KIEV, Ukraine — The scene in this country’s capital was celebratory: Television crews filmed musicians as they released balloons with countries’ flags attached, the city’s onion domes visible in the distance. Up a hill, pop celebrities walked a red carpet more than two football fields long in front of bemused onlookers.
In some ways, the May 7 opening ceremony for Eurovision 2017 marked Ukraine’s place in the international spotlight after three years of political upheaval and a simmering armed conflict in the East. Hosting the annual singing competition, which begins on May 9, should be a way to build up the country’s credentials as it looks to strengthen ties with the European Union.
But the preparations also have been accompanied by a fair dose of anxiety. The happiness of last year, when singer Jamala won the competition and secured Ukraine hosting rights for this year, soon gave way to anxiety over the costly obligation of hosting this year’s Eurovision.
With a strained economy, the cost of staging a contest that will consume $33 million from the national and city budget is steep. Allegations of bureaucratic mismanagement of the event and the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and neighboring Russia have added to a tense buildup to the event.
Inside the sprawling exhibition center, however, event organizers remain upbeat. “It’s entertainment. It’s that simple,” says Jon Ola Sand, one of the contest’s executive producers. “There’s nothing political in what we do.”
For audiences unfamiliar with the gaudy trappings of Eurovision: it is a giant annual song contest in which more than 40 countries compete against one another for the winning title. Members of the European Broadcasting Union founded the contest in the 1950s in the aftermath of World War II as a way to build unity through cultural exchange.
The contest has since morphed into a multi-day event and counts among its contestants Israel and Australia. With its gaudy aesthetic and liberal use of LEDs, Eurovision now boasts a sizable global audience. In 2015, for example, The New York Times reported that number of viewers for the 2015 finals was nearly twice that of the average Super Bowl audience. Notable winners of years past include ABBA and Céline Dion.
Past contests have come with price tags ranging from around $32 million (Malmo, Sweden, 2013) to an opulent $64 million (Baku, Azerbaijan, 2012). Norway’s state broadcaster famously had to sell broadcasting rights for the World Cup after shelling out $37 million in 2010.
Ukraine hosted Eurovision for the first time in 2005 despite threats from the European Broadcasting Union that the contest would be moved because of significant planning delays. For this year’s event, Ukraine’s government initially took an unusually long time deciding which city would host the competition, drawing out the decision for five months before deciding on Kiev, the only city in the country that has multiple civilian airports and hotel capacity for guests.
During planning for this year, the director general of Ukraine’s state broadcaster, the UA:PBC, quietly resigned, citing problems with Eurovision budgeting as the primary reason for his departure. Cost estimates for Eurovision ballooned from original estimates of $17 million to nearly $32 million. The finance ministry proposed redirecting most of the UA:PBC’s annual $33 million budget to cover the new $32 million price tag. Tellingly, the director general will return to UA:PBC as the public broadcasting supervisory board head at the end of May, after the song contest has ended.
Adding to the disorder, 21 top producers from the UA:PBC resigned in February of this year, issuing a letter saying the “work of their team was completely blocked.”
Soured relations between Russia and Ukraine also have figured prominently into the contest. The two countries have been at odds since Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and then fueled the conflict in eastern Ukraine with fighters and supplies. Many Ukrainians were euphoric last year over Jamala’s victory, and reaction that quickly spilled over to the internet reflected a political and military dimension. “It’s our win!!,” some wrote on Facebook in all caps, while others offered “We needed this more than the other [countries].”
Russia was particularly incensed by Ukraine’s winning song last year, a ballad about Crimean Tatars being deported from their homeland under the orders of Soviet ruler Josef Stalin, which Russia says violated the contest’s usual ban on political subject matters.
“They come to your house/ They kill you all and say ‘We’re not guilty’,” sang Jamala, in what could also be interpreted as commentary on Russia’s annexation of Crimea and subsequent accusations of human rights abuses against Tatars in the peninsula. Ukraine’s entry this year is a decidedly apolitical choice: the pop group O.Torvald will sing ” Time,” with lyrics that verge on incoherency.
For this year’s contest, Ukraine’s government banned Russia’s contestant, Yulia Samoylov, saying she had performed in Crimea in 2015 without getting permission from Kiev to enter the peninsula. The EBU, which is ultimately in charge of the contest, issued a sharp rebuke to Ukraine, saying the ban would have a “very big negative impact on Ukraine’s international reputation as a modern, democratic European nation.” The UA:PBC sent a rebuttal to the EBU, requesting the organization respect Ukrainian sovereignty.
In what is perhaps a final act of defiance before the contest gets started, Ukraine released a Eurovision promotional video showing a young, red-haired girl bouncing from various locations around Ukraine. As she intoned “We won’t give up. We won’t give in,” the scene cuts to the Black Sea coast, a view of Crimea’s iconic Swallow’s Nest castle in the background.
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