Ukraine sends Go_A as their representative for Eurovision, but this time the band is going to make a lot of noise with their electro-folk entry called Shum. Go_A is the fifteenth act of semi-final 1.
10 noisy things you would like to learn about the band:
1. Go_A is a Ukrainian electro-folk band, which was created in 2012. The story of the band started when sound producer Taras Shevchenko met ethno singer Kateryna Pavlenko. First, they wanted to write a song together as an experiment, but after seeing that it worked, the band has worked together since.
2. When it comes to the band name, they explain it as “‘Go’ as movement and ‘A’ as an ancient Greek letter alpha which stands for the origins, the beginning of everything, home and roots – back to our cultural roots.”
3. The group consists of Kateryna Pavlenko – lead vocals, Ukrainian folk musical selections, percussion, lyrics; Taras Shevchenko – sound producer, keyboards, percussion; Ihor Didenchuk – sopilka, multiple instruments, backing vocals, percussion; Ivan Hryhoriak – guitar.
4. The release of the single “Vesnianka” (Веснянка) brough the band attention in Ukraine in 2015, winning them the tile of Best Track in Ukraine. The track also stayed number one for six weeks in a row on the 10 Dance chart of Kiss FM radio, and was awarded Discovery of the Year by the radio station.
5. Go_A released their debut album ‘Idy na zvuk’ (Іди на звук; Follow the tune) in 2016, containing 10 tracks, including ‘Vesnianka’. The album was released under Moon Records.
6. The group appeared in the Eurovision National selection Vidbir in 2020, and the band won the competition, meaning they were supposed to represent Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest with ‘Solovey’.
Last year with an exclusive interview, the band told what was the song is about and what they wanted to convey to listeners of the song.
The song is based on Katia’s personal story. It is about a strong girl who gives in and lets herself fall in love. Then, suddenly she realizes that she is not taken seriously.
She holds on to her dignity till the last and keeps playing her role as if she doesn’t really care, and yet turns the tables.
7. Due to cancellation of Eurovision, the Ukrainian broadcaster chose the band internally for 2021. The band presented three songs to a jury and ‘Shum’ became the jury’s favorite, even though the song originally was not written for Eurovision. Due to the jury’s selection of ‘Shum’ the band had to change the lyrics, since the original text was a traditional folk song. Talented Kate within a small amount of time wrote the lyrics. The Eurovision version was the 5th try, since Kate tried to write four different verses, but it seems 5th was the charm, the band revealed about it in our special interview this year.
8. The music video director is Maxim Tujilin. Even though there was shots of Chernobyl, the video shooting was not taken in Chernobyl, since it is a restricted area. One of the shootings were done in nature not far away from a bird sanctuary. Interesting and fun fact, which the band revealed in our interview, is that the vehicle in the video was made by Christian bikers.
9. As soon as the video was made, animal protectors, UAnimals, criticized the video, since there was one of the birds which is in the red book of Ukraine. The band answered that the idea was to drew attention to the animals and birds of the red book Ukraine.
10. Talking to the Eurovision.tv, the lead vocalist Kateryna Pavlenko told that main message of the song is that we all should unite for a common goal in order to do something good and important.
What do you think of Go_A and their entry Shum? Does it have everything to win the competition?
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