On Saturday evening TAYANNA and Salto Nazad slayed their way to the final of Ukraine’s Eurovision 2017 selection after winning over television viewers and the professional jury, which included Verka Serduchka’s alter ego Andriy Danylko, composer and producer Konstantin Meladze and Eurovision 2016 winner Jamala.
And while Eurovision fans are still discussing the results, they’re also raving about another moment of the night: NAVIBAND’s stellar cover of Jamala’s winning song “1944”.
Navi performed as a special interval guest along with Georgia’s Eurovision 2017 singer Tako Gachechiladze. And while both of the acts sang their ESC songs, Navi threw in a special bonus.
“We have a little surprise for Jamala because we want to say a massive ‘thank you’ for bringing Eurovision to Kyiv,” they said. “We have translated her winning song into the Belarusian language.”
NAVIBAND cover “1944” (starts at 7:17)
Afterwards Jamala, overcome with emotion, left her juror’s chair to hug the duo and say thank you.
“I think that words are superfluous since the reaction is simply on my face,” she said, tears flowing freely. “Thank you so much!”
The duo literally translated the song into their native tongue, but they managed to maintain the emotion and spirituality of it all. They proved that the song can work in a number of guises — including with guitar accompaniment.
What do you think about the surprise? Are you hoping for a NAVIBAND-Jamala collaboration? Let us know in the comments section below.
I love them, I might not like their song that much, but I love the fact they are singing in bielorrusian their vibe and this cover was enough to have them as my favorite people in the contest!!!
Well done Belarus! I love this song 🙂 One of their best entries and it will make the final for sure! You have my vote 🙂
When I listen to Navi’s song, I can’t but feel sunshine and good vibes. 🙂
Happy Belarus! 🙂
Good luck Navi! Fresh air.
I like their version better.
Where do people see politics? They just covered a winning song, actually a part of it. And it was obvious Jamala didn’t know they would do that.
<3<3<3
Talent supporting talent.
And from Belarus, 12 points go to … Russia.
Well that was just so adorable.
@Maclaren I think they were honoring the past winner on her home soil. I don’t think it had anything to do with politics.
🙂 aww
but also a good pr stunt too
is belarus in ukraine’s semi? might be direkt till final 😉
What did Daniel say, for curiositys sake?
This video made me smily 🙂 NAVIBAND is still my favorite entry so far, and from what I’ve been hearing from other national selections it looks like it will stay that way. It’s a huge jump considering this time last year Ivan was my least favorite.
Oh Gosh…politics even here. I was so admiring Navi Band for their uplifting performance but I guess the political agenda resides even here. So disappointed… wish Navi could have delivered something with no dirt clinging to its wings. But if political messages are closer to their hearts… Oh well… time to change a favourite
this is so pure and sweet. makes me love both NAVI and Jamala even more.
That was so sweet, you could tell that Jamala was really touched. Also, I loved how she was dancing along to Navi’s song.
Jamala wrote 1944, she definitely knew that NAVI will sing it.
I’m sure it was mandatory her approval before the show.
So … no surprise for her.
Daniel russian stupid “??????”
My favorite moment of the night! The song sounded simply amazing in Belarusian. Naviband were far better than all our contestants in this semifinal, so I am going to vote for them in May. BTW they spoke and sung in Belarusian, while Jamala spoke in Ukrainian, we can understand each other’s languages perfectly (like Danes and Swedes, I guess)
Oh this is great.
Don’t panic! Daniel’s comment was edited out in good moderation. 🙂
@ Daniel
This is disgusting
@daniel not nice
Wrong translation – they didn’t say “we want to say a massive ‘thank you’ for what she brought to Eurovision”. They said “we want to say a massive ‘thank you’ for that she brought Eurovision to Kyiv”
Jamala has such a beautiful soul, love her to death
This was my favourite moment of all of this evening. Thank you for reporting it. 🙂