Belarus and Belarusian Television and Radio Company (BTRC) announced their participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 on 29 September 2008 by releasing the rules of their national selection - "Eurofest 2009".[1][2] The song did not progress from the first semi-final of the competition.
[edit] Eurofest 2009
The country's quest to select their sixth entry at the Eurovision Song Contest began in a selection process, the first stage involving a professional jury which selected 15 songs to be performed at the semi-final of Eurofest 2009, which was then narrowed down to 5 by the jury for the final, which was decided by televoting.[1][2]
Submission of songs to BTRC was held from 5 October to 20 November 2008.[1][2] BTRC received a total of 126 entries for Eurofest 2009. Live auditions were held by BTRC to select the 15 artists that would compete in the semi-final on 15 December 2008. The names of the successful artists were released on 5 December.[3][4]
[edit] Semi-final
The semi-final of Eurofest 2009 was held on 15 December 2008. A professional jury selected five artists to qualify for the final in January. The finalists had an opportunity to change their selected songs before performing in the final again.[5][6][7]
Results of Semi-final
| Draw |
Artist |
Song |
Authors |
| 1 |
Alexei Krechet |
"Joy and Freedom" |
V. Ruzov, A. Shenets |
| 2 |
Petr Elfimov |
"Eyes That Never Lie" |
P. Elfimov, V. Prokhozhy |
| 3 |
Cola feat. Lidiya Zablotskaya |
"Gudok" |
Gridin, V. Shevchenko |
| 4 |
SingeRin |
"Don't Think About It" |
K. Dudich |
| 5 |
Dakota (Дакота) |
"Tsyabe zabyvayu" |
Dakota, G. Lobodenko |
| 6 |
The Champions |
"Shake It, Europe" |
Nils, O. Orakposim |
| 7 |
Alex Patlis Band |
"Kto skazal" |
Alex Patlis |
| 8 |
Litesound feat. Dakota |
"Carry On" |
V. Karyakin |
| 9 |
Dominica |
"This Is My Day" |
S. Sukhomlin, A. Kostugov |
| 10 |
Dyada Vanya |
"Nasha Belarussia" |
I. Vabishchevich |
| 11 |
Veter V Golove |
"Or Or And" |
A. Zakharik, G. Galushko |
| 12 |
Anna Blagova & Yury Vashchuk |
"Behind" |
Y. Vashchuk, A. Zhilina |
| 13 |
Gunesh |
"Fantastic Girl" |
Gunesh, M. Khaitbayeva |
| 14 |
Victoria Belova |
"Don't Give Up From Love" |
A. Klimka, V. Belova |
| 15 |
Venera |
"Big Game" |
A. Nabeyev |
The five qualifiers from the semi-final competed again in a national final on 19 January,[8][9] a show held at the Sports Palace in Minsk, and presented by singers Anastasija Tihanovich and Dmitry Koldun, with Koldun being the 2007 Belorussian entry, coming sixth. The interval act consisted of the 2008 Belorussian and Ukrainian entries, Ruslan Alehno and Ani Lorak. The host, Koldun, also performed. The winner was decided by televoting, and the running order for the songs was not held until the night of the contest.[10]
The contest was won by Petr Elfimov, with his rock song "Eyes That Never Lie". He received a landslide number of votes, receiving 11475 votes in total, over 4000 more than runner-up Gunesh.[11][12][13] The group "Veter v Golove" were the only act to have changed their song from the semi-final stage.
Final - 19 January 2009
| Draw |
Artist |
Song |
Authors |
Televote |
Place |
| 1 |
Gunesh |
"Fantastic Girl" |
Gunesh, M. Khaitbayeva |
7 949 |
2 |
| 2 |
Petr Elfimov |
"Eyes That Never Lie" |
P. Elfimov, V. Prokhozhy |
11 475 |
1 |
| 3 |
Litesound feat. Dakota |
"Carry On" |
V. Karyakin |
4 385 |
3 |
| 4 |
Dominica |
"This Is My Day" |
S. Sukhomlin, A. Kostugov |
1 225 |
5 |
| 5 |
Veter V Golove |
"Shpatsyruem" |
A. Zakharik, G. Galushko |
2 804 |
4 |
After being selected as the Belarusian entry, Elfimov promoted his entry in a number of countries before Eurovision, making guest appearances at both the Greek and Ukrainian national finals on 18 February and 8 March respectively.[14][15][16]
[edit] At Eurovision
A new version of "Eyes That Never Lie" was made after winning the Belarusian national final, which was produced by Tero Kinnunen at the Finnvox Studios in Helsinki, both known for their associations with symphonic metal band Nightwish.[17][18] Belarus competed in the first semi final where they failed to qualify, finishing 13th of 18 participants, scoring 25 points.
