Introduction
In the national final of the Ukraine the folktronic band Go_A has received the highest votes of the jury and public votes. The band combines folkloristic music with modern electronic music. Furthermore the lead singer Kateryna Pavlenko uses “white singing” which is a very special singing technique with very high notes, which is very popular in Belarus, Slovakia and Bulgaria as well. Last year the Polish group Tulia also used the same singing technique, but failed in the qualification of the Grand Final.
The band was founded in 2012 by Taras Schewtschenko. The unusual name means “go to the beginning”, which could be translated as go to your ethnic roots - a stands for alpha. The band consists of the lead singer Kateryna Pavlenko, Taras Shevchenko, Ihor Didenchuk and Ivan Hryhoriak. They are all coming from different regions of the Ukraine and have experienced all kind of music genres like folk, rap, hard rock, etc. and various instruments are being used like sopilka (a special flute).
Go_A has been awarded as “The best track in Ukraine”, participating in various festivals in the Ukraine, Poland, Belarus and Bulgaria, where the band enjoys a great popularity. Especially in Israel the band is very popular – with the song “Vesnianka / Веснянка” they reached the iTunes charts.
Have a look at the other songs from Go_A:
The song “Solovey” means nightingale and is about a poetic love story calls for the end of the night. This is unique masterpiece of traditional folk and modern electronic music combined with the outstanding white singing of Kateryna. This track would have received a lot of attention at the ESC in Rotterdam. Luckily Go_A has literally go back to the beginning next year, as they will represent the Ukraine 2021.
History
Like no other country the Ukraine belongs to the most successful countries in recent ESC history. In 2003 the Ukraine celebrated its debut and could win two times already. Like no other country, they have always qualified for the Grand Final and there were nine Top10 rankings including two big victories. For the Ukraine it would have been 16th participation this year in Rotterdam, but due to the Corona crisis the event has been cancelled. The group Go_A who has been determined in the national selection is also allowed to start in 2021.
Last year Maruk has been selected as representative with her “Siren Song”, unfortunately, there have been disagreements between the singer and the Ukrainian broadcaster, at the end Maruk could not go to Tel Aviv as they have withdrawn her performance. That was seen as a big disaster, as “Siren Song” was one of the favourites in last year’s bettings.
The debut year was 2003 when “Hasta la vista” by Olexandr reached a 14th rank. Only one year later, lovely Ruslana impressed Europe with her “Wild Dances”, she won the ESC immediately with her sweeping energy and great and unique choreography. After that Kiev hosted the 50th anniversary contest – a wonderful show indeed. But there has been a lot criticism those years that the Eastern European countries outdo the established countries as other Western European countries suffering from low rankings and unfair voting. But the new and bigger contests at that time have brought a great enrichment and wonderful songs with a lot of new inspiration to the contest. So it’s a truly benefit to open the contest to more and more countries. This has paid off a lot.
Biggest successes
Video Nostalgia
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