UKRAINE 2022

The Ukrainian Final was held on February 12th at the Centre of Culture and Arts of the National Aviation University in Kiev, hosted by Masha Efrosinina & Timur Miroshnichenko. The winner, chosen by a 50/50 split of SMS and jury voting, was Alina Pash with “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors”

Alina Pash first became a big name in Ukraine after become a finalist in the 6th series of X-Factor Ukraine . That said, she had taken part in many singing festivals, competitions and programmes as a child. Since her big break in 2105 she has released a number of songs, collaborations and video clips. he most recent solo project "Norov" saw her take folk sensibilities and intertwine them with R&B beats. Her style of music is more electro/R&B and includes rapping on many of hee tracks.

The song starts with some haunting almost animalistic yelps and shouts by Alina from the darkness of the stage. The flow of the song it rather disjointed. There is a verse then a pre chorus then chorus proper. The second 'verse' is actually a rap and this takes us up to the 2 minute mark. From here the song goes into another chorus and then another but this is mainly sung over by a freeform Alina who ends with more chirruping as done at the start.

This song is extremely stylised - which has its positives and negatives. Its identity and meaning is undeniable and in the current climate a song this authentic (some may every suggest political) is pretty much expected. The videos, and the video screen assembled near the end, are very clever and would definitely work on the Eurovision stage. The use of the map might raise a few eyebrows of course. The Ukrainian language sounds really good in the song and the English lines fit in reasonably well. The part that has received some comment is the rap. Personally I think the rap is very interesting and her voice has an intriguing and interesting quality. That said the words come thick and fast, her accent is rather pronounced at times and the content of the rap is rather highbrow (although fits perfectly with the meaning of the song) . The result being it has taken me a few listens to relax through it and understand how it all fits together within the song. On first listen this might not get the welcome it deserves but its strong identity, twinned with the current political situation in Ukraine, means this will get votes. The staging, including the outfits, hits the mark but in other ways there is a lot going on. A bit like Ukraine itself.

ARTIST - Alina Pash

SONG - Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Taras Bazeev, Alina Pash