Ukrainian rapper Alyona Alyona is continuing to triumph abroad.
The local hip-hop sensation has recently won the Music Moves Europe Talent Awards, European Union’s prize for emerging artists.
Alyona Alyona won the prize along with other seven acts, but she was the only winner to have also received the Public Choice Award.
The ceremony was held online on Jan. 15 as part of the Eurosonic Noorderslag music festival in Groningen, the Netherlands.
In a Jan. 16 Facebook post, Alyona Alyona wrote that receiving accolades is always gratifying but the ones from abroad have a special value for her.
“When people don’t know your language but sincerely feel your vibe and try to understand your message — you realize that you make music not for nothing,” she said.
Read more: Meet Ukraine’s new star rapper, Alyona Alyona
Though Ukraine is not part of the EU, the country is enrolled in Creative Europe, the European Commission’s program supporting culture that co-funds the Music Moves Europe Talent Awards. Alyona Alyona is the first artist from outside the EU to have won the prize.
Born Alyona Savranenko, 29, Alyona Alyona famously quit her job as a nursery school teacher to deliver striking Ukrainian rhymes to grooving beats. The rapper “hits the bull’s eye with her lyrics,” according to the awards.
“There is something truly special about Alyona Alyona that goes beyond her undoubtedly impressive looks, her confident attitude, her captivating flow, her lyrical ability, her sound quality and even her alter ego who worked in a kindergarten,” the awards wrote.
Each of the 2020 winners of the award received a prize package that has a value of 10,000 euros. It covers a training program for career development and touring and promotional support aimed to further develop an artist’s international career.
As the winner of the Public Choice Award, Alyona Alyona also gets 5,000 euros in cash and a chance to film a live session at a Paris studio of global streaming service Deezer.
Carried out by German Reeperbahn and Dutch Eurosonic Noorderslag festivals, the awards have been celebrating promising music acts “who represent the European sound of today and tomorrow” since 2019.
“Compared to Anglo-American music, the total percentage of music originating from mainland Europe is relatively small. The Music Moves Europe Talent Awards are therefore designed to accelerate the international careers of upcoming European artists,” the prize’s website says.
Aside from Alyona Alyona, the winner list includes: Rimon from The Netherlands, Lous and the Yakuza from Belgium, Vilda from Finland, Sassy 009 from Norway, Inhaler from Ireland, Julia Bardo from Italy and Melenas from Spain.
The nominees are selected based on professional recommendations and streaming data, while the winners are picked by an expert jury.
Rapping about social issues and internal struggles, Alyona Alyona manages to mix self-irony with a distinguished confident flow that made her an instant hit in Ukraine right after her first release in 2018.
The EU music prize is at least the second accolade Alyona Alyona collects for 2020. The other award was the United Nations’ Women In Arts in the music category.
Just a year earlier, Alyona Alyona won German Anchor Award as the best emerging artist.
Her 2019 debut album “Pushka” also brought the artist local Aprize music award and two Yuna music awards for best album and best duo together with other prominent rapper Alina Pash.
Alyona Alyona is also the winner of the Kyiv Post’s 2019 Top 30 Under 30 award, which celebrates young Ukrainian leaders from all walks of life.
