 |
|
|
Support Scooch!
Download 'Flying The Flag (For You)' at iTunes and help get Scooch back into the UK singles chart!
|
|
|
|
|
About Ukraine...
|
 top of page
|
|
2004 Result
Points in Semi Final: 256
Position in Semi Final: 2nd
Points in Final: 280
Position in Final: 1st
2005 Contest: 2004 winner - directly qualified to Final
|
top of page
|
|
History (1956 to 2003)
Ukraine's previous appearances: 1 year(s) out of 48
Years participated: 2003-
Best result: 14th (2003)
Ukraine hasn't got much of a history at Eurovision, having entered for the first time only in 2003. Despite having a song written by Tzvika Pick (the man behind Dana International's 'Diva'), performed by the established Ukrainian artist, Olexandr Ponomaryov, and accompanied by dancing acrobats, 'Hasta la vista' managed a slightly disappointing 14th place. Perhaps Olexandr should have taken a leaf out of Dana's book, and worn a Jean Paul Gaultier dress instead of his luminous (and quite tight) white suit? As a result, Ukraine narrowly missed out on an automatic place in the Final, and must participate in the Semi Final first.
|
top of page
|
|
This year's entry
Position in Semi Final draw: 11
Position in Final draw: 10
What I said prior to the Semi Final:
"As in 2003, Ukraine have selected their performer internally, without holding a national final to choose the artist or song. They are in good company - it was noted at the time that the top three songs from 2003, by Turkey, Belgium and Russia, were all chosen internally by their respective broadcasters. While cutting the public out of the selection process might be justified by a good result, Eurovision would surely be a poorer contest if every broadcaster did this. Above all, I take the view that broadcasters need to engage with their viewers, not bypass them completely, if the Eurovision is to have a strong following in the future. Quibble aside, Ukraine have once again managed to pick a distinctive and unusual song, with top selling Ukrainian artist Ruslana performing 'Wild Dances'. I have to confess, I absolutely adore this song - it's something completely different, unlike anything I've ever heard before. Cannily recognising the importance of a memorable presentation - an important factor in both Latvia and Turkey's recent victories - the Ukrainians promise a spectacular ballet performance to accompany the song, and have already produced probably the most impressive preview video of 2004. In 2003, winner Turkey had the 'wild dances' while 2nd place Belgium brought the ethnic sounds and instruments - by combining the two, can Ukraine secure victory in Istanbul?"
|
top of page
|
|
What I predicted...
My prediction for Semi Final: 1st to 3rd
My prediction for Final: Definite qualifier; 3rd to 6th, possible winner
What I predicted prior to the Semi Final:
"Not initially considered a hot favourite for victory by the bookmakers, Ukraine's song has prompted rather polarised reactions - some fans think its wonderful (me included), others think it's a load of nonsense. Nevertheless, ethnic songs have performed well recently, and I see Ukraine as one of the few countries almost certain to qualify for the Final. If nothing else, no one can dispute that 'Wild dances' is completely different to any other song in the competition. A lot will depend on the live performance, but if it's as spectacular as promised, Ukraine could well be a contender for the Eurovision crown, or at least a strong placing in the top ten of the Final. Eurovision 2005 in Kiev is definitely a possibility."
|
top of page
|
|
What you thought...
Final Poll Ranking: out of 36 ()
(Updated 15 May 2004; change refers to movement over final week)
In the run up to the Contest, over 5,000 visitors to this site voted for their favourite song in the Soult.com Eurovision Poll.
|
top of page
|
|
What actually happened
Few doubted that Ruslana was anything but a definite qualifier from the Semi Final, and sure enough, she certainly gave Europe a show and a half with her 'Wild Dances'. Poor sound quality was a factor again - the backing track sounded too quiet, and the dancers' 'heys' were much too loud, drowning out Ruslana herself - however, it looked amazing, and Ruslana gave a spirited, if not always note perfect, performance.
Fortunately, the sound quality and Ruslana's vocal were much better in the Final, while the presentation was as stunning as ever - who knows, these improvements mighht just have made the difference between Ruslana's 2nd place in the Semi Final and her 1st place in the Final.
