UA:PBC, the Ukrainian national broadcaster, has revealed the 16 artists that will take part in Vidbir 2019.
The participants of Vidbir 2019 are:
- Kazka
- Brunettes Shoot Blondes
- Ivan Navi
- Letay
- The Hypnotunez
- Freedom Jazz
- Braii
- Vera Kekelia
- Tayanna
- Bahroma
- Laud
- Yuko
- Anna Maria
- Kira Mazur
- Khayat
- TseSho
Kazka, Tayanna and Laud all participated in Vidbir last year. Letay participated in the 2017 edition while Brunettes Shoot Blondes participated in the 2016 edition.
The jury panel, which is unchanged from 2018, will feature:
- Jamala – Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016
- Andriy Danylko – Comedian and performer behind Verka Serduchka
- Yevhen Filatov (Eugene Filatov) – Music producer
The Semi-Finals are set to take place at the Palace of Culture on 9th and 16th of February 2019, with the final taking place on February 23rd. Ruslan Kvinta remains as the Producer of the show, while Sergey Pritula will host the competition.
In previous editions of Vidbir, the final featured six budding artists vying for the chance to represent their country at the Eurovision Song Contest. Since its introduction, the show has also featured intervals from contestants that had already been chosen that year. For example, last year Madame Monsieur from France and Mikolas Josef from the Czech Republic sang their Eurovision songs in the final.
Source: UA:PBC
Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest
Ukraine first participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2003, when Oleksandr Ponomariov performed “Hasta la vista”. The following year Ruslana brought the country their first win with the song “Wild Dances”. It was a feat that would be replicated in 2016 by Jamala with her song “1944”; her emotionally charged song scored a record 534 points to take victory in Stockholm. Last year O.Torvald represented the country on home soil with the song “Time”. The group finished in 24th place, Ukraine’s worst result at the contest to date.
