Ukrainians are ready to welcome you warmly and Kyiv is all graced up to receive you openly and truly. The fun of Eurovision 2017 is in its full flow and admirers of music and aficionados of colorful festivals are thronging to Kyiv to partake in the biggest annual song contest of Europe 'The Eurovision -2017". So be at Kyiv to make most of the occasion and enjoy yourself.
Kyiv the capital of Ukraine to host the new edition of Eurovision
Kyiv the charming capital of Ukraine would be hosting the annual European spectacular musical song contest “Eurovision 2017” from 08th of May to 13th May. Join the party, enjoy being at Kyiv, prance around, revel in the fun and lose yourself in the heart-throbbing, rocking, boisterous crowd of music lovers.
A little catch up on the extravagant European musical song contest
The 61st edition of Europe’s biggest and most spectacular musical event the “Eurovision song contest” was held in Stockholm, Sweden last year (2016) where the Ukrainian singer Jamala from Crimea and of Tartar origin won the highest laurel for her soulful, nostalgic rendition of the plight and fate of her exiled brethren in the song titled “1944”.
She followed in the footsteps of her illustrious compatriot Ruslana who was the first to bag the top prize in 2004 since Ukraine started participating in the Eurovision song contest. Jamala’s victory brought Kyiv the honor to be the proud host of the mega event in 2017, as every winning country gets the right to hold the annual contest in its territory the following year.
It is 2017 and the 62nd edition of Europe’s biggest annual musical festival is once again happening with its famed extravagant fun and frenzy. The exciting, amazing, glittering song contest that has been delighting the music lovers worldwide since 1956 is around the corner. The event that warms the hearts and cheers the spirits of music lovers is here again. The eagerly awaited and much-loved music competition would have 42 countries presenting their best of talent to charm the audience and jury members with their lyrics, compositions, and artistic appearance. Russia has withdrawn of its own will from the competition. The performances would be live, original, fantastically choreographed and out of the world with each participant trying to claim the top honors by outperforming the others.
Kyiv is all geared up, ready and decked up to welcome the aficionados of music and dance from every part of the world. Kyiv beckon all music lovers to let their hair loose and join the thousands of others in celebrating the free spirit of joy and merriment in one of the biggest annual spectacular musical contest of songs the “Eurovision” to be organized from 09th May to 13th May at the International expo center in Kyiv.
To make the show fabulous, dazzling and memorable a brilliant stage has been erected at the site of the show. The luminosity, shine, and strength of the magnificent stand can be understood from the design, look, and architecture of the structure. More than 200 highly professional experts drawn from all over the world especially from the US, Canada, New Zealand, Finland, Norway among others have worked in tandem to create an extraordinary, sophisticated stage that is unique in its aesthetics, appearance and innovative in its build and dimension.
Ukraine is ensuring that this year’s edition of Eurovision would be 'one of its kind' and make everyone happy with the preparation, arrangement and bring joy and pleasure to one and all. Kyiv has especially designed “Fan-Zones”, “Entertainment-Areas”, “Information-Centers”, ‘Tourist Hubs with interactive touch screen devices located at vantage points’, which would ensure comfort, well-being, and security of all the visitors. To bring out the wonder of Kyiv to the foreign tourists guided and conducted city tours would be organized through specially designed tourist buses as well as through the walk in prime tourist locales of Kyiv. Hundreds of volunteers, smart, young and multilingual would be around all 24 hours to help out the foreigners with their queries during their stay in Kyiv.
“Come to Ukraine to celebrate diversity” is the theme of Eurovision 2017
Celebrate Diversity’ is the central message of this year’s event which has been complimented by a creative logo design based around traditional Ukrainian bead necklaces called Namysto (Намисто). More than just a piece of jewelry, Namysto is a protective amulet and a symbol of beauty, charm, and health. It is made up of many different beads, each with its own design and celebrates both diversity and individuality.
According to Jon Ola Sand, the Eurovision Executive Supervisor "The idea and concept of “Celebrating Diversity” builds on last year’s Eurovision’s theme of “Come Together” and is at the heart of Eurovision values: it is all inclusive and all about countries around Europe, and beyond, joining together to celebrate both our common ground and our unique differences, as well as some great music."
