Ukraine won last year’s Eurovision Song Contest and earned the right to host this year’s event. and insisted it would do so despite Russian aggression.
Ukrainian public television announced plans to hold the show in the western part of the country, out of reach of Russian missiles, but politicians, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, said the country would make it happen.
Some foreign leaders also supported the cause. Last summer, then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: told reporters Ukraine won the Eurovision “fairly and squarely”, so it should be hosted by Ukraine regardless of the war.
“One more year,” Johnson said. “I’m sure it will work.”
However, Ukraine’s dream of hosting this year’s Eurovision did not come true. Expected to attract some 160 million TV viewers on Saturday night, the final of this glamorous competition will be held in Liverpool, England, 1,600 miles from Kiev.
Last summer, after months of consultations, the European Broadcasting Union, which oversees the competition, agreed with Ukrainian authorities to change the venue. Great Britain finished second in last year’s competition, so this was a natural choice. The BBC, a public broadcaster, agreed to host the event.
This is the ninth time the competition has been held in the UK since it began in 1956, but the BBC team knew this year would be different. Broadcasters hosting Eurovision typically use the contest to promote their country and its culture to a global television audience. This time the UK will have to fall behind.
Martin Osterdahl, the European Broadcasting Union’s executive supervisor for Eurovision, said in an interview that this year’s event will be “the Ukrainian party”. He echoed the British view, adding that the UK just happened to be hosting it. British pop artist.
Shortly after the change was announced, the BBC introduced a contest to select the final city, ultimately choosing Liverpool. 6 or more others candidate. In October, the BBC hired event producer Martin Green, who oversaw the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2012 London Olympics, to supervise the event.
In a recent video interview, Green, 51, said he immediately flew to Warsaw to meet with Ukrainian broadcasters.
Those officials wanted a large-scale Eurovision “to celebrate the great Ukrainian culture of the past, present and future,” Green recalled. They also wanted the reality of the Russian aggression to be projected on screen. This is what can give a brooding atmosphere to a traditionally macabre and gaudy spectacle. But they insisted the contest should still be fun, Green said.
“It was really important to get the blessing, or permission, for the nature and style of the show,” said Green.
Back in the UK, Green had just eight months to prepare for the competition. He assembled a team that included outside agencies to work on the event. (More than 1,000 people contributed, he said.) Every week, his staff held video calls with Ukrainian colleagues to discuss and agree on aspects of the competition. These included the slogan of this edition, “United in Music”. the stage design. And a special performance that takes place on stage during the intermission of the competition.
Ukrainian officials had to delay last-minute conference calls “because of air raid sirens,” or cancel them entirely because of power outages, Green said.
“It was an incredibly empowering moment,” Green said. “Ukrainians are so determined to keep going that it is easy to forget.”
Mr Nenov, a German creative director for Ukraine’s public broadcaster, was a key advisor to the British team, Green said. In a recent interview, Nenov said it was “unrealistic” to discuss flashy costumes and dance performances when Russian bombs fell on Ukraine. “The last six months have probably been the most emotional of my life,” he said. “But Eurovision kept me strong. It gave me the strength to keep going.”
Mr. Nenov, 33, has overseen several special performances by Ukrainian musicians during intermissions of competitions. With these, he said, he hopes to change viewers’ perceptions of his country. When Ukraine hosted Eurovision in 2005 and 2017, the broadcasts featured traditional life clichés such as embroidered costumes and girls dancing with flowers in their hair, he added. . “That’s not Ukraine,” said Nenov. This time he will present a more modern vision of the country.
Both Nenov and Green declined to give details of Saturday’s grand final, insisting it should be a surprise to TV viewers, but they said the show would feature Ukrainian and British pop stars. Stated. War would also be mentioned, Green said, but it was an elegant way to go for a “great big song contest.”
The European Broadcasting Union’s Osterdahl said the cooperation between the two countries to host Eurovision this year was “unprecedented”. But if Ukraine wins again on Saturday, another country will have to step up to host Ukraine’s next party. He said he hopes that one day the war will end and Ukraine will be able to host the event in his own country.