With the least said about my predictions for Greece and Serbia the better, I can take some solace from the fact that I correctly predicted the winner. I said "Ukraine could well be a contender for the Eurovision crown", tipping it to finish 1st to 3rd in the Semi Final (it finished 2nd) and as a "possible winner" in the Final. A deserved winner too, I think, and one of my personal highlights of the 2004 Contest. To those who complain about political voting, it is worth noting that Ukraine genuinely had appeal across Europe - Ruslana received points from every other country in the Semi Final, and points from every country apart from Switzerland in the Final. Given that these Swiss televoters who gave Ruslana nothing were the same people who chose Nul Points Piero as their own entry, you do have to question whether there's something dodgy in the Swiss water. Or perhaps they were just fed up that Piero had scored nothing, and decide to vote bizarrely for the sake of it.
|
top of page
|
|
What the bookies thought...
 | Ukraine to win: | 15/05/04 (prior to Final) | (jf) 3-1 |
| | 13/05/04 (after Semi Final) | 10-3 |
| | 11/05/04 | 5-1 |
| | 08/05/04 | 7-1 |
| | 06/05/04 | 9-1 |
| | 04/05/04 | 10-1 |
| | 31/04/04 | 16-1 |
| | 24/04/04 | 16-1 |
| | 17/04/04 | 16-1 |
| | 07/04/04 | 25-1 |
| | 24/03/04 | 25-1 |
|
|
Ukraine opened at surprisingly long odds of 25-1; however, reflecting both the positive reaction from many fans, and the predictions that it would perform well, Ukraine ended up as 3-1 joint favourite with Greece prior to the Final. I placed my bet at 25-1, so at least I won something this year!
(Odds quoted here were those offered by Coral.co.uk. 'F' indicates favourite, 'JF' joint favourite.)
|
top of page
|
|
Links
 http://www.ruslana.com.ua/
 http://www.1tv.com.ua/
|
top of page
|
|
Notes (see 'History' above)
- The 1956 Contest (where each country had two songs) is counted as a single appearance;
- Countries eliminated in the 1993 preliminary heat (EE, HU, RO, SK) ARE NOT counted as making an appearance in that year's Contest;
- Countries eliminated in the 1996 preliminary heat (DE, DK, HU, IL, MK, RO, RU) ARE NOT counted as making an appearance in that year's Contest;
- Countries eliminated in the 2004, 2005 and 2006 Semi Finals ARE counted as making an appearance in that year's Contest.
|
top of page
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Your comments (130)
From shauna, Malta
Added 16:01:24 2007-03-15
hi my name is shauna i'm from malta the maltese people are crazzy about you please add my email and wele talk sometimes i'm 12 years old love you loads grazzi
From daniela bugeja, Malta
Added 15:20:30 2007-02-06
hello Ruslana
DO YOU HAVE WIL DANCE LYRICS ON THIS SITE?
From daniela bugeja, Malta
Added 15:17:48 2007-02-06
hello Ruslana last week i saw you on malta song for europe festival and you are fantastic.YOU'RE THE BEST.
From Shannon, Malta
Added 18:36:25 2007-02-03
Hello, Ruslana ..... Youre great. Love ya
From Oguzhan, United States
Added 06:15:00 2007-01-05
I think so.. Their dance style is perfect than their song.. it was fun.. i am glad for first group..
From Peggy, Greece
Added 17:08:45 2006-06-20
Ukraine did great, I loved that performance. Good job, Ruslana!
Anyway, I thought Sakis was great!
I thought Sakis deserved 1st but, Ruslana, you deserve 1st place too.
From COKOLADA-JECA, Serbia and Montenegro
Added 13:34:01 2006-04-26
Song "Wild dance" is cool and extra.But "LANE MOJE" is better!!!Our Zeljko is cool!SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO ARE THE BEST!!!!!!!!
