Ukrainian band Go_A definitely made some noise when they released “SHUM” back in January. But in order to comply with the Eurovision rules, the song had to be reworked slightly. In a video premiere on the channel UA:Pershyi, the group has now revealed the revamped version of “SHUM” and its music video.
The music video dropped at 18:00 CET and was shot by Maksym Tuzhylin, who won from a tender of ten participants with video ideas.
Why did Go_A need to revamp “SHUM”?
“SHUM” borrows heavily from existing Ukrainian folklore. In fact, the song is a re-arrangement of different versions of the traditional Ukrainian folk song “A v nashoho shuma”. Eurovision.tv reported that the song needed reworking to fit the contest’s requirements. Besides the extensive borrowing of folklore, the song was one minute too long in its original form. The current Eurovision rules do not state anything explicitly about the use of pre-existing folklore. They do state, however, that broadcasters must inform the Reference Group if the melody or lyrics were published before 1 September.
In its new version, Go_A have reworked the lyrics significantly as well as the melody. A totally new lyrical piece has appeared talking about the celebration of a “vesnyanka”, a traditional Ukrainian Spring ritual.
The song does however stay in Ukrainian.
The music video is stunning, recreating some of the elements from the original music video and this time showcasing a bird’s eye view of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, which closed down due to a nuclear accident in 1986 and due to radiation the plant now has an extensive exclusion zone.
Ukraine first made their debut at Eurovision in 2003. They went on to win the contest the following year with ‘Wild Dances’ by Ruslana. Ukraine won a second time in 2016 beating Dami Im’s ‘Sound of Silence’ when Jamala took out the trophy with ‘1944’. Ukraine have successfully qualified for every Eurovision final in every year they have competed, a track record they share with Australia.
Go_A will perform ‘SHUM’ in the second half of the first semi final along with Australia.
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