UKRAINE

GO_A – ‘Shum’

Traditional Slavic folk has, in various forms, had a chequered history in Eurovision with the novelty value of Buranovskiye Babushki – ‘Party For Everybody’  perhaps helping it to become the best remembered and most successful entry that borrowed from this genre.

Others like Tulia in 2019 who employed a more faithful version of the traditional ‘white voice’ singing method however, fared less well.

So to 2021 and after virtually a full rewrite, necessitated by the fact that large chunks of both the original melody and lyrics were directly drawn from a traditional Ukrainian folk song, the competition version of GO_A’s ‘shum’ is now with us.

For fans who have had the original 4 minute plus version on repeat play since its release, the change of lyrics takes some getting used to, but they will be relieved that the band have managed to keep the  structure of the song largely unchanged  (Including the expanded instrumental break) and manage to trim it down to the required 3 minutes without doing any serious damage.

As with Tulia in 2019, this will divide opinion, some will love it and other will dismiss it as ‘noise’ (pun intended) but for those like me in the former camp, ‘Shum’ is exactly what I want from a Eurovision entry and delivers on so many levels with its fusion of traditional and contemporary that anything but a finish  towards the top of the  left hand side of the leader board in May will be a major injustice..

OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO