In the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, Ukraine made it through to the final on Saturday. The band Kalush Orchestra advanced with their song “Stefania” along with nine other countries late Tuesday night. The musicians from western Ukraine are the favorites for overall victory at this year’s Grand Prix in the northern Italian city of Turin.
“We are very happy that we qualified,” said rapper Oleh Psjuk in the nightly press conference. “We want to thank everyone who supports Ukraine.” The war events in Ukraine this year have a strong impact on the ESC organized by Italy after the Italian band Måneskin 2021’s victory in Rotterdam this year.
Actually, the Grand Prix should mainly be about music. However, Russia’s entry was excluded from the competition in advance. Belarus isn’t there either. The ESC 2022 was given a stronger political note than usual before it started. Some of them used symbols related to the Ukraine war in their appearances in the semifinals. A guitarist from the Icelandic band Systur wore the colors of the Ukrainian flag – blue and yellow – on the back of her hand. “We focused on getting our message across, from people who are suffering, like those in Ukraine,” the band said after the semifinals.
In the first semi-final artists from 17 countries fought for the finals. However, which country received how many points was not revealed in order not to influence the vote on Saturday in advance. Whoever won the two semi-finals will only be published after the final.
Germany’s contribution “Rockstars” is already set for Saturday
Also Austria with LUM!X feat. Pia Maria (“Halo”) and Switzerland with Marius Bear (“Boys Do Cry”) sang in this semi-final. Only Switzerland made it into the finals. The German contribution “Rockstars” by Malik Harris is already set for the finale because Germany is one of the biggest sponsors of the event. However, the bookmakers do not expect him to have a great chance of winning in the finals on Saturday.
The second semi-final follows on Thursday. Among others, the Finns will perform there with the band The Rasmus (“Jezebel”), which some may still know from the 2003 hit “In the Shadows”. Here, too, ten countries made it through, so that on Saturday in the final, 25 out of a total of 40 nations are singing about winning the ESC.
Favorites betray: juror is thrown out
Meanwhile, there was a glitch in the jury cast. After just one day, singer Felicia Lu was kicked out of the German jury for the Eurovision Song Contest on Wednesday. The 26-year-old violated the rules of the organizers – she had already made her favorites for the ESC known in advance. The musician had already published her favorites in March, the Norddeutsche Rundfunk announced on Tuesday in Hamburg.
Revealed too much: singer and then-not-jury member Felicia Lu.
(Photo: Christian Charisius/dpa)
However, the rules state that members of a national jury are not allowed to do this. “Felicia Lu signed the corresponding agreement in April. Therefore, the NDR, in consultation with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), was unfortunately forced to exclude her from the jury.” The EBU organizes the competition.
Lu, who also wanted to go to the ESC this year and had not been able to prevail in the German preliminary round, was only announced on Monday as part of the five-person jury. She was replaced at short notice by the KiKA TV presenter Jessica Schöne (33). After the semi-finals, Schöne will also evaluate the ESC candidates in the finals on Saturday together with Michelle, Max Giesinger, Tokunbo and Christian Brost. The corresponding jury points – and thus 50 percent of the German points – announced as usual moderator Barbara Schöneberger.