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1944 (song)

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"1944"
Single by Jamala
from the album 1944
Released9 March 2016
Recorded2015
Length3:00
LabelEnjoy
Composer(s)Jamala
Lyricist(s)
  • Art Antonyan
  • Jamala
Jamala singles chronology
"Breath"
(2015) 		"1944"
(2016) 		"Zamanyly"
(2016)
Music video
"1944" on YouTube
Eurovision Song Contest 2016 entry
Country
Artist(s)
Languages
English, Crimean Tatar
Composer(s)
Lyricist(s)
  • Art Antonyan
  • Jamala
Finals performance
Semi-final result
2nd
Semi-final points
287
Final result
1st
Final points
534
Entry chronology
◄ "Tick-Tock" (2014)
"Time" (2017) ►
Official performance video
"1944" (Semi-final) on YouTube
"1944" (Final) on YouTube
"1944" (Reprise) on YouTube

"1944" is a song composed and recorded by the Ukrainian musician Jamala, with it including lyrics by both her and performer Art Antonyan. It represented Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016, and the song won the event with a total of 534 points.[1][2]

In May 2022, the British news publication The Independent named the song as the twentieth best Eurovision-winning song and opined that its "melancholic" approach "works perfectly".[3] As well, in 2023, The Guardian ranked the song as the third best Eurovision winner in history.[4] An official music video was released on 21 September 2016.[5]

In terms of its lyrics and general production, the song describes the discriminatory persecution of the Crimean Tatars in the context of Joseph Stalin's rule over the Soviet Union. These violent military actions, which resulted in numerous deaths, had personally endangered Jamala's grandparents, which influenced the piece's emotional tone and its other attributes. Jamala summed the release up as a musical "memorial". It notably mixes together vocals in both the English language and the Crimean Tatar language.[6]

Background

Conception and lyrics

"1944" was composed and recorded by Jamala. The English lyrics were written by the poet Art Antonyan. The song's chorus, in the Crimean Tatar language, is made up of words from a Crimean Tatar folk song called Ey Güzel Qırım that Jamala had heard from her great-grandmother, reflecting on the loss of a youth which could not be spent in her homeland.[7] The song features the duduk played by Aram Kostanyan[8] and the use of the mugham vocal style.[9]

The lyrics for "1944" concern the deportation of the Crimean Tatars, in the 1940s, by the Soviet Union at the hands of Joseph Stalin on the pretext of their alleged collaboration with the Nazis.[6] Jamala was particularly inspired by the story of her great-grandmother Nazylkhan, who was in her mid-20s when she and her five children were deported to Central Asia. One of the daughters did not survive the journey.[10][11][12][13] Jamala's great-grandfather was fighting in World War II in the Red Army at this time and thus could not protect his family.[12] The song was also released amid renewed repression of Crimean Tatars following the Russian annexation of Crimea, since most Crimean Tatars refuse to accept the annexation.[14]

National selection

The National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU) withdrew from the 2015 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, citing costs.[15] After deciding to return to the 2016 contest, a selection process to determine its representative was opened, combining resources from NTU –renamed as the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (UA:PBC)– and private broadcaster STB.[16] "1944" by Jamala was announced as one of the eighteen competing acts in the 2016 edition of Natsionalnyi Vidbir, the national final for Eurovision. She performed the song in the first semi-final on 6 February 2016, where it won both the jury and televote, advancing to the Ukrainian final.[17] In the final, on 21 February, it was placed second by the jury and first by the televote, resulting in a tie with "Helpless" by The Hardkiss. "1944" was announced as the winner, however, as the televoting acted as a tiebreaker.[1] It received 37.77% of more than 382,000 televotes.[18] It became the Ukrainian entrant for Eurovision.[19]

Accusations of politicisation

In a February 2016 interview with The Guardian, Jamala said that the song also reminded her of her own family living in Crimea nowadays, claiming that since the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea "the Crimean Tatars are on occupied territory".[6][nb 1] The song lyrics, however, do not address this annexation.[21] Eurovision rules prohibit songs with lyrics that could be interpreted as having "political content".[21]

