Fresh from her victory in the Euro-Vision Song Contest, Ruslana reflects on what's next (06/06/04)

Fresh from her victory in the Euro-Vision Song Contest, Ruslana reflects on what's next

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Having conquered Europe, singer Ruslana Lyzhychko is now headed to the New World.

Ruslana told The Ukrainian Weekly on May 24 that she was in the process of organizing a tour of North America and Japan, with stops already scheduled for New York on July 1-3 and Toronto on July 4-5.

While most everyone in Ukraine was taken by Ruslana's unexpected success in the 49th annual EuroVision Song Contest on May 15, the 25-year-old pop sensation from Lviv, who has performed on stage practically her whole life, said she was not overly surprised because her tour of Europe in the first part of the year proved to her that the song she sang with its insistent Hutsul beat, was a hit.

"We saw at that time that there was an energy and a rhythm that the crowds liked," explained Ruslana in an exclusive interview with The Weekly.

The Ukrainian pop singer grabbed the attention and votes of Europe's pop fans and won the contest with the song "Dyki Tantsi (Wild Dances)" and the frenetic choreography that accompanied it, to the surprise of most everyone. The song, written by her in conjunction with her producer-husband Oleksander Ksenofonto, is based on traditional Hutsul folk rhythms.

She was chosen from 10 finalists in the two-part contest, who were part of an original field of 24 singers, each one from a different country. Scoring was done in a combination, with points handed down by a jury of judges as well as scores counted from viewers in the 36 countries in which the program was broadcast. Viewers could not support the entertainer who represented their country.

The singer, whose father hails from the Hutsul region of the Carpathian Mountains, became a hit in Istanbul even before her victory in the contest. Her performance gained prominence during the semifinals, held on May 9, when hers was the only presentation that swayed from the light-hearted pop beats currently so popular in Europe to a hard-edged energy-filled dance number. The costumes she and her dancers wore - jagged bits of leather fashioned in a primitive style around the body - only added to the effect.

The legend of Ruslana was begun in Istanbul even before the final when, during a rehearsal of their temperamental dance number, she and her dancers shattered the glass portion of the stage floor from where camera crews were to film.

In attaining victory, Ruslana easily outscored her two main rivals, a singer from Serbia and a vocalist from Greece, who took second and third, respectively. Of the 36 countries watching the show, which was viewed by 170 million Europeans, all but Switzerland put their collective votes behind Ruslana. She received the highest marks in Iceland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Israel, Russia and Turkey.

After her win, the new pop queen of Europe explained the secret of her success.

"We conquered Europe with our sincerity, our joyfulness, our good will and our tenaciousness," noted Ruslana during a press conference in Ukraine. The victorious singer entered the room where the meeting with the press took place to a standing ovation from the journalists. She responded by climbing a table and waving the EuroVision trophy above her head. Earlier in the day, immediately after exiting Boryspil Airport, she had dropped to her knees and kissed Ukrainian soil, as she had promised journalists in Istanbul she would.

Ruslana's victory did not come without controversy in Istanbul. There was some concern that she may not have a chance at a win when she had gained the finals after rumors circulated that the victor had already been preordained. When the Ukrainian contingent joined with other teams from Eastern Europe to complain, the judging method was changed and more weight given to the call-in votes from viewers.

Success in the EuroVision contest may not have been as spontaneous as it looked from afar. Ruslana admitted that her program, long in preparation, was geared specifically towards the European audience and that her tour of Europe in the first months of this year helped considerably. In fact those countries that most strongly supported the singer - Poland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, were part of that l 5-nation tour.

The singer told The Weekly she had long dreamed of appearing in the EuroVision competition. The show had been relatively popular in Europe for years, but recently had become all the rage among Eastern and Central European pop fans.

"I wanted to go in 1997, but it was impossible because Ukraine was not a member of the European Broadcasting Union (which sponsors the annual event) at that time," explained Ruslana about her long-pregnant ambition.

Ruslana had obtained some success in Ukraine before her recent win with a couple of hit songs, but had not been considered the superstar she is destined now to become. She first received nationwide prominence after she won the Slaviansky Bazaar, an annual competition of upcoming young talent from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. She took first place with the Nina Matvienko song, "Oy Letily Dyki Husy."

Ruslana has appeared on the musical stage since she was 3 years old and has performed in various ensembles from the age of 5.

When asked how she got into music and show business, she quite frankly answered, "My mother chose it for me."

She explained that her mother, Nina, was a musician and conductor who put her ambitions aside after she had to interrupt her studies to take care of a family. She then decided her daughter would finish what she had started.

Ruslana studied piano, violin and vocals from an early age, and later trained as a conductor as well. She studied composition with Myroslav Skoryk and took lessons from Mykola Kolessa.

Ruslana admitted that the driving force behind her career could also be an unbearable irritant as well as her creative trigger.

"My mother is my worst critic. I never hear any compliments from her. But that is good sometimes, too, because I write to get rid of my anger," explained Ruslana.

The songs she has created helped her to become the first performer in Ukraine to officially receive a platinum record for sales of more than 1 million discs by the International Recording Industry. She received the honor last summer from the International Recording Industry for the album "Dyki Tantsi," just before she signed a recording contract with the London-based recording giant EMI.

She is now planning her next album, which will be In Ukrainian, but rounded out with English Iyrics to make the songs understandable to an international listening audience.

She will also have an integral part in next year's EuroVision program, which will be held in Kyiv, in keeping with the program's tradition of holding the event in the capital city of the country from which the previous year's winner hailed. Her role will stem from her new title as Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's "consultant on social matters," a title she was accorded upon her return from Istanbul.

More importantly, it will be the show's golden anniversary performance and a chance for Ukraine to continue to show its fresh, new face.

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