On an icy evening in late February, several hundred Ukrainians, including at least one man in a full-body yeti costume, packed into an auditorium in western Kyiv and began to work themselves into a full-on frenzy. Both of Ukraine’s major TV networks were on hand broadcasting live to millions across the country. In a land long subdued by war and corruption, this was an occasion for unbridled nationalism: a contest to choose Ukraine’s entry in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest, a continentwide pageant of middlebrow pop music and geopolitical posturing unlike any other tournament in the world.
Eurovision 2021
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Thomas Rogers: Eurovision serenades a continent in crisis
A volunteer paints a Eurovision logo on a boy's hand in the Eurovision Village on Khreshchatyk street on May 8.
