municipal board this week:

  • The Technical Committee will receive SEK 6.6 million for the work on Eurovision Park and Eurovillage at Folkets Park.
  • The Culture Committee will receive SEK 1.8 million for its work on programmes and communication.
  • The Recreation Committee will receive SEK 3.3 million for the work with 600 unpaid volunteers and for city decoration, such as flags and banners that will fill Malmö.
  • The Municipal Executive Board is also allocating SEK 6.3 million to a wide range of general extra costs linked to the giant event.

Despite galloping inflation, this year’s Eurovision Song Contest will not be more expensive for Malmö‘s taxpayers than the contests ten years ago says the city of Malmö‘s project manager Karin Karlsson:

“More people are contributing content than they did ten years ago. We are trying to work with the business community in a much more comprehensive way than we did then.”

Already in a couple of weeks, on January 30, Farah Abadi and Pernilla Månsson Colt will lead the draw for places in the two semi-finals. At the same time, the world is under pressure from major international conflicts, such as the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

Shortly after the announcement that Malmö will be the host of the Eurovision Song Contest, the Swedish Security Service raised the terrorist threat level in SwedenOn 1 November, a total bag ban was introduced at major eventsIt is still unclear what additional and stricter security measures may be required ahead of the giant competition in MalmöBut politicians know that it could lead to new costs for the city. Karin comments:

“As far as security is concerned, we are waiting for information from the police. This will have consequences for the centre of Malmö as a whole. We are already working preventively by trying to choose places with perimeter protection and places we are used to working with.”

“In the first instance, public transport will be offered.” says the municipal board’s decision document. One can assume that this will be offered to the volunteers and press that are attending to work on the contest. But would that also mean that the artists will also travel by bus or train to the competition arena in Hyllie? Karin Karlsson responds:

No, that’s where the line is drawn. We have a special responsibility to ensure that they arrive on time. The participants will travel in rented buses or electric cars. It’s Malmö’s advantage that we have such good public transport. It’s also a way to save money. We want the whole event to be used by public transport.”

Source: Sydsvenskan
Photo: Martin Meissner

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Ukraine: The voting for Vidbir 2024 jurors has begun!

Vidbir will be used as Ukraine’s national Eurovision selection format in 2024. Following the announcement of the eleven finalists, the voting process for the three jury members who will determine fifty percent of the total outcome has just begun.

Specifically, UA:PBC, Ukraine’s national broadcaster, began the voting a few hours ago in order to determine which judges the audience wants on the national final jury. Hence, the decision of who will consist the national selection’s jury is up to the public. Moreover, the choice will be made among the following nine music specialists, while the list includes three former Eurovision contestants:

  1. Oleksandr Varenytsia (PR specialist, co-founder of Go West, an agency for the promotion of Ukrainian music on the international market)
  2. Andriy Danylko – VERKA SERDUCHKA (Representative of Ukraine at Eurovision 2007)
  3. Jamala (Eurovision 2016 Winner)
  4. Olena Koliadenko (choreographer)
  5. Kateryna Pavlenko – Member of GO_A  (Representative of Ukraine at Eurovision 2020 and 2021)
  6. Serhiy Tanchynets (singer, musician, producer and leader of the rock band BEZ LIMITATIONS.)
  7. Yevhen Triplov (writer and music producer)
  8. Yevhen Khmara (Composer, Jury Member of Ukraine at Eurovision 2023)
  9. Pavlo Shilko (TV and radio presenter, known as DJ Pasha)

The voting window is now open and will remain open for one week, until January 22 at 10:00 a.m. The three candidates who will receive the most votes will form the jury for the Ukrainian selection. In case one of the three voted is unable to sign the agreement for legitimate reasons, the candidate with the next highest number of votes will replace him in the jury panel.

Vidbir 2024

We remind you that the national final of Ukraine for the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 will be held on February 03 at 18:00 CET, live on the UA public TV channel (UA:First). The result will be decided both by the TV audience and the expert jury, on a 50-50 proportion.

The eleven finalists of Vidbir 2024 are:
  1. YAKTAK  —  “Lalala”
  2. INGRET  —  “Keeper”
  3. NAZVA  —  “Slavic English”
  4. ANKA  —  “Palala”
  5. Drevo  —  “Endless chain”
  6. alyona alyona & Jerry Heil  —  “Teresa & Maria”
  7. MÉLOVIN  —  “DREAMER”
  8. SKYLERR  —  “Time is running out”
  9. Ziferblat  —  “Place I Call Home”
  10. YAGODY  —  “Tsunamia”
  11. NAHABA  —  “GLASS”

You can also check out the reaction video of the EurovisionFun team on Vidbir 2024 finalists:

The winners of Vidbir 2023 and hence the representatives of the country in Liverpool were TVORCHI with their song “Heart of Steel”, finishing in the sixth place of the scoreboard.

