One of the first entries to be selected fir the upcoming edition of the Eurovision Song Contest is the one coming from Ukraine. The eastern country is one of the most successful in the competition having always managed to qualify for the final stages but nevertheless, did not do as well as expected last year with their entry Be My Guest performed by Gaitana. This time round, the public and a professional jury have once more selected a female by the name of Zlata Ognevich who does not need a lot of introduction in the surrounding area where she has got strong credentials. She will be performing the song Gravity.

NTU, the broadcaster responsible for the participation of the nation in the Eurovision Song Contest has worked closely with the production team to make sure that the final version of the song is the very best possible and whilst working on that, an official music video to be used by the participating countries in their respective preview shows was also completed. Zlata Ognevich is set to compete within the first semi-final of this years' international competition taking place in Malmo, Sweden and will hope to improve on last years' showing, which was statistically, the second worst result for the country since participation began. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news.

Source: NTU

Earlier today, the focus was on Albania and their impressive debut back in 2004 but all our were definitely on the eventual winner Wild Dances performed by Ruslana on behalf of Ukraine, which remains one of the most successful countries at the Eurovision Song Contest. As a matter of fact, they have managed to finish within the top ten on six out of ten occasions but one of those non-top ten finishes actually came earlier this year with Gaitana and her entry Be My Guest failing to garner public approval despite being one of the main songs for the European Football Championships but with the help of the juries, secured qualification and fifteenth place with sixty five points, unfortunately still making it the second most disappointing result for the country. NTU, the Ukrainian broadcaster is adamant about returning to the top ten and they have some really strong candidates.

NTU has been pretty quiet about the selection procedure but internal casting sessions were held within their respective studios with a panel of judges rounding out the best twenty, even though, they surely pinpointed those which they believe should ultimately represent the nation at the 2013 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest which will be taking place in Sweden come May. Amongst the finalists, there is a former runner-up in the form of Zlata Ognevich and she seems to be the main favourite alongside Maria Yaremchuk based on the rumours circulating on the web. Nevertheless, the competition slated for broadcast on Sunday at 10:50 CET will definitely include some surprises although we sincerely hope that in the end, the best song does indeed triumph instead of the several corrupt practices which are annually recorded in the Eastern block of the competition.

1. Oksana Pekun and Maxim Novitsky
2. Maria Yaremchuk
3. Marietta
4. Dmitry Yaremchuk
5. Inesh
6. Zlata Ognevich
7. Duet "Emoushen"
8. Ensemble "Hvozdivchanka"
9. Realivanna
10. Tatiana Shirko
11. Group "Trinity"
12. Ana Stesiya
13. Alina Grosu
14. Dasha Medova
15. Elena Korneeva
16. Anheliya
17. Eduard Romanyuta
18. Matviy Vermiyenko
19. Group "DyOfylʹmy"
20. Dmitry Skalozubov

The running order for the Ukrainian final has also already been established by the broadcaster, NTU and will be as featured above. It has also been widely reported by  our colleagues at esckaz.com that six out of the twenty songs are breaking regulations set forth by the European Broadcasting Union and will thus be impossible to represent the country at the esteemed European competition should they manage to win the pre-selection process. For the past six years, Ukraine has sent a female as their representative whilst in the year before that, it was a man dressed up as a woman thus it is safe to say that a woman seems to be representing Ukraine once more. Pictured above is Mika Newton whose entry Angel finished in fourth place back in 2011. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news.

Source: NTU

Ukraine is known to be one of the most successful participating countries in the Eurovision Song Contest and this is surely due to the fact that they have always managed to get out of the semi-final and thus straight to the final where their results have been quite positive as well with half their appearances seeing them into the top ten. Nevertheless, it seems that Baku in Azerbaijan did not bring them too much luck because Gaitana and her track Be My Guest failed to get the people to rally behind her finishing in a disappointing fifteenth place in the final, and only managing that and qualification thanks to the jury with the public putting her in the bottom three in the semi-final. NTU, the Ukrainian broadcaster has just released the rules and regulations for 2013.

