The second press conference of Ukraines' Ruslana took place this afternoon in the press area of the Abdi Ipecki arena in Istanbul. Apart from Ruslana on stage she was accompanied by her backing dancers and more importantly her parents. Her husband too was in the audience.
Like virtually all the other press conferences that have taken place, it started about half an hour late, but for once this was not down to the organisers, but Ruslana, who aplogised has she had been very busy packing, and signing so many items, and to use her catch phrase all week had had “No sleep, no sleep”. The press conference lasted about 40 minutes, but as the press centre closes at 16:00 local time it has given journalists little time to write up their stories!
Ruslana took centre stage as she unveiled a case containing several glass trophies, and presented several of her own awards to people who were special to her, who had helped her achieve this victory. These included her choreographer, her parents, and the biggest award was “Not mine, belongs to the person who deserved it most…I love him – my husband”.
She also thanked all of Ukraine who were still celebrating the victory by all accounts, she had received loads of messages of congratulations and even read out an SMS text, it has created a big commotion to use the translation of her interpreter, the whole palce is going nuts and all the bars are playing Wild dances.
She had made a big promotional tour of 15 countries prior to the contest, including the United Kingdom, which she regards as the country that can open up doors for her. However she is planning a tour of the USA in July and September where she has 12 dates filled in, and she is currently in negotiations to appear in Japan.
When asked about giving advice to the United Kingdom, following another poor result, she said that now in the contest it is the whole package, a show, with style, image, sound, costumes and choreography all being important and not to follow patterns.
In an emotional conference, her father said he was “Today I am the happiest father around, I am proud of my daughter and I love her so much”. He also talked about Ruslanas' 80 year old grandmother who hadn't slept since the victory of her grandaughter and had so many people congratulating her.
I believe we can do it
Several times the phrase “Welcome to Ukraine was used, and inevitably there were questions about Ukraines' ability to host the 50th contest in 2005. Although they had been so far busy celebrating, and had not thought about any specific details, such as investment, they are confident about next year and looking forward to it. The plans will start as soon as next week, and already there was the first hint that Swedish TV could be involved again. They intend though to talk to all countries who have hosted a Eurovision Song Contest to find out as much as they can about the task ahead.
They were also very grateful to TRT for their organisation, and once again complimented them on the sound, the staging, the lighting, and apoogised once more for breaking the glass floor in an earlier rehearsal!
Ruslana herself as well as being a performer is also an author and composer, and she has more ambitions as a producer and composer than she does as a performer. She is also a musical conductor and would love to become involved in staging a rock opera.
The conference concluded with thanking everybody once more, including the assembled journalists and thanking the moderator who had conducted the conferences over the duration of the event.
