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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
This duo rehearsed between air raid alarms. Now they're repping Ukraine at Eurovision
Musicians from more than two dozen countries will compete in the grand final of the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool on Saturday, vying2 for the ultimate title in front of millions of TV viewers worldwide.
There's a special spotlight3 shining on Ukraine, whose folk-rap group Kalush Orchestra won last year's competition with its patriotic4 song "Stefania" less than three months after Russia's full-scale invasion.
It's customary for the winning country to host the following year's contest, a famously elaborate production involving thousands of workers and 12 months of preparation. But the U.K., which placed second, stepped in after a panel of experts ruled that the security and logistical questions posed by Russia's ongoing5 war made it too risky6 for Ukraine to do so.
This year the country will be represented by the electronic music duo Tvorchi, which consists of Ukrainian producer Andrii Hutsuliak and Nigerian-born vocalist and songwriter Jimoh Augustus Kehinde, who goes by Jeffrey Kenny.
The two met as university students in 2016 and have so far released four studio albums, in addition to headlining multiple Ukrainian music festivals, cinching a record-breaking number of Yuna Award nominations8 (Ukrainian national music awards) and even advancing to the finals of Ukraine's Eurovision national selection process in 2020.
They have spent most of the war performing in cities across Europe to raise money for Ukrainian soldiers and civilians9. They decided10 to enter Eurovision again with their song "Heart of Steel," which they had written about the Ukrainian fighters defending the besieged11 Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol in the spring of 2022.
"[We're] trying to say the Ukrainians will fight no matter what 'til the end, which is peace," Hutsuliak says. "So we just want to show they have hearts of steel. They don't have, like, brittle12 spirits. No, they're very strong, mind and body."
Hutsuliak and Kenny spoke13 with NPR over Zoom14 from Ternopil, a city in western Ukraine, in February — the week of the first anniversary of the war's outbreak — about their journey from late-night kitchen jam sessions to bomb shelter rehearsals16 to the global stage, and what they want to show the world.
It all started with a chance encounter on the street
Hutsuliak, 27, and Kenny, 25, had been studying at the same medical university and were both passionate17 about music. But they only met by chance — or what Hutsuliak calls fate.
"I was walking home and he tapped my shoulder and said, like, 'Hey, I want to improve my English skills,' " Kenny recalls.
Hutsuliak offered to help Kenny — who had been in the country for some three years at that point — with his Ukrainian as well. Looking back now, he stresses he wasn't in the habit of randomly18 approaching strangers.
"I did it once in my life and ... I will not do it [again], because I don't know what was in my head [at] the time," Hutsuliak says. "But I think that was a sign of destiny. Something pushed me forward and that's how our friendship started."
Months later, Kenny revealed his vocal7 prowess when he played "Happy Birthday" on the guitar for Hutsuliak's birthday.
"And wow, I was impressed so much," Hutsuliak says. "After some time we were in my kitchen, I [cooked] some pasta and I took my laptop, played some music that I made, and Jeffrey just started writing lyrics19, and that's how our first song was made."
The two kept making and performing music under the name Tvorchi, which was suggested by a friend and means "creative" in Ukrainian. They released their first album, The Parts, in 2018, followed by Disco Lights in 2019, 13 Waves in 2020 and Road in 2021.
That year they won three Yuna awards, including for band and album of the year, and debuted20 Road at a massive concert at the Kyiv Velotrek (a cycling track) that critics called "the best solo show of the year in Ukraine."
"We were having a lot of performances all around the country and outside the country, going on different ceremonies, releasing new music, shooting music videos," Hutsuliak says. "That was like, a life of artists."
Then, in February 2022, Russia invaded.
They're using their rising stardom to support the war effort
The start of the war came as a shock and a call to action, Hutsuliak says.
He and Kenny spent the first few weeks buying things like medicine, food and camouflage21 nets for soldiers and people in the hardest-hit regions. But they soon focused their efforts elsewhere.
"In our situation, we wanted to help how best we could with what we knew how to do best," Kenny says. "And we know how to make music best. So we decided to go around making charity performances to raise money."
Tvorchi has been performing around the world — in cities including London, Lisbon, Hamburg, Berlin and Budapest — to raise money for Ukraine's military and children affected22 by the war. They also perform for Ukrainian soldiers, doctors and refugees, which they call a big honor and responsibility.
They've performed on truck beds and at military camps, swapping23 hats and trinkets with the soldiers there. Hutsuliak says they recently bought a car for some of them.
The war has made Ukraine stronger and more united, they say, since everyone has come together in the pursuit of victory.
"We got to show who we are as people and who other people are ... in the way they tried to help when this whole situation started," Kenny says. "It made us understand how to channel energy into doing something positive in a negative situation as well."
A bomb-shelter performance paved their way to Liverpool
Kenny says the two decided to apply for Eurovision at the very last minute — "We just went for it and we didn't even expect to win."
They hadn't written any songs specifically for the competition, but chose "Heart of Steel" because of the deep emotions they put into it and the message they wanted the world to hear.
