music
Ukrainian ESC winner Jamala addresses the audience
The Ukrainian singer Jamala at the show “Germany 12 Points – the German ESC preliminary decision”. Photo: Britta Pedersen/dpa-POOL/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Emotional performance: With a Ukrainian flag in her hand, the Ukrainian Jamala sings for and about her home country at the ESC preliminary round – and has a message for the world.
The Ukrainian Eurovision Song Contest winner Jamala (38) combined her appearance at the German preliminary decision for the ESC final with a moving plea for peace in her country.
“My greatest wish is that the war stops,” said Jamala in Berlin. The singer had fled her homeland with her two children under dramatic circumstances. She had to leave her husband behind in Ukraine.
“Today I’m singing in the name of the children, I’m singing in the name of the women today,” said the 2016 ESC winner. “I want the whole world to hear our voice, hear about our pain and suffering.” She will do everything she can. “I’m going to scream so the whole world can hear that it can’t be like this.”
With the Ukrainian flag in hand, Jamala sang her 2016 winning song “1944”. The song is about the deportation of Crimean Tatars by Soviet dictator Stalin.