Introduction
The Ukrainian group Go_A has been chosen last year in a national final. Sadly, the ESC has been cancelled so nobody could travel to Rotterdam. Some of last year’s performers have been nominated to perform this year as well, so the group Go_A will also have another chance with a new song called “SHUM”.
The band was founded in 2012 by Taras Shevchenko. 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). 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.
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 “SHUM” has a similar music style as “Solovey”, as it’s the typical sound of the band. It’s about the turn from winter to spring. It could also be translated as coming out of the Corona pandemic, when looking at the first original video-clip. It looks a bit creepy, people dressed in white protective laboratory clothes in front of a foggy skyline.
There is a strong rhythm underlined by the frenetic “white singing” by Kateryna. The song is getting faster and people start to dance, it’s almost hypnotizing. This could have been taken from a trance disco, with special Ukrainian instruments and a predominating flute. This kind of music is not new at Eurovision, but this variation is very special. Not everybody will like this music style, but it will definitely shine in Rotterdam and bring diversity to the ESC.
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’s the 16th participation this year in Rotterdam, as 2020 will not be taken into account. The group Go_A was chosen 2020 already and will have another chance this year.
The debut year was 2003 when “Hasta la vista” by Olexandr reached a 14th rank. Only one year later, the powerful 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. Two times the Ukraine did not take part: 2015 due to financial and political reasons and 2019 Maruk has been disqualified.
Biggest successes
Video Nostalgia
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