A hearty welcome goes out to all competitors and guests to Ternopil, Ukraine!
We are gathered here in Ukraine tonight due to the Ukrainian victory in FSC #126 with Antytila who performed "Hello".
This is the fourth time we come to Ukraine, and we wish you all a wonderful time in the land of blue skies over golden fields!
Our theme for this edition is 'Over the Sky' and focuses on air, the sky and flight. It is named after the famous song of Ukrainian band Okean Elzy "Вище неба" (Vyshche neba).
To embody this theme, we will have a look at the National Bird of Ukraine, the White Stork. Storks are migratory birds, and migrate annually between their summer breeding grounds in Europe, and spend the winter in the African savanna, from Uganda southwards to South Africa. This journey can take 25 to 50 days. Storks make use of thermal currents for uplift, and travel at heights of 1200 to 1500m above the gound. A single flock can stretch up to 20km. This proves that storks are truly the masters of the sky, and the embodiment of our theme "Over the sky".
The White Stork is considered to be the national bird of Ukraine. It is a symbol of parental love, family welfare and patriotism. As far as storks are believed to be a sacred bird, it`s nest, built on the roof of the house, brings fortune and happiness to its hosts.
There is one Ukrainian legend, according to which, the stork originated from a human, who had sinned against God and was turned into a bird.
In Ukraine children are told storks bring babies to their parents. According to the legend many years ago people believed that embryo`s souls were hidden in swamps and only storks were able to bring them to their upcoming parents.
Our host city for this, the 127th edition of the Forum Song Contest is Ternopil, Ukraine
Ternopil is a city in Western Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret river. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical regions of Galicia and Podolia. It has a population of 221 820 in 2019.
The city is the administrative center of Ternopil Oblast (region), as well as of the surrounding Ternopil Raion (district) within the oblast. However, Ternopil is a city of regional significance, thus being subject directly to the oblast authorities rather than to the raion administration which is housed in the city as well.
The city was founded in 1540 by Polish commander and Hetman Jan Amor Tarnowski, as a military stronghold and castle. Its Polish name "Tarnopol" means "Tarnowski's city" and stems from a combination of the founder's family name and the Greek term "polis"
In 1544 the Tarnopol Castle was completed and repelled the first Tatar attacks. On 20 January 1548, Tarnopol was granted legal rights by the King of Poland Sigismund I the Old which allowed the town to hold three fairs annually, and the weekly trades on Mondays. Tarnopol received Magdeburg city rights two years later from Jan Tarnowski, regulating the duties of town residents.
In the 17th century the town was burned down in the Khmelnytsky Uprising when most of its Jewish residents were chased out or killed. Tarnopol was almost completely destroyed by Turkish forces of Ibrahim Shishman Pasha in 1675 and rebuilt by Aleksander Koniecpolski but did not recover its previous glory until it passed to Marie Casimire, the wife of king John III Sobieski in 1690. The city was later sacked for the last time by Tatars in 1694, and twice by Russians in the course of the Great Northern War in 1710 and the War of the Polish Succession in 1733.
In 1772, after the First Partition of Poland, the city came under Austrian rule. In 1809, after the War of the Fifth Coalition, the city came under Russian rule, incorporated into the newly created Ternopol krai. In 1815 the city (then with 11,000 residents) returned to Austrian rule in accordance with the Congress of Vienna. In 1820 Jesuits expelled from Polatsk by the Russians established a gymnasium in Tarnopol. In 1843 the last city's owner Jerzy Michal of Turkul sold the city to its residents for 175,000 florins. In 1870 the Galician Railway of Archduke Charles Louis connected Tarnopol with Lemberg in Austria-Hungary, accelerating the city's growth. At that time Tarnopol had a population of about 25,000.
Following World War II, at the insistence of Joseph Stalin during Tehran Conference, Poland's borders were redrawn and Tarnopol (then again, Терно́поль) was incorporated into the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union. Polish population was resettled back to new Poland before the end of 1946.
Following the fall of the Soviet Union, Ternopil has become part of the independent Ukraine. Today, it is a major transport hub of Ukraine, where important roads and railroads cross.
The largest reservoir and landmark of the city is Ternopil Pond also called Ternopil Lake, created on the Seret River in 1951. The original pond was destroyed during the Second World War. It should be noted that this is a rather rare occurrence when a large pond is located in the center of the city.
