You're reading: Jamala dedicates EuroVision entry to persecution of Crimean Tatars

Ukrainian jazz singer Jamala set many hearts racing on Feb. 6 when she performed a song that could be Ukraine’s entry at the Eurovision Song Contest in May.

Jamala’s song, entitled “1944,” is dedicated to the forced deportation of the Crimean Tatars from their homes in Crimea in 1944 by the Soviet authorities.

The emotional performance reflected Jamala’s personal tragedy.

Susanna Jamaladinova, 32, who goes by the stage name Jamala, is from a Crimean Tatar family that returned to Crimea after the deportation.

On May 18, 1944, her ancestors suffered forced deportation to Central Asia, along with more than 230,000 other Crimean Tatars.

Nearly 100,000 of the deported Tatars died from starvation and disease on the journey and while in exile. Crimean Tatars only started to return to Crimea with the beginning of perestroika (the Soviet Union’s last-gasp attempt at reform) in the late 1980s.

Jamala wrote “1944” in 2015. She was inspired by the stories told by her great-grandmother, who lost one of her daughters during the forced deportation.

“This song is very close to many people in different countries around the world,” Jamala wrote on her Facebook page on Feb. 5. “Lots of people have gone through personal tragedies – repression, deportation and genocide. Unfortunately, people still have not learned about peaceful coexistence and tolerance.”

Her performance produced a storm of applause among the audience and the jury in the studio of Pershiy TV channel on Feb. 6. Ruslana, a jury member and a former Eurovision Song Contest winner in 2004, was in tears as she listened to the song.

“Through music you let us feel the pain of losing Crimea. Today I cried with you,” Ruslana said, referring to Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula in March of 2014.

Some 160,000 Ukrainians voted for Jamala via text message in the first semifinal of the national selection. She also received nine out of nine possible points from the jury and became the headliner of the first semifinal.

“This is a very personal song for me, and I’d really like as many people as possible in our country and abroad to hear its message,” Jamala said on Facebook.

Apart from Jamala, pop rock band The Hardkiss and indie rock band Brunettes Shoot Blonds also made it to the final of the national selection contest.

The final will take place on Feb. 21. The winner will represent Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm on May 10.

Before that, the second semifinal of the national selection will take place on Feb. 13 and will feature SunSay, Pur:Pur, Peaks of Kings, Pringlez, Victoria Petryk, Arkadiy Voytyuk, Alloise, NeAngely, and Japanda.

This is Jamala’s second attempt to win the honor of representing Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest, the annual TV song competition held since 1956. In 2011, she took part in the national selection performing “Smile,” a cheerful pop hit. The song was very popular among the audience and Jamala made it to the final of the national selection, but then lost out to pop-singer Mika Newton after a controversy over the tallying of votes.

Newton came fourth in the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest with her song “Angel.”