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all the news!
Source: suspilne

Sweden: Hosting the Eurovision Song Contest in a geopolitically-unstable time!

Sweden is hosting the Eurovision Song Contest in a geopolitically-unstable time.

In Finland, more than 1300 people from the music industry have signed a petition calling for Finland to boycott the contest in Malmö if Israel participates. Similar demands have been made in Iceland in the past.

And recently, demonstrators gathered outside the NRK headquarters in Oslo, demanding the exclusion of Israel from Eurovision because of the war in Gaza.

Ben Robertson, who covers Eurovision for ESCInsight, comments on the Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Malmö this May that it could be the most politically sensitive in Eurovision‘s history:

“It will be very tough to organise the Eurovision Song Contest this year. It demands a lot from Malmö and SVT. It’s not just about Israel. It’s about Sweden too, about the high terrorist threat.”

Ben also notes that this will be another season of Eurovision in the shadow of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. Ukraine is participating in this year’s competition. So does Armenia, which came into focus last autumn due to the conflict with Azerbaijan and also says he will neither be surprised if artists and songwriters choose to address political issues this year nor will he be surprised if fans demand that artists who travel to Malmö take a stand in the Israel Hamas conflict.

The Eurovision Song Contest is organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The EBU‘s members are public service broadcasters in various countries, especially in Europe. But countries such as Israel, Morocco and Lebanon are also members of the EBU.

In recent years, two countries have been excluded from the EBU and banned from the Eurovision Song Contest. Belarus was expelled because the country violated the rules of the competition and refused to change a song lyric with too political a message. Russia was expelled after the attack on Ukraine, reflecting a concern that, in light of the unprecedented crisis in Ukraine, the inclusion of a Russian entry would bring the competition into disrepute.

Now voices are being raised that Israel should also be expelled. But Paul Jordan, who comments on Eurovision for British media, believes Israel will participate this year. He says the situation is different than when Russia was excluded.

“When Russia was excluded, it had been banned from other international events. The EBU watched the World Cup and others who didn’t want Russia there, and then it would have looked very strange if Russia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest.”

The idea behind Eurovision is that countries should be able to put aside conflicts and bad relations for one night. In the UK, Olly Alexander, who will represent the country in Malmö, has made headlines with his criticism of Israel.

Paul says that there is a risk that Israel, even if it is not excluded, feels that it is not welcome to participate in Malmö.

“If the war is still going on, and we see these horrific images from Gaza, it can also be perceived as distasteful to participate in Eurovision while people are dying.”

At the same time, Eurovision is an important platform for Israel, which has participated in the contest for 45 years.

Karin Karlsson is the project manager for the Eurovision Song Contest, employed by the City of Malmö. She had the same role in 2013.

She notes that many things are different today. The target group of the competition has become younger. Social media plays a very different role than in 2013. The Eurovision Song Contest doesn’t just mean televised stage performances at Malmö Arena. There will also be a week’s festival in different places in the city. At the same time, Sweden has a high terrorist threat. Karin comments on that:

“And it’s much more complicated in terms of security, this year. We work with safety all the time, every day.”

Source: Svenska Dagbladet

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Ukraine: Vidbir 2024 11 songs and performance line-up released!

A while ago, the Ukrainian broadcaster, UA:PBC, released through its official YouTube channel, the eleven songs that will compete in Vidbir 2024, with the aim of becoming the country’s next representative, for Eurovision 2024!

Vidbir, Ukraine’s national final returns for another year as the method of selecting the country’s representative for the Eurovision Song Contest. With a total of eleven entries, out of 389 songs submitted, Vidbir 2024 will be held from the Maidan Nezalezhnosti station of the Kyiv metro.

The songs and artist lineup for Vidbir 2024

The order of appearance of the eleven artists at Vidbir 2024 is as follows (You can listen to the songs of the candidates by clicking on the corresponding link):

  1. YAKTAK — «Lalala»
  2. INGRET — «Keeper»
  3. NAZVA — «Slavic English»
  4. ANKA — «Палала»
  5. Drevo — «Endless chain»
  6. alyona alyona & Jerry Heil — «Teresa & Maria»
  7. MÉLOVIN — «DREAMER»
  8. SKYLERR — «Time is running out»
  9. Ziferblat — «Place I Call Home»
  10. YAGODY — «Tsunamia»
  11. NAHABA — «GLASSS»

We remind you that the national final of Ukraine for the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 will be held on February 3 at 18:00 cet, live on the UA public TV channel (UA:First). The result will be decided with 50% by the TV audience and 50% by the jury.

