Eurovision Winner Jamala Delivers Powerful Performance for Her Home Country on ‘Concert for Ukraine’
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Ukrainian singer-songwriter Jamala, who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2016, performed at the Concert for Ukraine on Tuesday (March 29).
The two-hour concert, organized by ITV and held at the Resorts World Arena in Birmingham, U.K., was announced March 16 in an effort to raise money for the Disasters Emergency Committee’s Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. It also featured performances by Ed Sheeran, Camila Cabello, Emeli Sandé, Gregory Porter and Snow Patrol.
More from Billboard
Jamala was forced to flee Ukraine two weeks ago, making her rendition of “1944,” the song that won Eurovision, all the more emotional. She held a Ukrainian flag throughout the song, holding it high at the end. She concluded her performance by sharing a message of hope to her home country.
You can watch her full set below.
All of the sponsorship and advertising revenue expected to be generated from the event will be donated by ITV to the DEC. The concert was expected to raise nearly $4 million and was revealed to have made more than three times that amount, raising $15 million-plus to help those affected by the relentless attacks by Russian forces ordered by Vladimir Putin.
Elsewhere in the broadcast, Camila Cabello covered Coldplay‘s “Fix You” and was joined by Ed Sheeran for the first live performance of their song “Bam Bam.” Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas also made an appearance via video where they voiced their support for the people of Ukraine.
“We are so sorry that we can’t be there tonight, but we still wanted to offer all of our love and support to everyone performing and most importantly to express the support and solidarity with the millions of people who’ve been forced to flee their homes and leave everything behind,” Eilish said. Her brother went on to add: “The charities delivering humanitarian aid are doing a vital job so we want to say thank you to them and thanks to you for giving whatever you can.”