[edit] Points awarded to Belarus
Points Awarded to Belarus (Semi-Final 2)
| 12 points |
10 points |
8 points |
7 points |
6 points |
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| 5 points |
4 points |
3 points |
2 points |
1 point |
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[edit] Points Awarded by Belarus[19]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c "Eurofest 2009 rules published". Eurovision-Belarus. 2008-09-29. http://belarus.esckaz.com. Retrieved 2008-09-29.
- ^ a b c Floras, Stella (2008-09-29). "Belarus: Welcome to the Eurofest project!". ESCToday. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/12334. Retrieved 2008-09-29.
- ^ Bakker, Sietse (2008-12-05). "Belarus: BTRC announces 15 hopefuls". Eurovision.tv. http://www.eurovision.tv/page/news?id=1614. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
- ^ "Belarus: BTRC announces the 15 participants". Oikotimes. 2008-12-05. http://www.oikotimes.com/v2/index.php?file=articles&id=4498. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
- ^ Klier, Marcus (2008-12-15). "Tonight: Semi final in Belarus". ESCToday. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/12695. Retrieved 2008-12-15.
- ^ Bayliss, Marc Calleja (2008-12-15). "Belarus: BTRC airs the semifinal for Moscow selection tonight". Oikotimes. http://www.oikotimes.com/v2/index.php?file=articles&id=4575. Retrieved 2008-12-15.
- ^ Klier, Marcus (2008-12-15). "Live: semi final in Belarus (Transcript)". ESCToday. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/12698. Retrieved 2008-12-15.
- ^ Klier, Marcus (2009-01-14). "Belarus: national final on 19th January". ESCToday. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/12909. Retrieved 2009-01-14.
- ^ Calleja Bayliss, Marc (2009-01-14). "Belarus: "Eurofest 2009" to take place on January 19". Oikotimes. http://www.oikotimes.com/v2/index.php?file=articles&id=4805. Retrieved 2009-01-14.
- ^ Floras, Stella (2009-01-15). "Belarus: More Eurofest final details". ESCToday. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/12919. Retrieved 2009-01-15.
- ^ Klier, Marcus (2009-01-19). "Belarus: Petr Elfimov to Eurovision". ESCToday. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/12971. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
- ^ Fisher, Luke (2009-01-19). "Belarus: Petr Elfimov to Moscow!". Oikotimes. http://www.oikotimes.com/v2/index.php?file=articles&id=4854. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
- ^ Siim, Jarmo (2009-01-19). "Belarus decided: Petr Elfimov to Moscow!". Eurovision.tv. http://www.eurovision.tv/page/news?id=1759. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
- ^ Klier, Marcus (2009-02-18). "National final in Greece". ESCToday. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/13279. Retrieved 2009-02-18.
- ^ Fantis, Giorgos (2009-02-18). "Live from Athens, the Greek national final". Oikotimes. http://www.oikotimes.com/v2/index.php?file=articles&id=5156. Retrieved 2009-02-18.
- ^ Klier, Marcus (2009-03-08). "National final in Ukraine". ESCToday. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/13468. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
- ^ Backfish, Emma (2009-02-09). "Petr Elfimov records new version of song in Finland". Oikotimes. http://www.oikotimes.com/v2/index.php?file=articles&id=5086. Retrieved 2009-02-09.
- ^ Floras, Stella (2009-02-23). "Belarus: New version of Eurovision entry". ESCToday. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/13348. Retrieved 2009-02-23.
- ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurovision_Song_Contest_2008
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Italics indicates semi-finalists who did not advance to the final. Scored countries are those that withdrew.
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Belarus