From Rauf, Azerbaijan
Added 11:07:01 2006-03-11
You are BEST RUSLANA!!! I wish you all the bests!! Best regards from AZERBAIJAN / BAKU
From Shahla, AZERBAIJAN
Added 18:56:47 2004-5-16
Congratulations from Azerbaijan, Ruslana!!! You deserved the first place no matter what they say! I personally and many of my friends wanted Turkey to win, but you did it despite all that politicised voting and that was great!!! Again, my congratulations!
From kostas, GREECE
Added 18:11:38 2004-5-16
Congrajulations to Ukraine, a good performance, a bit violent though. I' m very proud of SAKIS' performance yesterday night. Greece did a jolly good work! As it concerns Graham's predictions, A SMALL PIECE OF ADVICE TO GRAHAM: YOU ARE A GROWN UP BOY, IT'S HIGH TIME YOU STOPPED PLAYING WITH YOUR...BALLS!
From Alia, UNITED KINGDOM
Added 18:6:8 2004-5-16
dear nick the greek. I only get a vague idea of what you are actually talking about...im not dissingyour english skills, but i dont get it! please could you write more clearly? thx
From Nick The Greek, GREECE
Added 17:59:55 2004-5-16
And when i said ''you dont know about music'' i had good reason.Why the belgium is on the last rank?They had very good song. Why the Vikings(Norway} vote us only with 2 points?Why the Denmark only with 3?Austria 2. Are you come from out of space?
Regards
From Daniel, SWEDEN
Added 17:54:41 2004-5-16
Finally a great winner! When I first heard the song I knew it was gonna be a top 5, and it even won. Great preformance by Ruslana and the dancers. They were worth the win, finally a good powerful song. The "old" Eurovision is more or less gone, people is starting to listen to this kind of music (ofcourse not ONLY this kind of music). Nothing wrong with her personality, she's great and needs to be the way she is if a show like this is to be belivable and superb. Some of the other entries just didn't feel like they wanted to sing their songs.
I do belive you need a show, a spectacular show combined with a great song to win. This songs had it all, Ruslana has taken all the winning parts and put them all together and what did we get, a winning fantastic song & show!
Go Ruslana!!
From Nick The Greek, GREECE
Added 17:22:54 2004-5-16
Finally we know..we are always alones.But we are so proud for our music and all the europe knows about the Greek music.I can understand you...you dont have music and you cant vote about MUSIC.Its a political game but we cant participate in because as i said we are alones.We had sent before the best voices and our rank was too low.Think about europeans.One more time i m so proud to watch again the eurovision.Within living memory the German-Austia votes about us i have only this to say:You must thank us everyday because you lining with our music.Bye bye people. GREECE
From xclusive beast, TURKEY
Added 17:20:9 2004-5-16
Great Song, Great Singer Ruslana. She is so sweet and she won turkish viewers' heart in Beyaz's TV show, so 12 pts go to UKRAINE of course :)
See you in Kiev 2005 :)
From Mark, GERMANY
Added 17:13:32 2004-5-16
ehm....well...
i donīt think she deserved to win.
(hang on, before you start to scream please)
she was excellent in the semifinal.full of energy and stamina. but last night she looked empty and breathless.
and i must say the song lacks a bit originality each time you hear it. i donīt believe this will get as good as sertabs last years killersong.
Nevertheless, iīm fine with her victory, thank god it wasnīt the poor show from Sakis.
From Nesli, UNITED STATES
Added 17:11:7 2004-5-16
I thought that Ukraine was the best,(like Greece and Turkey) and they really deserver to win 1st Place!
From Dimitris, GREECE
Added 17:10:11 2004-5-16
Elizabeth this is not an ethnic song contest(even if a lot say so). This song has a primitive sound and that sould be supported on stage.The world is your oyster is an expression for saying that the world is in your feet.If you don't like this song it's ok.But most of Europe likes it.
From nobody, CANADA
Added 17:4:31 2004-5-16
Now that is a proper ass-kicking song! Ruslana wiped the floor with her tame competitors with their fake pleasantness and factory-engineered bland pop-soup and limp attitudes!
