One "Solovey", two "SHUM"...
One band member to tell me all about it...
Go_A are the focus of this week's show!
This might end up being the only artist interview in the 2021 season but it is a biggie - Go_A are the band in question and I got to chat with Taras, the keyboard player and sound engineer, about all things to do with 'SHUM', 'Solovey', their preparation for Eurovision plus lots of other facts. Best thing I can suggest you do is have a listen - hour 1 is just about the band from Ukraine, hour 2 is back to my usual linking the news to music and continuing the mini-series for those artists who should have been at 2020 but missed out on this year's Contest:
The playlist is a bit shorter but still gives you the knowledge about what was on the show...
"SHUM" (Eurovision version) - Go_A
Interview with Taras of Go_A (part 1)
"Solovey" - Go_A
Interview with Taras of Go_A (part 2)
"SHUM" - Go_A
"Idy na zvuk" - Go_A
"Discoteque" - THE ROOP
"Arcade" (Acoustic version) - Duncan Laurence
"Snurra min jord" - Krista Siegfrids
"Roi" - Bilal Hassani
"Je vais me marier Marie" - Patrick Juvet
"Making Your Mind Up" - Bucks Fizz
"Violent Thing" - Ben Dolic ft B-OK
"Divlji vjetre" - Damir Kedžo
"Medo de sentir" - Elisa
"Looking Back" - Aksel Kankaanranta
"Fai rumore" - Diodato
"Let Me Be The One" - The Shadows
So what did we find out about Go_A and their plans for Rotterdam?
- The Live-To-Tape went well, with the band treating it like a rehearsal for Rotterdam;
- 'SHUM' wasn't prepared for Eurovision at all but for their concerts, so they had a techno track for their fans to dance to. Their fans pushed for the song to be one of the three considered by the Ukrainian Jury;
- The original four minute version of the song is 'episode 1', the Eurovision version is 'episode 2';
- You can't translate the word SHUM, it is the name of a forest spirit!
- The first video of SHUM was a celebration of Spring awakening, the second was acknowledging that Spring had arrived and that it was time to look at the environmental issues of the world;
- Everyone looks at the vehicle in the video and says "Mad Max"! Kateryna was dressed and performed like Trinity from 'The Matrix';
- Singing in Ukrainian is massively important as that nation's folklore is central to their songs - if sung in English, it would not be Go_A! They were only aware of Tulia from Poland after "Solovey" was revealed and there is a difference in sound and emphasis due to Tulia basing their material on Polish folklore;
- Their fans want them to do "Dancing Lasha Tumbai" live but there are copyright issues at the moment;
- The audience are the '5th member' of Go_A and they are hoping that there will be some fans in the Ahoy in May;
- Kateryna loves Gjon's Tears, they all love the deadpan delivery of Daði Freyr and Taras particularly likes THE ROOP's "Discoteque" over "On Fire";
- They hope that their headline concert on April 17th can go ahead and Taras is so looking forward to seeing the crowds again;
- They hope to release an EP or album in the summer with all their new material written over 2020 and 2021;
- The staging in Rotterdam will be 'more mystical than the two videos of SHUM combined';
- They still see themselves as a 'DIY band'!
It was a really interesting chat with Taras and you know that it is all good stuff when you have to do little in the way of editing! The major point raised that I had no clue about was that Kateryna had sung a cover of The Cranberries "Zombie" for a song competition within McDonalds Ukraine, where she worked in the past. As Taras thought, it was still on YouTube:
Dolores O'Riordan had such a distinctive voice that it would be difficult for anyone to cover it but this is a superb version by Kateryna, so thank you for Taras for mentioning that it was out there! I had already talked about 'SHUM' version one when it was announced as their Eurovision entry back in show 130 and you can read about that here - now would be a good time to talk about 'episode 2' that will be the one heard in May:
Now you can see where the 'Mad Max' and 'Trinity' references came from - the footage is superbly shot and it is one of the best official videos we have seen this season. You still have the hazmat suit idea running on from Episode 1, but they are discarded during the techno phase of the track. I am assuming that we had use of a drone to get the shots of Chernobyl and the 'birds eye' view of the vehicle driving through the forest - a visual spectacle plus an audible one, with Kateryna providing that message of hope through the folklore she continually studies:
Vesnianochka, vesnianochka,
De ty zymuvala?
U sadochku na klenochku
Sorochechku priala
Tam u lisi na yuzlisi
Sova v vodu duye
Zaspivayu spivanochku
Nehay vona chuye.
Zapletysia, shume, barvinochkom,
Ya tobi spivayu vesnianochku
Siyu, siyu, siyu, siyu konopelechky
Siyu, siyu, siyu, siyu zelenesenki
Pryidy, pryidy, vesnianochko
Ta y ne zabarysia
A my vyidem na yulytsiu
Budem lyubytysia
Vesnianochko, panianochko
Zahlian u vikontse
Zaspivaly spivanochku
Zasvitylo sontse
Numo, numo zapletemo shuma
Zapletemo, huliaty pidemo
Siyu, siyu, siyu, siyu konopelechky
Siyu, siyu, siyu, siyu zelenesenki
Zapletysia, shume, zapletysia
Barvinochkom, shume, zastelysia
Siyu, siyu, siyu, siyu konopelechky
Siyu, siyu, siyu, siyu zelenesenki
Vesnianochka, vesnianochka
De ty zymuvala?