Ternopil is the center of the region famous for its castles, waterfalls, caverns, and rivers. This is the starting point of rafting routes along the Dniester canyon, tours to Ternopil caverns, to Dzhurynskyi waterfall (the most powerful waterfall in Ukraine, 16 meters high).
The city also has several places of interest to tourists, like cathedrals (Church of the Nativity of Christ and Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary); museums (Museum for Political Prisoners, Ternopil Local History Museum and Museum Retro Cortege) and monuments (Monuments to Daniel of Galicia, Stepan Bandera, and also to the Plumber, the Invisible Man, and the Chair.)
Other points of interest include Ternopil Pond, surrounded by several parks, Ternopil Castle, and Taras Schevchenko Theater.
Close to the pond, in the downtown area, there are many quaint cobbled streets, lined with shops and restaurants, which are popular with locals, visitors and tourists alike.
The venue for FSC is at the Ternopil Airport, which is also the home of the famous Rock Festival "Faine Misto".
Faine Misto Festival - it's an international music festival, which is annually held near Ternopil. Faine Misto is one of the few Ukrainian festivals in which practically all modern directions of music cross. Rock, alternative, folk, pop and dance music on five stages of the festival are performed only by the best music performers and invited foreign artists who make up the musical part of the festival program.
Faine Misto Festival traditionally will take place under the slogan "Faine Misto" - the territory of free people ", because the main goal of organizers - to build a city in which each visitor for a few days can leave daily problems, feel the energy of freedom, crazy drive of life and make his or her rest unforgettable.
Please welcome our lovely hosts for the evening: Max Barskih and Alexandra Kucherenko will keep us informed and entertained, while Alekseev will see to the well-being of the contestants in the Green Room.
Max Barskih, also known by his alter ego of Mickolai, is a Ukrainian singer. He was born in 1990 in Kherson, and moved to Kyiv after his graduation. In 2008, Max Barskih made his debut in performing on the Ukrainian talent show "Fabrika Zirok 2" (Star Factory 2). In 2010, Max Barskih was nominated the best performer on the Ukrainian version of MTV Europe Music Awards. On 9 August 2011 Max Barskih was named "Singer of the Year" at the annual award ceremony of the "Crystal Microphone". In 2012, he entered the Eurovision Song Contest Auditions for Ukraine with the English version of his song 'Dance' but inevitably lost to Gaitana who represented Ukraine in Baku with her song 'Be My Guest'. Max was nominated in the category "Creative Person/Group of the Year" at RU.TV Awards, which took place on 29 September, but failed to win the award.
Alexandra Kucherenko was born in 1997 in Dnipro, Ukraine. In 2012, she graduated from a piano school of music. Three years later, she completed studies at the school of television presenters with a medal. In 2015, Kucherenko entered the Kiev National University. T. Shevchenko on the specialty "Announcer and host of television programs." In 2016, she won the Miss Ukraine contest. At this time Alexandra also met her future husband Dmitry Komarov. The 22-year-old beauty is fond of sports, dancing, loves to travel. She also devotes a lot of time to charity. Currently, she is a TV presenter of the Star Sports program on ICTV.
Nikita Alekseev, also known simply a Alekseev, born in 1993 in Kyiv, Ukraine, is a Ukrainian singer and songwriter. He first began his career in 2014 after placing as a semifinalist on season four of The Voice of Ukraine. He subsequently released the single "Pyanoye solntse", which went on to become a number-one hit throughout the CIS and kickstarted his music career. He represented Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Portugal with his song "Forever".
To kick off tonight's performances, please sit back and enjoy our opening act - here is "Holos Vody" performed by DakhaBrakha, ONUKA, The Maneken and Katya Chilly:
Without any further ado, here are the first half of tonight's performers:
With half of the performances already over, it is time to take a short break. Please enjoy our interval act - Braty Hadiukiny (The Viper Brothers) - "Karpaty lost a football game":
Let us now continue with the second half of tonight's acts:
To complete the evenings proceedings, let me introduce our closing act - Our current champions, Antytila, performing "Viryla":
Evaluation Period
We will now observe the 7-day Evaluation Period. If you suspect any entry may not comply with the FSC rules regarding eligibility, please contact a member of the Mod Team.
After the evaluation period has elapsed, the vote collector and procedure for voting will be announced.
Voting Deadline: 26 Sept 23:59 CET
Votes to JChan