Further, he considers that incorporating this beautiful and meaningful logo based on a traditional amulet gives not only a sense of history and heritage but also adds a modern touch to the vision of the song contest. In addition, Jon Ola Sand is very much confident of a highly successful show by Kyiv and asserts, “As the production grows from these themes, we are very much looking forward to seeing what is sure to be a fantastic event in May."
The Eurovision Song Contest will be held in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with a record-equaling 42 countries participating. Both the slogan and logo of the event give an insight into the richness of Ukrainian culture and an indication of joyous celebration of diversified inherent human panache.
Weaving the creative design
Using the Namysto (a conventional artifact of Ukrainian culture) as the basis of their logo design the creative group and artists took a traditional piece and gave it a modern twist with the help of bright colors and vivid patterns. Each bead on this necklace has its own unique design and shape to symbolize a message that resonates throughout the Eurovision Song Contest; all of us are truly unique yet entwined by the common connection of our love for music.
The artists and creative agencies entrusted with the design of the logo say, "Our main desire was to bring the image of the traditional Ukrainian culture to a new level, to make it clear for the new audiences.” Further, the team adds that they took the traditional item – a core piece of ethnic attire of Ukrainian women – the necklace and gave it a bright new look, weaving into it the motif of novelty and modernity.
Celebrating Diversity will be the key theme in all aspects of the Eurovision Song Contest from the communications, promotion, and production and even for the artists themselves. This year Ukraine will celebrate a collaboration of culture, technology, human capabilities and the individual creative flair of all 42 artists from their respective countries.
The sheer exuberance of outstanding musical performance
Eurovision showcases one of the most fascinating, charming, reverberating with excitement human talent that is enjoyed as much as by the participants as the audience which range in tens of millions who watch it on their TVs or streaming live on the Net and thousands more fortunate ones who have the pleasure and luxury to experience the entire event live, right in front of them by being present at the venue.
Eurovision encompasses all that is to music and more. It has glamor, it has sex –appeal, it has innovation, it has creativity, it has charisma, it has attraction and it has inspiration that rocks, jells and swells. The countdown to show has already begun with city council setting the stage for charming the audience and visitors with a slew of attractions and pleasant temptations. The atmosphere has been set, the environment is full of youthfulness, energy, charm and joy and Kyiv is in its best to welcome all keen to enjoy and celebrate the annual mega European song contest of music and dance.
The following is the itinerary for the rehearsals and main program for which the tickets can be bought either locally (in Kyiv and other towns) or online on
www.concert.ua/ua (in the Ukrainian language) and
www.concert.ua/en (English version).
08th of May: Semi Final 1 Jury Show (second semi-final; first rehearsal)
09th of May: Semi Final 1 Dress Rehearsal 3
09th of May: Rehearsal on the day of the first semifinal of Eurovision-2017
09th of May: Semi Final 1 (First Semifinal) - the first day of competition; Song Contest and the first show, which will be shown live. This semi-final will bring together representatives of 18 countries, including Montenegro, Finland, Georgia, Portugal, Belgium, Sweden, Albania, Azerbaijan, Australia, Cyprus, Slovenia, Armenia, Moldova, Czech Republic, Latvia, Iceland, Greece, and Poland.
10th of May: Semi Final 2 Jury Show (Second rehearsal of the second semifinal)
10th of May: Jury show before the second semifinal of Eurovision.
10th of May: Semi Final Dress Rehearsal
10th of May: Third rehearsal of the second semifinal
11th of May: Rehearsal on the day of the second semi-final of the song contest
11th of May: Semi Final 2 (second semifinal)
11th of May: The second day of competition; Eurovision, which will be shown live. This semi-final will be attended by representatives of 18 countries, FYR Macedonia, Malta, Netherlands, Serbia, Denmark, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Ireland, Switzerland, Estonia, Israel, Bulgaria, San Marino, Lithuania, Croatia, Norway, and Belarus.
12th of May: The Jury Final (Second rehearsal; finale)
12th of May: Grand rehearsal or Jury Final. During the show, national jury from member countries of Eurovision-2017 will assess the performances of the contestants
13th of May: Grand Final Dress Rehearsal 3 (third final rehearsal)
13th of May: The last rehearsal before the final song contest to be held on the evening of the same day.
13th of May: Grand Final (The Finale) – The most awaited moment of the event; The Final Song Contest. The world with bated breath would discover the new winner of Eurovision 2017. The first prize winner’s country would be the proud host of the following year’s “Eurovision – 2018”. In all, 26 countries would reach the grand final and their representative-artist would be competing for the top honors which would be bagged by only one – The triumphant and the jubilant leader of the show
In nutshell, “Eurovision” is an extra wide extravagant spectrum of fun, frolic, foot-tapping music, dance, songs, lilt, rhythm, din-den and everything that music aficionados love and enjoy. It is a multicultural bonanza rich in its diversity, wide in its appeal, high in its energy and great in its presentation. A spectacular event of dance and music for all. So come lets’ be part of this wonderful, energy-booster superlative show!!
Kyiv – A modern European city cradled in ancient civilization, great historical culture and architecture
Kyiv is sure to please you, delight and even astonish you with the richness of the wide-ranging sights, attractions, and historical tourist spots. It is a totally European city with all the modern trappings illustrative of Ukrainians fondness to assimilate diverse, new and beneficial aspects of human living while sustaining and valuing their own. It has well-linked metro and city transport; beautiful boulevards lined with chestnut trees, wide, neat and clean streets; proper footpaths and pavements; well-kept gardens, expansive parks; big squares, cosmopolitan malls; street-side cafes, plush eateries, night clubs, bazaars, shopping areas all representing vibrancy, color, energy and diversity. Colleges, universities, museums, libraries, memorials, cathedrals, churches greet you with their subtlety yet disarming charm and elegance. Robust attributes of a lively, spirited, advanced society rooted in traditional mores and time-honored customs.
Kyiv has modernity dipped in history and architecture. If its people are open, friendly, kind, democratic, self-motivated and dynamic, its landscape and terrain are full of beautiful monuments, historical structures and ancient architectural wonders that would surely fascinate tourists with their manifestation and sophistication. Among other things, the entire countryside of Ukraine is dotted with such edifice and has interesting stories of the time they were constructed in.
To start with the first day can be passed in visiting the wonderful Cathedral of Sophia (built in IX century), St. Mikhail’s golden-domed cathedral and monastery (built in X1 century), followed by a refreshing stroll down the Andrivskiy descent that takes to the most glamorous part of Kyiv, the city’s central street “Khreschatyk”, well known for its vibrancy and dazzling smiling, mingling crowd.
Day two can be meaningfully utilized by visiting the various museums especially "The National Museum of Folk Architecture and Life of Ukraine" (popularly known as Pirogovo), followed by a trip to Holosievsku –Parku (the forest of Holosviskiy), with a relaxing evening at the Mariinsky palace near the banks of Ukraine’s famous and revered river “Dnipro”. Similar outings and visits can be planned on the other days. There is something for everyone at Kyiv.
Days can be spent enjoying theaters, bookstores, relishing ethnic ware, native-delights, souvenirs, handicrafts and no less interesting is the nightlife of Kyiv with shows, nightclubs catering to all different tastes. And Kyiv is a delight for gastronomical connoisseur – starting with Ukrainian cuisine that has a mouthwatering range of delicious, nutritious assortment of food, one can find all the varieties of tasty stuff with authentic flavor. Savor it and your stomach would give a gleeful burp on your choice and thank you for visiting Kyiv.
Accommodation and transport the other two things that concern tourists are aplenty in Kyiv. Hundreds of hotels to suit every budget and preference are in the near vicinity of main transport network of metro, railways, and roadways. Kyiv gives you no less than any other capital of Europe, rather more and being there in May would be doubly delightful with the added fun of enjoying the mega pan-European dance festival, “The Eurovision – 2017, Kyiv”.
A few useful and helpful websites:
eurovisionworld.com
1tv.com.ua/eurovision
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ggem1JBNc0w
mincult.kmu.gov.ua/control/uk
eurovision.tv
7chudes.in.ua
The Facebook page of Eurovision 2017
www.facebook.com/eurovision2017kyiv
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Ліля Колісник