Immediately after the selection of this song, some Russian politicians, as well as authorities in Crimea, accused the Ukrainian authorities of "capitalising on the tragedy of the Tatars to impose on European viewers a false picture of alleged harassment of the Tatars in the Russian Crimea".[13][nb 2]

On 9 March 2016, a tweet from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) confirmed that neither the title nor the lyrics of the song contained "political speech" and therefore it did not breach any Eurovision rule, thus allowing it to remain in the competition.[23]

Eurovision

Jamala performing "1944" in Eurovision

On 12 May 2016, the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest was held in the Globe Arena in Stockholm hosted by Sveriges Television (SVT) and broadcast live throughout the continent. Jamala performed "1944" fourteenth on the evening. After the grand final it was revealed that it had received in its semi-final 287 points, placing second and qualifying for the grand final.[24] On 14 May 2016, she performed the song again in the grand final twenty-first on the evening.[25] "1944" is the first Eurovision song to contain lyrics in the Crimean language.

It won the final, receiving the second highest televoting score and second highest jury vote, with a total of 534 points, officially surpassing the previous record set by "Fairytale" by Alexander Rybak in 2009, which won with 387 points.[2][nb 3] The national juries voted "Sound of Silence" by Dami Im for Australia first with 320 points, and the televote voted "You Are the Only One" by Sergey Lazarev for Russia first with 361 points. The televoting result for Ukraine, of 323 points, however, was sufficient, when added to their jury score of 211 points, to put them in first place, with a grand total of 534 points, leaving Australia second and Russia third.

Aftermath

As the winning broadcaster, the EBU gave UA:PBC the responsibility to host the following edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. The interval act of the first semi-final on 9 May 2017 features Jamala performing "1944" and "Zamanyly".[26]

Critical reception

Prior to the Ukrainian national selection finals, "1944" received 8.33 out of 10 points from a jury of Eurovision blog Wiwibloggs,[27] the highest score among the six finalists in the Ukrainian national selection.[28]

In 2023, The Guardian recognized the song as the third best Eurovision winner, emphasizing on the meaningful lyrics and calling the song "authentically fantastic" and "moodily atmospheric".[29]

Track listing

Digital download[30]
No.TitleLength
1."1944"3:00
Digital download – EP
No.TitleLength
1."1944"3:00
2."Watch Over Me"5:47
3."Hate Love"3:46
4."I'm Like a Bird"3:33
5."Thank You"3:22
Total length:19:28

Chart history

Weekly charts

Chart (2016) Peak
position
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[31] 54
Belgium (Ultratip Bubbling Under Flanders)[32] 13
Finland Airplay (Radiosoittolista)[33] 64
France (SNEP)[34] 49
Hungary (Single Top 40)[35] 40
Russia (TopHit)[36] 129
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[37] 32
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[38] 46
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[39] 73
Ukraine (Tophit Ukraine Charts)[36] 2
Chart (2022) Peak
position
Lithuania (AGATA)[40] 8

