Eurovision 2022 winners Kalush Orchestra have shared their first English-language track, ‘Changes’ – scroll down the page to listen to it now.
The Ukrainian band were victorious with their song ‘Stefania’ in last year’s Song Contest, which was held in Italy.
“Pray to the gods of good and evil / Make them hear my demands,” Kalush Orchestra sing in the chorus. “Break the curse and threaded the needle / Gripped between my hands.”
“This is a song about our home – where we live and how we have learned to protect it,” band leader Oleh Psiuk said in a press release. “We continue to live even when danger looms over us. The house may change with us, but what is really important and native to our traditions always remains.”
In the accompanying music video’s YouTube description, the band referred more explicitly to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “This video is a story about our Home, which has changed forever because it has seen grief and pain,” they wrote. “When the enemy comes, everyone defends their home as best they can. And we continue to live despite the danger.”
The video was filmed in Poland and takes place in a traditional house, with the members of Kalush Orchestra playing fairytale characters. Piper Tymofii Muzychuk turns into the Carpathian Molfar – an entity with supernatural powers – while KilimWoman makes her debut with the band.
Director Leonid Kolosovsky explained: “This is a story about the magical characters of the Kalush Orchestra family. Each member of this family has their own superpower and their own way of defending the House. Someone by prayer, someone by deed, someone by truth, someone by spirituality, and someone by magic. As is usually the case in the family, all members of the family are very different and, in some places, even opposite, but they are together and each of them loves their home.
The band are about to head out on a tour of North America, which will include a performance at this year’s SXSW festival. Their live dates will continue to raise money to help Ukraine, with proceeds going to the Armed Forces and for the reconstruction of cultural buildings destroyed in the war. Last year, Kalush Orchestra raised 60million hryvnias (£1.3m).
Last year, the group teamed up with Polish rapper Szpak on the single ‘Nasze Domy’, which addressed “the pain and struggles felt in Ukraine while conveying a message of hope at its core”.