Eurovision Favourites: Ukraine Government Gives Kalush Orchestra Permission To Tour Europe Ahead Of Turin Final

deadline.com:

Folk-rap band Kalush Orchestra are the firm favourites to win the Eurovision Song Contest next month.Ukraine’s entry to this year’s competition are firm favourites to win, and have been granted special permission by the country’s government to go on tour across Europe,  in preparation for the big event on May 14 in Turin, Italy.Kalush Orchestra are a rap band which take their name from the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains and whose music is infused with the traditional folk sounds of that region.

They will be entering the Contest in May with Stefania, a song inspired by the mother of frontman Oleh Psiuk, whose interest in rap dates from his childhood love of Eminem.The six-man band have been together for only a year, and have formed out of Psiuk’s previous project, the rap trio Kalush.The band were initially runners-up to represent their country, when national selection took place in January.

However, the original winner Alina Pash had previously visited Russian-controlled Crimea in 2015, and Ukraine’s national broadcaster, the national selection committee and Pash collectively decided she should not take part.

Kalush Orchestra will go instead to this year’s Contest.The group were told just days before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.