The Kazka musical group, which ranked third in the national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019, has refused to further participate in the contest.
“We would like and would consider it an honor to represent Ukraine at Eurovision. We invested a lot of effort, energy, and time in this desire. We took part in the national selection for this purpose. But we don’t need a victory at any cost. Our mission is to unite people with our music, but not to sow discord. Therefore, we do have a clear answer to the PJSC National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (UA:PBC) proposal: we will not go to Eurovision in 2019,” the group said on its Instagram account on Feb. 27.
“We are ready to represent Ukraine at the competition next year if we are chosen. In the meantime, we move ahead and wait for all of you at our concerts,” the group said.
As it is known, the fourth and fifth places in the national selection were taken by Brunettes Shoot Blondes and Yuko, respectively.
As reported, Maruv won the national selection of Eurovision 2019 on February 23.
It became known from the media that MARUV had scheduled several concerts in the Russian Federation.
After that, a member of the UA:PBC board Oleksandra Koltsova said that the UA:PBC would hold the coordination of the representative of Ukraine at Eurovision 2019 within 48 hours, and the singer was given the contract for familiarization.
On February 25, Maruv said she was ready to cancel her tours in Russia, but she was confused by the other provisions of the agreement offered by UA:PBC. They include the prohibition of any improvisation on the stage without UA:PBC’s approval, the immediate transfer of copyrights to the song belonging to the world label Warner Music, the precise fulfillment of any requirements and instructions of UA:PBC, the ban on communication with journalists without UA:PBC’s consent. According to her, in case of violation of one of the points, a penalty worth Hr 2 million is envisaged and compensation for losses is still an indefinite amount.
On February 25, it became known that PJSC National Public Television and Radio Company of Ukraine (UA:PBC) and the singer MARUV had not found a common solution and had not signed an agreement on the participation of the singer in this competition.
On February 26, the Freedom-jazz girls band, which took the second place in the national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019, announced that it had refused to further participate in the competition.
On the same day, the supervisory board of National Public Television and Radio Company of Ukraine called upon the UA: PBC leadership to make public a complete and transparent set of rules for conducting a national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest and contract terms for the winner.
