Verka Serdyučka :: glamorous train hostess superstar!

Ukraine had a late Eurovision debut, but went ahead and won on their second try with Ruslana's Wild dances in Istanbul in 2004. In the few years the Ukrainians have participated they have shown remarkable variation in their entries: In 2003, they sent trite Central European pop (Hasta la vista performed by Olexandr Ponomar'ov Олександр Пономарьов), the year after Ruslana's ethnic stomper, when they arranged the final in Kyiv in 2005 Greenjolly did political rap, then last year the exuberantly bubbly and charming Tina Karol' Тина Кароль demanded Show me your love. But this year, Europe should brace itself for the phenomenon that is Verka Serdyučka Верка Сердючка - possibly the closest the former Soviet Union comes to Dame Edna Everage.

Verka is really something else than Ruslana, which you can read all about in the article Exporting Ukraine West and East: Ruslana vs. Serduchka by Olena Fedyuk. Verka's alter ego is Andrey Danilko Андрей Данилко, who releases mostly melancholic instrumentals under his own name - one example is Posle tebja После тебя ("after you"):



Most of Verka's songs are very upbeat on the verge of being stressful, like Vsë budet xorošo Всё будет хорошо ("everything will be fine"), usually referred to as just Xa-ra-šo Ха-ра-шо ("fine, great"), which was a huge hit all over the former Soviet Union in 2003:



It will probably not come as a surprise to you that La Verka has also ventured into pmed-land. Eastern Europe is mad about this stuff, so our Verka jumped the bandwagon in 2004 with the pretty fantastic Ya popala na lyubov' Я попала на любовь ("I'm falling in love"), which was followed by a great little video:



Now, this is pretty харашо - don't you agree?