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Czech Republic: With Vesna and “My sister’s crown” in Eurovision 2023!

The ESCZ 2023, the national final that the Czech public broadcaster hosted on the 30th of January concluded tonight by announcing the winner, which is Vesna with the song “My sister’s crown“!

After a week of voting, viewers both in Czech Republic and around the world crowned Vesna as the winner of the show. You can see below the final ranking of all five entries.

The band is performing a song which sends a strong message of solidarity and support to Ukraine and goes against Putin’s propaganda regarding the “non-existence” of the Ukrainian nation. You can read more about its message at this article we wrote a few days ago regarding this entry.

Participants & format

Five acts participated in ESCZ 2023:

  1. Maella – “Flood”
  2. Pam Rabbit – “Ghosting”
  3. Markéta Irglová – “Happy”
  4. Vesna – “My Sister’s crown”
  5. RODAN – “Introvert party club”

The winner of the show was solely determined by a public vote, 70% of the voting of the international public and 30% of the voting of the Czech public.

You can listen the Czech entry for Eurovision 2023 below:

Enjoy Matamis Apostolis, Bogiannos Apostolos and Mantounaris Konstantinos from Eurovisionfun in a delightful video, with detailed commentary on Czech Republic’s next participation, for 2023!

What do you think about the Czech entry for Eurovision 2023? Tell us in the comments!

Czech Republic: With a history lesson and a response to Putin’s “Russian world” at Eurovision 2023?

An interesting and pleasant surprise the Czech Republic was preparing us for its national final, through which they will choose the song that will represent the country at Eurovision 2023. Among the candidate entries we find My Sister’s Crown by the band Vesna, a song that in addition to its solidarity and support for Ukraine, it is the musical response to the ahistorical “Russian World” of Putin and his propaganda, according to which the Ukrainian nation does not even exist, since in fact they are Russians.

As you will see in the video clip, all the pieces of the puzzle fit together perfectly, so that the message is resounding and understood by everyone, even by those who may not have the historical background to understand it immediately.

Vesna is a person of Slavic mythology who could be said to be very close to Persephone of Greek mythology. In other words, she is also identified with spring, the fertility and fruitfulness of the earth. Vesna also means spring in many Slavic languages… The group consists of people from various slavic countries, like Ukraine, Bulgaria, Russia and of course Czech Republic.

The video clip starts with a narration of a few seconds. We are in a Slavic kingdom, where everything flows with love and everyone is united. But all this ends and dark clouds cover “Slavia” and the times of prosperity are simply forgotten… You obviously understand the comparison with today and everything that is happening between two nations that a few years ago were very close, of course we are referring to the Russians and the Ukrainians.

The song has lyrics in four languages. English, Czech, Ukrainian and Bulgarian, wanting to include the languages of the whole Slavic family (central, eastern and southern Europe).

We won’t say much more about the video clip, since the allegories of the bad things that have been happening in Ukraine for a year since the invasion of Russia are very cleverly and figuratively used in an artistic action that keeps you glued to the screen.

What we will comment is the verse that is repeated several times in the song, in different languages:

My beautiful sister, the crown is yours! 

 

This verse summarizes the entire message of this anti-war song. From a simple cry for the end of this atrocity that is happening in our neighborhood, it becomes, a history lesson, a response to Pan-Russianism, to the ideology of the “Russian World” that Putin is trying to impose on all Slavs.

Ukraine and Russia claim the cultural, but also political heritage of the state of the Rus, an empire of about 900 AD, through which Christianity, culture and letters were transmitted to all modern Slavic peoples. The capital of this state and the most important center was Kyiv. Both Ukraine and Russia (and Belarus secondarily) claim the Rus heritage and their achievements as cultural ancestors.

But Vesna sings in My Sister’s Crown, that this crown is yours and no one will take it from you, our beautiful sister, clearly taking a position in this historical controversy, on which the ideology of the Ukrainian national identity has been based.

The video clip of the song was released a while ago and already the Czech Republic is among the favorites to win the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest.

The clear message of My Sister’s Crown did not go unnoticed, as in just four hours after its release it was blocked from YouTube in Russia and Belarus, as Vesna informed via their Instagram account.

You can watch My Sister’s Crown here:

A participation that, if selected, will keep us properly occupied in Liverpool!

What did you think of the song? tell us in the comments below!

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun!

Czech Republic: ESCZ running order announced!

We are just one week away from the Czech national final and now we know the running order for ESCZ 2023!

Head of Delegation Kryštof Šámal was in charge of drawing the order of the ESCZ 2023 acts.  The Czech national final will take place next January 30 at 21:00 CET.  According to the rules a 70% international online voting and 30% Czech public voting will make the final result.

However, we will only get to know the winner on February 6.

The running order is:

  1. Maella
  2. Pam Rabbit
  3. Markéta Irglová
  4. Vesna
  5. RODAN

‘We Are Domi’ represented the Czech Republic at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 with the song Lights Off.  They ended up in 22nd place in the Grand Final with 38 points.

Source: Ceska Televize

Czech Republic: ESCZ 2023 finalists announced!

The public broadcaster for the Czech Republic has recently announced the five finalists for their national final ESCZ 2023.

The national final will take place live on 30 January and voting will open during the show via the Eurovision app and close on Monday 6 February.  We will know the name of the winner shortly afterwards.

The names of the five finalists are:

  • Maella
  • Markéta Irglová
  • Pam Rabbit
  • RODAN
  • Vesna

Another feature of the Czech national final is the voting composition.  It will be 100% up to the public to find out who will represent Czech Republic at Eurovision.  According to the rules in place the public vote will be split 70% from the international public and 30% from the Czech public. This is the first time in 15 years that the Czech Republic will use a live show to determine the artist that will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest.

The international audience will be able to watch ESCZ 2023 via live streaming on the official Eurovision Song Contest channel.  On the other hand the public in Czechia can watch the final via the iVysílání streaming platform of TV station ČT .

The production team consists of big names in the Czech entertainment industry, led by Head Of Production Cyril Hirsch, with Michal Utíkal, Lucie Kapounová and Viktor Průša . The direction will be led by Vít Bělohradský and Matyáš Vorda.

Kryštof Šámal, Head of Delegation for the Czech Republic, said:

’The level of the songs and artists; and also, the essence of ESCZ to share the talent and diversity in our music scene made it not very had but impossible to select 3 finalists therefore we are happy to reveal the 5 finalists that will compete to represent us in Liverpool.’

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for more updates about Czechia  in Eurovision 2023.

Source: Eurovision.tv