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Tours, breakdancing, Arnold Schwarzenegger: What Ukraine's Kalush Orchestra has been up to since Eurovision 2022

Kalush Orchestra won the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest. (Supplied: Jens Sage)

It's been a year since the Ukrainian folk-rap group Kalush Orchestra won the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest in Turin, Italy, last May.

The group took out the competition with the song Stefania, an alternative hip hop and folk song sung in Ukrainian.

It was the first rap song — and the first song sung entirely in Ukrainian — to win the competition.

So, what did winning Eurovision mean to the group and what have they been up to since?

Stefania has charted in 22 music markets

Following its outing on the Eurovision stage, Stefania topped the charts in Ukraine and Lithuania and reached the top 10 in a number of other countries, such as Finland and Sweden.

The song, dedicated to Stefania — the mother of Kalush Orchestra frontman Oleh Psiuk — has become a popular wartime soundtrack on social media since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Kalush Orchestra has performed 200 concerts in different countries since winning Eurovision. (Supplied: Kalush Orchestra)

Kalush Orchestra has performed 200 concerts in different countries since Eurovision, visiting France, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Georgia, Hungary, Ireland, Sweden, Israel, the United States and Canada.

"We have not been to Australia yet," Psiuk said.

"But we would be happy to visit, if you invite us."

Their concert tour of Europe last year netted 60 million Ukrainian Hryvnia ($2.4 million), which the band donated to Ukraine's war efforts.

Psiuk said the band intended to continue collecting funds to help the Ukrainian armed forces, while also raising money for the restoration of cultural buildings that have been decimated by the conflict.

"We also have a tradition at every concert to sell guitars at auction," Psiuk said.

"We immediately send all proceeds to one of the Ukrainian funds to help the military or hospitals or children.

"For example, during our last year's concert in London, we managed to collect $11,000 ($16,000) from a guitar.

"We immediately sent these funds to help Ukraine".

Hold on a minute. But who is Kalush Orchestra?

Kalush Orchestra was created in 2021 as a spin-off of the first project Kalush, founded in 2019.

The name Kalush stems from the hometown of the founder and frontman 28-year-old Ukrainian rapper, Oleh Psiuk.

They're a band of seven including the sound engineer.

The other members are Tymofii Muzychuk, Vitalii Duzhyk, Andriy Gandziuk, KilimMan, Sasha Kondratiuk, and Sasha Tab.

Kalush Orchestra are a band of seven including the sound engineer. (Supplied: Jens Sage)

Kalush Orchestra is part of the Ukrainian-language hip-hop scene. The key point of difference between them and other bands in Ukraine is the combination of ethnic music elements with modern sound production, hip-hop dances and Ukrainian-language rap.

"The essence is that we take the old Ukrainian folklore that has been forgotten," Psiuk said.

"We dig it out from many generations and add modern, contemporary elements, rap and instruments.

"In the end, we have a combination of what our ancestors had and what the young people like today.

"And those are our songs."

All Kalush Orchestra band members have prior experience on Ukrainian TV shows such as The Voice and Ukraine's Got Talent.

Rubbing shoulders with Arnie

Arnold Schwarzenegger makes an appearance in a Kalush Orchestra music video. (Supplied: Oleksandr Novichenkov)

Kalush Orchestra have released a number of songs over the past year, including In The Shadows with the Finnish band The Rasmus and Generous Evening.

They shot the music video for Generous Evening in the United States, and it features veteran actor and former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Kalush Orchestra have performed at Glastonbury and were also guest stars at the 2022 MTV Europe Music Awards.

In March, the band returned to the United States for a new concert tour and performed at SXSW (South by Southwest) in Austin, Texas.

It was there that the Ukrainian musicians met American rapper Armani White, who released the hit song Billie Eilish. The meeting led to a breakdancing session with the band to that song.

Kalush Orchestra performed a breakdance with Armani White to the song Billie Eilish. (Supplied: Khrystyna Shenrok)

Last month, Kalush Orchestra shared a new song, Ushme Uturbe, which sees the Ukrainian band team up with Canadian rapper bbno$, who they also met in Austin.

How has the war in Ukraine affected the group?

In the first days of the war, Psiuk founded the volunteer organisation Where Are You? to help displaced people find shelter and medicine.

The band is also working actively to spread Ukrainian music and language abroad.

"Each of our songs in one way or another tells about what is happening in our country," Psiuk said.

"For example, our song Changes — which we presented not so long ago and the music video for it — tells about a house that has changed forever because it was overtaken by the disaster of war.

"In the clip, we specifically showed the realities of today: rockets hovering over our house."

"When we are abroad on a concert tour, we try to call our parents, friends and loved ones as often as possible.

"We worry about them every minute, because they are all in Ukraine. We are afraid for them, because you don't know where a Russian missile will fly at any moment."

The band is grateful to the international community.

"We thank all countries for their incredible support of Ukraine and Ukrainians," Psiuk said.

"We ask you not to forget that there is a war in the centre of Europe, which was unleashed by Russia, and we need to stop it as soon as possible."

Will Kalush Orchestra participate in Eurovision this year?

This year, the United Kingdom will host the competition on Ukraine's behalf, due to the conflict. The theme is United by Music.

It will be the ninth time the UK hosts Eurovision and the fifth time it has hosted for other countries who have not been able to host.

Russia was expelled from the competition last year due to its invasion of Ukraine.

This year's Ukrainian entry is electronic duo Tvorchi with their song Heart of Steel.

Kalush Orchestra has already performed a concert at the Eurovision Village in Liverpool in the lead-up and will headline the Eurovision 2023 final.

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