Ukraine was represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 by GreenJolly with the song "Razom nas bahato" . The song is written by Oleg Lanjak and composed by Roman Kalin. The members of GreenJolly are Roman Kostyuk, Roman Kalyn, and Andriy Pisetskyi. The band was created in 1997 and frequently played in Ivano-Frankivsk and other Ukrainian cities, and took part in various festivals. In 1998, they came second at "The Future of Ukraine' festival and second prize at 'The Melody' festival. In 1999, they won another second prize at ‘The Pearls of a Season’ festival. Roman Kostyuk works as a sound producer on Zakhidnyi Polyus radio station and Roman Kalyn is an announcer at the local television channel Tretya Studia, where he hosts two shows.
Before Eurovision
National final
For the first time ever, Ukraine held a national final to select their participant for the Eurovision Song Contest. 527 songs were received by NTU, and a jury narrowed down all submissions to 75.
Semi-finals
Five songs were shown each week from 14 November 2004 onwards, which televoting selected the winner from each semi-final to advance for the final.
Semi-final 1
Semi-final 2
Semi-final 3
Semi-final 4
Semi-final 5
Semi-final 6
Semi-final 7
Semi-final 8
Semi-final 9
Semi-final 10
Semi-final 11
Semi-final 12
Semi-final 13
Semi-final 14
Semi-final 15
Final
The final was held on 27 February 2005 at the NTU TV Studios in Kiev, hosted by Maria Orlova. The fifteen winners from the semi-finals, alongside with four wildcards competed, with the winner being chosen by televoting. One of the wildcard entries, "Razom nas bahato" by the band GreenJolly, was controversially voted by the Ukrainian public as the winner, beating Ani Lorak into second place.
Controversy
There were a number of singers which had their entries published prior to November 2004, including the heavy favourite Ani Lorak, who was then asked to submit a new song for the final. The controversial decision to add wildcards into the final was initiated by Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister on Humanitarian Policy Mykola Tomenko. While he tried to justify his decision in the contest aftermath arguing that it needed to reflect the dramatic changes in the society due to the recent Orange Revolution, the perceived government intervention into a musical contest attracted much criticism. Indeed, for many weeks the song, which almost certainly owes its victory to its familiarity as an unofficial anthem of the Orange Revolution, appeared to be in danger of falling foul of two criteria for eligibility as an entry in the Eurovision Song Contest. Firstly, it was openly derivative of an older revolutionary song, and therefore was arguably not an original composition, and secondly, the lyrics could be classed as political propaganda, especially since they mentioned President Viktor Yushchenko by name. However, after substantial revisions were made, the song was deemed a legitimate entry by the EBU.
At Eurovision
As the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 and host of the 2005 Contest, Ukraine automatically qualified for a place in the final. Ukraine performed 16th in the night, following Macedonia and preceding Germany. "Razom nas bahato" scored only 30 points, placing 19th. The Ukrainian 12 points are awarded to Moldova. As Ukraine failed to reach the top 11 in the final, the country was forced to compete in the semi-final of the 2006 contest. NTU broadcast both shows live with the commentary provided by an actor, radio DJ and voice-over narrator Yaroslav Chornenkyi. The spokesperson who revealed Ukraine's votes for other countries was NTU and national final host Maria Orlova. In addition National Radio of Ukraine provided live broadcasts for the first time with the commentary by radio presenter Galyna Babiy.