I personally am fed up with wooden manekins singing depressing love songs which they are too young to understand or have written themselves, and touting their world-peace and harmony (oh, we're all part of One Europe, let's all hold hands) politics, and doing the stage-school dance moves and sporting the limpdick POP-IDOL image. Ruslana's song has got balls! Big ones! Stop being so nice and so plastic, and just go wild!!!!!!! It's pop music, for crying out loud, it's supposed to be fun! Not place to show your sensitive side like in church or an old-ladies' tea club, nor an EU summit.
And by the way, all you hypocrites who have an issue with Ruslana's costume, and the animals it is made from: do you really believe that some 'sensitive' goon in a pastel-coloured suit or a sequin-festooned dress, ever had a thought in their clonelike heads about the animals they cut up and put into their mouths every day, about the shoes on their feet or the leather jackets they wear when they go out? How many of those inoffensive and fabricated pop stars were standing on stage singing a song about the right to live in freedom and not be imprisoned for your entire life in abject misery within a windowless concrete warehouse, until you are murdered, before (if the animals are lucky before and not after) your body is defiled and the ultimate humiliation of having parts of you put into the mouths of families of other animals who don't even think that you ever had a life? How many of those stars were eating animals backstage and at the after party? Canapes? Caviar? Kebabs? Did any of them refuse to get into their chauffer-driven limo and WALK or CYCLE, rather than sit on the luxury leather seats and uphostery?
The animals would have been crying at birth if they knew they were to be murdered for some fake talentless and ignorant pop-idol winner whose song sounds like it could have been written by absolutely anyone from any country, and is designed to drive you to tears or make you believe the singer is as good a person as the squeaky clean image they project - rather than for a singer with enough courage to do something slightly different and enough honesty to make a piece of music which is simply what it is... downright good fun! Would you prefer the clothes to have been made by children in a south-american sweatshop?
If Ruslana's song was playing on the radio when my alarm-clock-radio wakes me up in the morning, I'd jump out of bed and dance wild!
If many of the other competitors' songs woke me up in the morning, I'd bury my head beneath my pillow and groan!
She deserved to win with that song.
From Elisabeth, AUSTRIA
Added 16:56:31 2004-5-16
The song contest is all about representing your country...ive never been in Ukraine, but are they now all cavemen and women? Braveheat is scottish, not Ukrainian...and whats up with the oyster?
From Jean-Jacques, FRANCE
Added 16:52:17 2004-5-16
Happy to see that the old europe is not dead. We can listen new sound and not necessary coming from america. Congratulation to Ukrainia to bring us this new sound. There were the best in the contest.
From Dimitris, GREECE
Added 16:44:35 2004-5-16
Elizabeth(great name by the way)the first clothes that man ever wore were leather and furs.That was the concept of Ruslana's wearing them on the show.Listen to the song as loud as you can and tell me what images come to your mind.This song could be from Braveheart OST.It's epic!Ruslana the world is your oyster!
From Miriam, UKRAINE
Added 16:40:9 2004-5-16
the only countries which did not give their neighbours each 12 points, were Austria, Germany and Switzerland...
From Marina, GREECE
Added 16:38:22 2004-5-16
Ruslana Bravo!!!!!You kicked everyones ass there! By far the best show we have ever seen on eurovision.Wild....wild...wild song!!!! I am glad the 50th urovision will take place in Kiev!!! Ukraine you rock!!!!
p.s. thanks to Poland for the heart they gave us durind the voting time!!!!!!!Ukraina ia tebe kohaiu!!!!!!!!
From Nick, CYPRUS
Added 16:31:39 2004-5-16
Eurovision is a political game..Everyone votes for their neighboors , not for the best song. I think Ukraine didn't deserve the first place. There were much better songs like the Greek , Cypriot or the Maltese entry. Next year , i will not be watching the contest, cause it stinks, and it becomes worse year by year.
|
|
top of page
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ukraine
![Official 2006 Double CD now available to order at Amazon.co.uk [external link in new window]](/eurovision/images/furniture/2006cd_120x215.gif)
![[external link in new window] Valid CSS!](/eurovision/images/w3c/vcss.png)
![[external link in new window] Level A conformance icon, W3C-WAI Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0](/eurovision/images/w3c/wcag1A.png){kind=small}
