Dominika Hašková to represent Czechia in Eurovision semi-final
Dominika Hašková, the daughter of the Czech ice hockey legend Dominik Hašek, will represent the Czech Republic at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. The 27-year-old singer and her band called We Are Domi won the national round with a song called Lights Off with which it will compete in the Eurovision semi-final in Italy’s Turin on Thursday night.
We Are Domi, a Czech-Norwegian alternative electro-pop band, was established in 2016 in Great Britain, where all its three members studied at the Leeds College of Music.
Apart from singer Dominika ‘Domi’ Hašková, it also includes guitarist Casper Hatlestad and keyboardist Benjamin Rekstad, who are both from Norway.
The trio, who first performed together for one of Dominika’s vocal recitals are not only musical collaborators, but also good friends, who have spent the last two years living in the Czech Republic.
We Are Domi’s entry for Eurovision is a song called Lights Off, an energetic and uplifting song influenced by electronic dance music. According to Dominika Hašková, it is about picking up the pieces of one’s life and starting over again:
“We are putting out music for everyone to take whatever meaning they need from the song to make them feel better or happier. What I would like to say is that it expresses what it feels like to go out in the rain and cry and dance at the same time.”
Although she has Czech parents, Dominika was born in the United States while her father, the famous hockey goal tender Dominik Hašek, was playing for the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres.
Dominika has been interested in music since early childhood and at the age of fifteen, she has already competed in the Czechoslovakia’s Got Talent competition.
As a coincidence, her father Dominik Hašek played with the Czech national hockey team in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and won the bronze medal in the PalaOlimpico, the exact same venue in which his daughter will take the stage at Eurovision on Thursday evening.
The Eurovision Song Contest always takes place in the country of the previous year’s winner. Although it is now in its 66th year, the Czech Republic took part for the first time in 2007, and only ten times in total.
The most successful Czech contestant so far was the singer Mikolas Josef, who took sixth place in 2018. A year later, the indie-pop band Lake Malawi finished just one spot below the Top Ten.
Among the favourites of the 66th edition is the British singer Sam Ryder and the Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra. The Grand Final of the Eurovision Contest 2022 is due to take place in the PalaOlimpico on Saturday night.