The Eurovision Song Contest will be moving into the city of Malmo found in Sweden and it has to be noted that NTU wishes to show that the country can be extremely transparent in their selection procedures and that is why, it has been revealed that everyone has to follow the rules set forth by the European Broadcasting Union including the age, which has to be sixteen by the day of the first semi-final, that the song has to be three minutes long and not released before the 1st September 2012. Interestingly enough, it seems that foreign songwriters will be able to submit tracks into the selection but the performers most likely will need to be Ukrainian still. All of the songs will need to be sent in by the 22nd December 2012 to NTU where twenty of them will be selected by an internal jury. The date for the national final has been set for the 16th February 2013 and the result will be decided through a jury and public vote respectively. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news as soon as it becomes available.

Source: NTU

One of the most interesting things within the second semi-final is the fact that a number of uptempo songs are nonexistent especially when compared to the number of ballads due to the ever growing presence of the Balkans. Therefore, it means that some of the songs might end up standing out a little bit more and this seems to be the case with Ukraine who are performing in the seventh position. Over the years, the country has been quite successful at the music spectacle and they will be hoping to continue their streak of success with their entry Be My Guest written by Gaitana and KIWI Project and performed by Gaitana. 

Gaitana is a Ukrainian singer and composer, who has recorded and released five albums and more than 20 music videos within ten years of career. She has received several awards already, including the Ukrainian Music Award for the "Best Female Singer of the Year" and the face of Francophonie Festival 2010.Over the past year Gaitana became "Official Friend of UEFA Euro 2012", and started working on a set of creative sports and social projects. 

Among others she wrote the song You Are The Champion for the Klitschko Brothers Foundation, an "anthem of a social project for orphan children". In the future she is going to release her new album, which was created by Narada Michael Walden, Eric Daniels, Rob Hoffman, Robert Damper. The album was recorded in San Francisco, Seattle and Los Angeles. Gaitana will represent Ukraine in the 2012 Eurovision song Contest, where she will sing her own composition Be My Guest, which won the national final in Ukraine, receiving the highest points from both the jury and TV viewers

The Critics Voice Their Opinion

Magnus Kaxe

• “Born this way” by Lady Gaga, “Bittersweet Harmony” by The Verve and “When love takes over” by David Guetta in the same song! All great tracks should make an amazing song for Ukraine. But no. Where is the melody underneath the modern music production? Where is the dynamic in the vocal performance? Now I’m just hear somebody who almost screams all the time. I believe that four (4) points are in order when it comes to this entry.

Marion Welter

• This is a track which has been very much influenced by When Loves Takes Over of David Guetta. It is clearly a case of getting on the dancefloor with Gaitana. She has a strong voice actually and I think she can do wonders. I would like to give her six (6) points.

Tobias Larsson

• Gaitana is a feisty presence, who is bound to shake some life into this semi with her football anthem, perhaps more designed for this summer's European championships rather than Eurovision. Lacking a bit in the chorus department, but in possession of a set of strong hooks, this could still get far with the Ukrainian know-how of Eurovision performances hence she does get my eight (8) points.

Entry Background

Performer: Gaitana

Composers: Gaitana & Kiwi Project

Author: Gaitana

Song: Be My Guest

Language: English

Broadcaster: NTU

History of the Nation

This will mark the tenth appearance of Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest and it seems to have been somewhat of a successful ride thus far having always been part of the finals and noting that they only did not make the top ten on three occasions, somewhat predicted each time. On their second participation, they managed to secure victory with Ruslana and her song Wild Dances but they would gun for victory again in 2007 and 2008 when Verka Serduschka and Ani Lorak with their respective entries Dacing Lasha Tumbai and Shady Lady. They went on a different path for the next three years but surprisingly ended up successful last year when their artist Mika Newton performed a beautiful song entitled Sweet People which finished in fourth place.

Source: Eurovision.tv for the Biographical Information and all respective media