From the BBC:
Ukraine has announced it will not be taking part in next year's Eurovision Song Contest due to limited finances.Oh dear. We'll just have to do without such musical campness as these Ukrainian gems...
"We don't want to do something badly, and we don't have the money to do something well," said Zurab Alasania, of the state broadcaster NTU.
Mr Alasania said the broadcaster had to "optimise" its funds given the unstable financial and political situation caused by the conflict in east Ukraine.
Ruslana - Wild Dances (which won Eurovision in 2004):
Last year's entry Mariya Yaremchuk (notable mainly, if not solely, for the presence of the hunky man in the hamster wheel):
The country's foremost
...and of course, the irrepressible Verka Serduchka with the wonderful Dancing Lasha Tumbai* (which came second in 2007):
There has been no such statement from the aggressors in Russia, unfortunately.
*Incidentally, according to Wikipedia: There have been allegations that the words [Lasha Tumbai] were chosen due to their phonetic resemblance to "Russia Goodbye".
And yet, we can't watch this in the U.S. I don't understand why, in a country with eleventy bazillion cable channels, I can't watch Eurovision. Every time I see these scraps of insanity on someone's blog, I feel deprived.
ReplyDeleteShocking, really - even in distant Australia, it is massive! Jx
DeleteWhat a shame. They are always such fun.
ReplyDeleteI shall miss them next year.
The Scots are particularly sad they can't enter their own contestant this year, too... Jx
DeleteI was sad to hear this - Ukraine has often been in my top 5 (obviously, with acts like Verka and my beloved Lady Loboda!). Hopefully they will return next year...
ReplyDeleteHopefully there may be some peace in the region by next year.
DeleteHowever, with Putin in charge in Russia - and the lunatics running Crimea - I doubt it... Jx