Czech band Vesna tapped to make Eurovision finals, says Spotify

Czechia is expected to qualify for the finals of the Eurovision Song Contest. The all-woman group Vesna competes tonight in the semifinals in Liverpool, which will be broadcast on ČT2 at 9 p.m.

Vesna qualified to represent Czechia under a new system of international voting, beating four other acts. In the semi-finals, Vesna will perform their multilingual song My Sister's Crown in the 13th slot out of 15. Only 10 of the countries will make it to the finals, which air on May 13.

A second semifinal takes place on May 11 to select another 10 counties, while this year six countries including Ukraine, which won last year, automatically qualify. In total, 26 countries will compete out of 37 initial entries.

Music service Spotify and bookmakers all expect Vesna to make it to the finals. On Spotify, the song My Sister's Crown is the 11th most played of the Eurovision songs submitted this year. A roundup of bookmakers by the website Eurovisionworld.com has Czechia coming in fifth place in the semifinal round. But the same source tips Sweden to win the finals with Loreen performing Tattoo.

Vesna formed at the Jaroslav Ježek Conservatory in Prague. The leader and singer of the band, Patricia Fuxová, recently stated that they will represent not only the Czech Republic but also Slavs in the Eurovision Song Contest.

The international group has Czechs Patricia Fuxová on vocals, Bára Juránková on violin, and Markéta Mužátková on drums, Slovak Tereza Čepková on bass guitar, Russian Olesya Ochepovskaya on keyboards, and the Bulgarian Tanita Yankova on violin.

"Because some of the female musicians come from other countries and this year, for example, Slovakia or Bulgaria are not competing, so since we have a Slovak bassist and a Bulgarian rapper in the band, we feel that we also represent Slavism and our roots, which are common to these countries," Fuxová told ČTK.

The winner of last year's Eurovision Song Contest was the Ukrainian group Kalush Orchestra with the composition Stefania. Normally, the winning country hosts the following contest, but due to security concerns this year the show will take place in Britain, which came in second place last year.

The Czech Republic has entered Eurovision a total of 11 times since 2007 but has yet to win. It has made it to the finals four times. The best showing was in 2018 when Mikolas Josef came in sixth. Last year, the group We Are Domi came in 22nd out of 25 finalists. Czechoslovakia never competed in Eurovision, but singer Karel Gott represented Austria in 1968.