BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

22/01/2007

Belarus decided: Dmitry Koldun to Helsinki

Tonight, the Belarussian national final was held. Moments ago, it was announced that Dmitry Koldun will represent Belarus in the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest with the song Work your magic. The jury decided the winner out of three contestants that were selected out of fifteen music acts that had taken part in the Eurofest qualifier round on 15th December.

The show

The show was opened by Andrei Kunets, who finished second in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2006. He performed his song Novyi den' once again. After Denis Kurian, host of the evening, welcomed the audience, Kseniya Sitnik entered the stage, performing My vmeste. With that song, she won the Junior contest for Belarus in 2005. The nine jury members (eight men and one woman) were now introduced by Olga Schlager.

Diana Gurtskaya was the first to present her song How long. The stage performance was almost the same as in the semi final, featuring her wearing a black dress surrounded by male backdround dancers dressed up as angels. The vocal performance was again very strong.

The Project were now performing S.U.P.E.R.S.T.A.R., a song that it supposed to be sarcastic criticism of the show business. The stage performance was as messy as in the semi final but should oviously reflect the humouric character of the song.

Dmitry Koldun was number three. His new song Work your magic was illustrated by huge signs of the zodiac in the background. The stage performance was quite simple and kind of rock inspired.

Alexandra & Konstantin opened the interval act with their song My Galileo. This song was the first Belrussian representative back in 2004 but - as all Belarussian entries - didn't make it to the final. The 2005 representative Angelica Agurbash followed on stage, performing her Love me tonight. The song was followed by another song Miracle. The singer wanted to compete with it in the final but was diqualified. No surprise that 2006 representative Polina Smolova entered the stge now. She didn't sing her entry mom (which she already performed as opening act in the qualifier round) but a new song. This weekend, she finished 18th in the Eurodance contest.

Cosmos represented Latvia in Athens were they finished 16th with I hear your heart. They perfmormed an a capella version of an Alla Pugacheva song and their own version of Michael Jackson's Billy Jean. Another star: Marie N performed her 2002 Eurovision Song Contest winning entry I wanna. She also performed I feel good, a song that was featured in the interval act of the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest in Riga. Swedish Carola was next to perform: She sang her entry for Athens, Invincible, that finished 5th in the final and for the first time English versions of two other songs, Nar loven faller (Never walk without you) and Sa lange jag lever (As long as I am here). Dima Bilan followed her perfoming Never let you go, the song he finished second with in Athens. Two songs in Russian followed. One of them was Lady Flame, a song that he entered for the 2006 Russian selection. The third song was called Ya tebya pomyu.

Belarus competed for the first time in 2004 in the semi final round and has yet to make it to the Eurovision Song Contest final. In 2006, Polina Smolova finished 22nd - 2nd from last - with the song Mum. Therefore, Dmitry Koldun will have to go through the semi final in Helsinki.

Source:

http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/7318