Also the composition of the jury will be decided by the Ukrainian public later through online voting.

The previous winners of Vidbir and then representatives of the country at Eurovision 2023, were TVORCHI with their song “Heart of Steel”, with which they ended up in sixth place in the final ranking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2oqDpefJ1s

Stay tuned at Eurovisionfun for all the updates!

Source:  UA:PBC

Ukraine: Songs for Vidbir 2024 to be revealed on January 11!

Suspilne, the public broadcaster of Ukraine, is now ready to present the long-anticipated songs, that will take part in Vidbir 2024, in order to claim the country’s representation in Eurovision Song Contest 2024! Read more

Ukraine: These are the ten finalists of Vidbir 2024!

Around a week ago, Suspilne revealed the twenty artists longlisted for Vidbir 2024. The twenty artists longlisted were those advanced to the next stage of the competition, the “Live Auditions” stage. This stage was used in order to determine the participants of Vidbir 2024 televised final scheduled to air in February.

Hence, following a week of auditions, Suspilne announced the ten artists along with their song titles that have qualified to the final of the competition.

The ten finalists of Vidbir 2024 are the following:

  • Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil — “Teresa & Maria”
  • Drevo — “Endless chain”
  • INGRET — “Keeper”
  • MÉLOVIN — “DREAMER”
  • NAHABA — “GLASS”
  • NAZVA — “Slavic English”
  • SKYLERR — “Time is running out”
  • YAGODY — “Tsunamia”
  • YAKTAK — “Lalala”
  • Ziferblat — “Place I Call Home”

What’s next for Vidbir 2024?

  • Among the remaining competitors, who were not advanced to the final at this stage, an online voting will be held in order to determine one more participant to the televised final of Vidbir 2024. The online public vote for the extra spot in Vidbir 2024 final will be conducted in December.
  • The final line-up will be revealed by December 29, 2023.
  • While, the songs of the remaining ten artists will be revealed to public, so that the online voting can be conducted, the ten songs that have already made it to the final will be published in early 2024, as we approach the date of the national selection.

The televised final of Vidbir 2024 will be held in February 2024. The winner will be determined by public and jury voting. Also, the composition of the jury will be decided by the Ukrainian public at a later time through online voting.

The previous winners of Vidbir and Ukraine’s representatives in Eurovision 2023, were Tvorchi with their song “Heart of Steel”, ending up in sixth place of the Grand Final.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2oqDpefJ1s&feature=youtu.be

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all news!

Source: Suspilne

Ukraine: Suspilne received 389 submissions for Vidbir 2024!

Suspilne, the public broadcaster of Ukraine, announced that they have received 389 submissions for their national final, from 288 artists, with 222 of the proposals being from solo singers.

The application period for the national final of Eurovision 2024 lasted from August 30 until October 22. The names of the artists who qualify to the next phase of the selection will be announced by November 9.

Vidbir 2024 music producer Dmytro Shurov (Pianoboy) reports that among the proposals, he heard something new that could surprise the whole world:

“Ukrainians, thank you for each of the 389 applications! I can already say that among them there are at least four hundred percent hits, ten potential hits, several interesting comebacks and something new that, I hope, will surprise us and the whole world. I am grateful to all musicians, producers, arrangers and authors for their efforts and soul. I know how difficult it is psychologically to be creative now, but I am proud that artists do not give up in their work, but develop and move forward. 

The national selection, as always, will breathe new Ukrainian music, will give a feel of what those who walk on the edge of modern pop culture and are desperately looking for themselves in this turbulent world are living now. Of course, I can never have enough music, and I always want to hear even more ideas, melodies and thoughts, so I advise everyone who did not have time to apply this year, but dreams of being heard, to start preparing their tracks for the next selection right now. Because, quoting the classics, “time flies.” And you and I will very soon start choosing our star for Eurovision 2024 .”

Within the submission period, Suspilne received 337 songs, with nearly 15% of the artists submitting more than one track. The main language of the songs is Ukrainian, at a rate of 57.5%. Accordingly, 33% are in English, about 9% are bilingual, and 0.5% are in other languages.

This year the artists that will be selected will not exceed 20. Then, according to the rules, they will go through a live audition, and based on the result, this number will be reduced to ten. Finally, from the artists who did not advance to the final, one will be selected through online public voting to participate in the national final.

The national final will take place on February 25 in the form of a televised concert. As in previous years, the winner will be determined by public and jury voting. The composition of the jury will be decided by the Ukrainian public at a later time through online voting.

The previous winners of Vidbir and Ukraine’s representatives in Eurovision 2024, were Tvorchi with their song “Heart of Steel”, ending up in sixth place of the Grand Final:

 Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Ukrainian participation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024, in Malmö!

SourceSuspilne