Release history

Region Date Format Label
Worldwide 12 February 2016[30] Digital download Enjoy

Notes

  1. ^ Crimea is currently de facto controlled by Russia, after a controversial Self-Determination referendum.[20]
  2. ^ Russian MP Vadim Dengin of the far-right LDPR believed the song's victory was fixed because "Most of the citizens of Ukraine who do not receive any salary or pensions have nothing to pay for electricity, and secondly, they do not care about this Eurovision".[22] He also expressed hope that the song would be banned from participation by Eurovision.[22]
  3. ^ Because of the new scoring system, however, with separate sets of televotes and jury votes, the results are not directly comparable with each other, as the number of points was limited to 492 in previous contest. With the current system, the score of "Fairytale" would have been 690.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Omelyanchuk, Olena (21 February 2016). "Jamala will represent Ukraine in Stockholm!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  2. ^ a b "Ukraine wins 2016 Eurovision Song Contest". Eurovision Song Contest. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  3. ^ Kelly, Ben (10 May 2022). "All 68 winning Eurovision songs ranked from worst to best". The Independent. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
  4. ^ Petridis, Alexis (11 May 2023). "All 69 Eurovision song contest winners – ranked!". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  5. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Jamala – 1944 (Official Music Video)". YouTube.
  6. ^ a b c Veselova, Viktoria; Melnykova, Oleksandra (11 February 2016). "Crimean singer in line to represent Ukraine at Eurovision". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  7. ^ Halpin, Chris (8 February 2016). "1994 Lyrics – Jamala (Ukraine, Eurovision 2016)". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  8. ^ ""Հենց ինքնաթիռը վայրէջք կատարեց Հայաստանում՝ միանգամից զգացի, որ ես տանն եմ". Ջամալայի բացառիկ հարցազրույցը 168.am-ին". 168 Ժամ (in Armenian). Archived from the original on 18 May 2016. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  9. ^ "Jamala – 1944 (Ukraine 2016) | Eurovision Song Contest". Archived from the original on 20 March 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  10. ^ Savage, Mark (22 February 2016). "Eurovision: Ukraine's entry aimed at Russia". BBC News. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  11. ^ "Jamala entered Eurovision-2016 national selection". QHA.com.ua. 26 January 2016. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  12. ^ a b "Jamala leads after the first semifinal of the National Selection to the Eurovision 2016". The Day. 9 February 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  13. ^ a b Russia MPs slam Ukraine's choice of Crimean Tatar for Eurovision Archived 2 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Yahoo News (23 February 2016)
  14. ^ "A Eurovision win provides symbolic victory over Russian repression". The Economist. 28 May 2016. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
  15. ^ Jiandani, Sanjay (Sergio) (19 September 2014). "Ukraine: NTU will not participate in Eurovision 2015". esctoday. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  16. ^ Gallagher, Robyn (19 November 2015). "UKRAINE: STATE BROADCASTER TO COLLABORATE WITH STB FOR NATIONAL SELECTION 2016". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  17. ^ Omelyanchuk, Olena (6 February 2016). "Ukraine: Results of the first semi-final". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  18. ^ "Детальні результати глядацького голосування "Євробачення-2016" (фiнал)" (in Ukrainian). STB. 21 February 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  19. ^ "Ukraine: Vidbir 2016". Eurovisionworld.
  20. ^ Gutterman, Steve (18 March 2014). "Putin signs Crimea treaty, will not seize other Ukraine regions". Reuters.com. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
  21. ^ a b Ukraine picks Crimean Tatar for Eurovision Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine, Times Union (21 February 2014)
    Eurovision: Ukraine's entry aimed at Russia, BBC News (22 February 2016)
  22. ^ a b (in Ukrainian) In State Duma they want Jamal not to be allowed in Eurovision, Ukrayinska Pravda (22 February 2016)
  23. ^ "The Ref. Group concluded that the title & lyrics of the song don't contain political speech and don't breach @Eurovision Rules". European Broadcasting Union. 9 March 2016. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  24. ^ "Official Eurovision Song Contest 2016 second semi-final scoreboard". Eurovision Song Contest.
  25. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 2016". Eurovision Song Contest. 14 May 2016. SVT / EBU.
  26. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 2017 first semi-final". Eurovision Song Contest. 9 May 2017. UA:PBC / EBU.
  27. ^ "Wiwi Jury: Ukraine's Jamala with "1944"". Wiwibloggs. 14 February 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  28. ^ "Wiwi Jury Results: Jamala is our favorite to win in Ukraine". Wiwibloggs. 21 February 2016. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  29. ^ Petridis, Alexis (11 May 2023). "All 69 Eurovision song contest winners – ranked!". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  30. ^ a b "1944 – Single". itunes.com. Apple.
  31. ^ "Jamala – 1944" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  32. ^ "Jamala – 1944" (in Dutch). Ultratip. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
  33. ^ "Jamala: 1944" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  34. ^ "Jamala – 1944" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
  35. ^ "Archívum – Slágerlisták – MAHASZ" (in Hungarian). Single (track) Top 40 lista. Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  36. ^ a b TopHit Track Info – Jamala, "1944"
  37. ^ "Jamala – 1944" Canciones Top 50. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  38. ^ "Jamala – 1944". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  39. ^ "Jamala – 1944". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
  40. ^ "2022 9-os savaitės klausomiausi (Top 100)" (in Lithuanian). AGATA. 4 March 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
Preceded by Eurovision Song Contest winners
2016 		Succeeded by
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