The Czech girl group Vesna was among the ten performers who advanced from the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest late on Tuesday evening. With the song My Sister’s Crown, he will compete against representatives of 25 other countries in Saturday’s final. In addition to the Czech Republic, musicians from Croatia, Israel, Portugal, Finland or Sweden continue to perform.
Vesna competes with the song My Sister’s Crown. | Video: Eurovision Song Contest
Vesna consists of musicians from Prague’s Ježka Conservatory, in addition to three Czechs, there are also a Slovakian, a Russian and a Bulgarian. The singer Patricia Fuxová said before the competition that the group wants to represent Slavism in the competition. “Because some of the female musicians come from other countries, and for example Slovakia or Bulgaria are not competing this year, since we have a Slovak bass player and a Bulgarian rapper, we feel that we are also representing Slavs and our roots, which are common to these countries,” she said.
After Tuesday’s first Eurovision semi-final in Great Britain, the organizers only published a list of the top ten runners-up, not the order of points. The representatives of Ireland, Malta, Azerbaijan, Latvia and the Netherlands dropped out. The second semi-final will take place on Thursday.
In Saturday’s final, in addition to the twenty advanced ones, representatives of the five major European countries of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Britain will also compete, whose participation is guaranteed automatically. Performers from 25 countries will be joined by representatives of last year’s winner, that is, Ukraine. Vesna competes with a song My Sister’s Crown, translated My Sister’s Crown. Similar to her previous song, it carries an undertone of female themes. According to their words, the musicians react to current events in society, reflect lack of freedom and call for mutual understanding.
The song and music video, in addition to recognition, also caused negative reactions. According to Patricia Fuxová, the authors wanted to support Ukraine facing the Russian invasion. Although the song and clip were banned in Russia and Belarus, at the same time they are in displeasure with some Ukrainians.
One is bothered by the participation of the Russian member of the band, keyboardist Olesya Očepovská, while others criticize the subliminal thesis about sister Slavic nations, which was already used by Soviet propaganda and is now being spread by Russia. However, the singer rejects such an interpretation. “We express sympathy and support to Ukraine,” she repeated for Aktuálně.cz
“In the song My Sister’s Crown, we decided to choose a Ukrainian chorus. Ukraine is currently having a very hard time, so we wanted to support this Slavic language the most. As this year’s Eurovision is supposed to be a tribute to Ukraine, we wanted to express the same thing. Solidarity, support and empathy in this difficult time with the idea of #chooseloveoverpower. We hope that the song will succeed in showing the absurdity of what can happen if we choose the opposite path instead of love and support,” added the singer Fuxová.
Video: Vesna has the best chance of the Czechs at Eurovision
“As a band made up of women, we had to learn to overcome obstacles,” says Patricie Kaňok Fuxová from the band Vesna in the Spotlight program. | Video: Jakub Zuzánek
