KYIV – Ukraine’s Eurovision act Tvorchi were due to perform at Kyiv’s main rail station on Friday when an air raid siren forced them down into the cellar, hours after massive shelling.

The group will represent Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool in May, after Britain agreed to host the event instead of 2022 winner Ukraine because of Russia’s invasion.

“It is what it is,” said Andriy Hutsuliak, the electronic music group’s 27-year-old producer, after the sirens sounded.

“We believe in our air-defence forces.”

“We always have to come down and try to be safe,” said the electronic group’s 25-year-old vocalist, a Nigerian-Ukrainian who performs as Jeffery Kenny. His full name is Jimoh Augustus Kehinde.

The band members wore matching dark glasses and blue suits with sparkly ornaments in the shape of wheat sheaves. Hutsuliak had his nails painted scarlet.

As it turned out, the all-clear sounded in time for the duo to give an unannounced performance for surprised passengers in the entrance hall of the vast Stalin-era station, which is decked out with chandeliers and mosaics.

Frontman Kenny changed into a gold shirt and trousers as Hutsuliak, wearing one black glove, jabbed at a synthesiser. Pink and blue lights flashed as the beats reverberated.

Their concert was to promote a drive to buy incubators for premature babies, run by United24, an online donation platform supported by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

But the focus was on the forthcoming Eurovision contest.

Heart Of Steel

Tvorchi’s song, Heart Of Steel, “symbolises strength, it symbolises courage”, said Kenny.

The duo talked of their pride in representing Ukraine.

“We feel honoured and excited to perform in Liverpool, so we just can’t wait to show all that we’ve prepared,” Hutsuliak told AFP.

While Kenny declined to give details of their stage show, he promised: “We’re definitely preparing something nice.

“We hope it will impress everyone, because we’re working a lot on it. And we just hope, you know, things go smoothly.”

Hutsuliak said: “We’ll add some elements from the ones we had in the national selection and make it better in Liverpool.”

Kenny said they had received “a warm welcome” at concerts with other contestants.

And Hutsuliak stressed they did not want “to be pitied” by those voting.

In the end, they acknowledged, the need to win the war overshadows everything.

“For us it’s most important to win the fight and to have peace in the country,” said Hutsuliak.

But he said that if they win Eurovision in 2023 and the situation becomes safe enough for the 2024 contest to be held in Ukraine, “we will appreciate that and we’ll be happy. That’d be great”. AFP