They wrote it while watching the siege of the steel plant in Mariupol — which became a symbol of the Ukrainian resistance — unfold last spring.
"We were inspired from those videos because we couldn't imagine how hard it was over there," Hutsuliak says. "But when we saw those videos, we only felt strength, confidence, and we saw those unbreakable ... people."
The duo shifted into rehearsal15 mode ahead of the national selection competition in December, practicing and refining the song, figuring out their outfits24 and choreography and working with a team on the technical aspects — all between near-daily air raid alarms.
"It was pretty hard because you don't know which minute you can be hit by a missile, because air alarms are every day," Hutsuliak says. "So our life was like, we were walking from one shelter to another shelter and trying to make our schedule work."
The selection show was held at a Kyiv metro25 station-turned-bomb shelter, with 10 acts performing deep underground on a small platform between train tracks.
Kenny sang onstage wearing sunglasses and a gold hazmat suit, flanked by dancers wearing gas masks and in front of a screen with flashing red lights and spinning nuclear symbols. The duo describe the production as an acoustic26 and logistical challenge and credit their team with making it all work.
"It was crazy," Kenny recalls. "The trains were moving at the time. It was really cold and a lot of us got sick as well ... Everybody did a great job and everything went nicely ... when I went back to watch it, I wouldn't know it was a metro station if not for the trains."
The jury and the Ukrainian public chose Tvorchi to represent them at Eurovision. As the previous year's winner, Ukraine automatically qualified27 for the grand final (alongside the so-called "Big Five" countries of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K.).
While Ukraine had hoped to host this year's competition, Hutsuliak and Kenny say they are grateful to the U.K. for stepping in for safety purposes and are optimistic they will do a good job in "making it feel like Ukraine."
Their music showcases a different side of Ukraine
A Tvorchi Eurovision victory would be the fourth for Ukraine, which also won in 2004 and 2016. Previous acts have incorporated folk music into their performances, and Hutsuliak is excited to showcase a side of Ukraine that he doesn't think many people would expect: electronic music.
"Ukraine is ... a nice country with a lot of different people who make different music," he says, listing genres28 including hip-hop, rap, folk, pop and electronic. His own musical influences range from Mozart to Skrillex, while Kenny cites Afrobeats and mainstream29 pop.
There's another message they want to send with their music.
"We want to say, world, that we don't want to be pitied," Hutsuliak says. "We want you to look at us, get inspired from us, be united like we are, and help us in this fight."
They hope viewers around the world will continue to support Ukraine financially, by donating to the foundations that raise money for its military and civilians and to United24, a government-run fundraising platform.
Ukraine is widely expected to launch a counteroffensive this spring in which it would use the money and weapons donated by its Western allies to try to drive Russian forces out of occupied land. Some 14 months into the war, the artists — whose families are not in Ukraine — say things are still tense.
"Everybody has been able to put their feet on the ground somewhere, somehow, where they feel most comfortable or where they can operate best," Kenny says. "The tension is still there because ... [Russia] still can send missiles at any time."
Kenny wasn't intending to stay in Ukraine when he moved there to study in 2013, but as the duo's partnership30 and career took off he decided to "continue the good thing we had going." He doesn't regret the decision to stay, nor does he plan to move anywhere else.
He calls Ukraine a place of unity31 and diversity — before the war people would come from different countries to study and work, now others are showing up to join the fight.
"Ukraine is a place where you can come together and still be a family, regardless of where you are from," he says. "And that's why Ukraine is as brave as they are today because, without unity, there's not much you can do by yourself."
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| n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书 | |
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vying
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| adj.竞争的；比赛的 | |
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spotlight
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| n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目 | |
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patriotic
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| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
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ongoing
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| adj.进行中的，前进的 | |
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risky
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| adj.有风险的，冒险的 | |
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vocal
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| adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目 | |
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nominations
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| n.提名，任命( nomination的名词复数 ) | |
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civilians
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| 平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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besieged
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| 包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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brittle
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| adj.易碎的；脆弱的；冷淡的；(声音)尖利的 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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zoom
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| n.急速上升；v.突然扩大，急速上升 | |
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rehearsal
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| n.排练，排演；练习 | |
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rehearsals
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| n.练习( rehearsal的名词复数 )；排练；复述；重复 | |
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passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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randomly
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| adv.随便地，未加计划地 | |
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lyrics
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debuted
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| 初次表演，初次登台（debut的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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camouflage
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| n./v.掩饰，伪装 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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swapping
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| 交换，交换技术 | |
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outfits
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| n.全套装备( outfit的名词复数 )；一套服装；集体；组织v.装备，配置设备，供给服装( outfit的第三人称单数 ) | |
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metro
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acoustic
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| adj.听觉的，声音的；(乐器)原声的 | |
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qualified
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| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
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genres
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| （文学、艺术等的）类型，体裁，风格( genre的名词复数 ) | |
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mainstream
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| n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的 | |
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partnership
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| n.合作关系，伙伴关系 | |
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unity
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| n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调 | |
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