You're reading: YUNA awards broadcast at 10:30 p.m. March 17 on Inter TV

The second annual YUNA awards, honoring the nation's top musicians, were broadcast Sunday, March 17, starting at 10:30 p.m. on Inter TV.

The second annual YUNA awards, honoring the nation’s top musicians, were broadcast Sunday, March 17, starting at 10:30 p.m. on Inter TV.

The Yearly Ukrainian National Awards celebrate the best figures in music chosen by a jury of 100 experts in the music field. The two-hour event took place in Palats Ukraina on March 15 to a packed auditorium. International auditing firm Deloitte certified the honesty of the vote.

Winners were chosen in these categories, open to Ukrainian performers, composers, writers and directors in the following categories:

Ivan Dorn, best male performer;

Ivan Dorn performs the show’s opening number.

Yolka, best female performer;

Alyosha and Vlad Darwin, “The Meaning of Life,” best duo;

Boombox, best group;

Ivan Dorn, “Co’n’dorn,” best album;

Yolka, “Okolo Tebya,” best song;

Yolka wins for best female performer and best song, “Okolo Tebya.”

Konstantin Meladze, best composer;

Andriy Khlivnyuk, best writer;

Valery Bebko, for the group The Hard Kiss, “Make Up,” best video;

Valery Bebko wins best video as YUNA founder and Kyiv Post publisher Mohammad Zahoor looks on.

“The Hard Kiss,” discovery of the year; and

 

The Hard Kiss performs.

Verka Serduchka, special achievements in music.

Verka Serduchka, honored for the special achievements in music, performs the finale of the evening.

YUNA included performances by Loboda, Timur Rodriguez, Ivan Dorn, Boombox, Skryabin, The Hardkiss, Kamaliya, Max Barsky, Anastasia Petrik, Zlata Ohnevych, Alloise, Natalia Gordienko, Verka Serduchka and others. Potap served as master of ceremonies and Pavlo Shylko as executive producer.

Mohammad Zahoor and his wife, Kamaliya. Zahoor is the owner of ISTIL Group, which includes the Kyiv Post.

Mohammad Zahoor, the ISTIL Group owner and Kyiv Post publisher who started the event, thinks that this year’s version was better than the first one last year.

“The reaction of the audience was very positive and everybody said the same: that it was much better than the last one,” Zahoor said. “Besides the show, which was produced very professionally and by that I mean light, sound, decoration, selection of songs, choreography, script, etc., it was also the artists who brilliantly performed.” He called Potap “marvelous” as emcee.

“The dynamism of the show was another quality — two hours were gone like 60 seconds. Everybody wanted more and I sincerely hope that this sense of little hunger will bring them back next year and we will do our best to do even better next year,” Zahoor said. “Last but not the least, the artists are now getting the message loud and clear that this is not yet another Ukrainian award which they could just buy with money, kind, connections or influence. For this, they have to work hard to win the appreciation of around 100 jury members and that they now feel confident that Deloitte will not allow to do any mishandling in the counting of the votes. We also think that success of these two shows will give confidence to potential sponsors, too, and we can make show even bigger by inviting some international and Russian acts.”

Kamaliya performs her hit single “Butterflies.”

Kyiv Post chief editor Brian Bonner can be reached at [email protected].