U sadochku na klenochku
Sorochechku priala
Oy u lisi na yuzlisi
Sova v vodu duye
Zaspivayu spivanochku
Nehay vona chuye.
Zapletysia, shume, barvinochkom,
Ya tobi spivayu vesnianochku
Siyu, siyu, siyu, siyu konopelechky
Siyu, siyu, siyu, siyu zelenesenki
Numo, numo narobyly shuma,
Narobyly, vesnu rozbudyly,
Siyu, siyu, siyu, siyu konopelechky
Siyu, siyu, siyu, siyu zelenesenki.
Oh Spring song, Spring song
Where have you spent your Winter?
In the garden, sitting on a maple tree
You’ve been spinning a shirt.
There on the edge of a forest
An owl is blowing into the water.
I’ll sing a song -
Let her hear it.
Shum, get twined with periwinkle
I’m singing the spring song to you.
Sowing, sowing, sowing, sowing hemp plants,
Sowing, sowing, sowing, sowing green ones.
Come Spring, come
Don’t wait around
We’ll go outside
to love each other.
Oh Spring, our Miss,
Look in our window.
We had sang our song
And the Sun shined on.
Come on, come on, let’s twine the Shum,
Twine the Shum, dance it around.
Sowing, sowing, sowing, sowing hemp plants,
Sowing, sowing, sowing, sowing green ones.
Shum, get twined, get twined!
Shum, get spread with periwinkle.
Sowing, sowing, sowing, sowing hemp plants,
Sowing, sowing, sowing, sowing green ones.
Oh Spring song, Spring song
Where have you spent your Winter?
In the garden, sitting on a maple tree
You’ve been spinning a shirt.
There on the edge of a forest
An owl is blowing into the water.
I’ll sing a song -
Let her hear it.
Shum, get twined with periwinkle
I’m singing the spring song to you.
Sowing, sowing, sowing, sowing hemp plants,
Sowing, sowing, sowing, sowing green ones.
Come on, come on, we’ve made some noise.
Made some noise and awoke the Spring.
Sowing, sowing, sowing, sowing hemp plants,
Sowing, sowing, sowing, sowing green ones.
What Taras said in the interview made total sense - there was no real way of removing one minute out of the original version without totally destroying its rhythm and message, so having a second version, specifically written for Eurovision, was the only viable solution. The music is as contemporary and of the moment as you can get - I am sure that the instrumental would not be out of place in any DJ's set and would set a trance event alight. Kateryna is the element of this song that adds to the Contest factor - White Voice singing is not to everyone's taste, as I said as much last year with "Solovey", but it will be judged positively by jurors for the originality and composition, for her vocal prowess and for how it sounds overall. The public will either love or hate the thumping electro-beats, the wind instrument playing throughout and Kateryna's voice as a whole - a good thing for Eurovision, as merely liking a song does not lead to votes, as we all know! As I said in the chat, I love both versions and even though they are different songs effectively, my SECHUK Jury rating and position did not change:
Vocal Capability 4.5/5
Stage Performance 3.0/5
Composition / Originality 4.5/5
Overall Impression 4.0/5
Score 16.0/20 (8.0)
How did I have a stage performance score, I hear you ask? It is because there has been a live gig video on YouTube for the past few weeks and that allowed me to get a sense of what this might sound like on the Ahoy stage:
To be honest, I know what Go_A sound like live, as they won Vidbir 2020 in that way - this is a set filmed on someone's phone and the sound conditions aren't ideal, so that is why the stage performance scores are a little low. It is still a great live gig and I expect that the Eurovision performance will be even better - Ukraine's entry is currently my #15 from 2021 and I would be confident that Go_A will easily qualify for the Final.
I said it in the interview but I want to say it again - a big thank you to Paul and Oksana from the Ukrainian delegation's PR team for starting the process and getting an interview secured with Go_A, and of course thanks to Taras who came online and chatted with me last Thursday evening. Hopefully it was a good experience for him too, seeing that we are now in 'interview season' in the run up to Rotterdam! One last thing that I wanted to put here is the band's social media, as before the interview I found it difficult to find on some formats - the PR team supplied the links, along with the excellent pictures you can see here:
Facebook - @GoAbandoriginal
Instagram - @go_a_band
Spotify - Go_A
Twitter - @_Go_A_
The interview plus the four tracks by Go_A ('SHUM' (episodes 1 & 2), 'Solovey' and 'Idy na zvuk') took up all of the first hour this week - the second hour included the original of Senhit's #freakytriptorotterdam, 2019's French entry "Roi"by Bilal Hassani. The Senhit video was as extravagant and opulent as ever:
A wonderful tenth step to her journey - will we get one more at the start of May? Fingers crossed! The other thing that I said that I would post here for completeness is the running order of both SFs in May, just because they came out on the day of last week's show, issued by the EBU:
Make sure you keep listening to LET ME BE THE ONE!