BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

09/02/2006

Belarus: presenting the fifteen participants for the national selection; three to proceed

Fotis Konstantopoulos reporting from Athens (Greece) source: BTRC - photo: oikotimes resources

Belarusian broadcaster announced the draw for the order of appearance. Here is what BTRC web says for the event: The final of the selection round for Eurovision-2006 will be broadcasted live by the First National Channel on February 10. The results of the telephone vote, which will start after the concert, will be displayed on TV screens and official site of the contest. 3 best songs will compete for the right to represent Belarus at Eurovision-2006. In late February the organizing committee and professional jury will select the best song and name an official Belarusian participant at Eurovision 2006. According to the draw of National round of Eurovision-2006 the contestants will perform in the following order:

PRIMA-VERA

Primavera is translated as "spring" from Italian. The stage name combines favorite time of the year of the singer and a part her biography. Prima-Vera was born on April 1. The singer graduated from Minsk Music School named after M.Glinka (with honors) and Belarusian State Music Academy. First songs were written by Prima-Vera back in 2002, though she started her solo carrier in 2004 with "The Flight" composition. The song was played on radio waves and became her first big hit. Work over the first album is still in progress; music and lyrics for the album were written by Prima-Vera herself. Today the singer is the soloist of the National Concert Orchestra of the Republic of Belarus under the baton of Distinguished Artist of Belarus, professor Mikhail Finberg. The singer will present the song "I Can See the Rising Sun" at the Eurovision-2006 National Selection Round.

DALI

The band consists of: Victor Rudenko - author of music and lyrics, vocal, acoustic guitar; Dmitry Parfenov - setting, guitar, accordion, back-vocal; Igor Bulov - trombone, keyboard; Ivan Zaprutsky - trumpet, percussion, back-vocal; Alexei Evtushenko - bas-guitar; Evgeny Sadovsky - keyboard, back-vocal. The band was founded a year ago, though have great ambitions. They found reflection in the band's name - "Dali". Notably, fame of Salvador Dali influenced the band, though the name contains also some patriotic motives - "dali" means "played well" in Belarusian. The band plans on contributing into development of Belarusian music and culture, give new sound, taste and color so to be heard all over the world. At present "Dali" works with Irina Dorofeeva: last summer they gave about 40 live concerts within the frameworks of "Under the peaceful sky" program. Sometime they had to perform even out in the open field. The band successfully tours in Belarus and abroad. They will present the song "Europe's Heart's Groove" at the Eurovision-2006 National Selection Round.

JANET

Janet already managed to perform together with such stars as "Bony M", "Army of Lovers" and "T.A.T.U." and take part in a lot of prestigious festivals and contests. She is the finalist of qualifying stages for "Eurovision-2004" and "Eurovision-2005". 2005 was lucky for the singer: Janet records her first solo album "From Belarus with Love"; receives diploma at all-Belarusian forum "Crossroads of Europe" for her "I Don't Love You" song and gives successful solo concert at the Palace of the Republic. Janet is not only a performer - she is the author of lyrics and music of her songs. The song for "Eurovision-2006" "Mystic Logic" was written in cooperation with her producer Gennady Melnikov. Janet is going to sing "Mysterious Logic" at the Eurovision-2006 National Selection Round.

ELENA GRISHANOVA

Solo project "Elena Grishanova" started back in 2004 with recording of "Love Is Not Killed" song. The video clip for the song was shot in Kiev by famous producer Semen Gorov. Second song "I Miss You" repeated success of the debut song as well as lifted rating of Elena to a higher professional level. Young singer actively takes part in music forums of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus releasing such new songs as "Telephone Lines", "Shadows", "Fall Rain", "She's OK". Elena is being invited to take part in TV shows. At present Elena Grishanova works over two discs that are to be released in spring of 2006. Her song for Eurovision-2006 National Selection Round is "You Can't Stop This Dance".

GOSIA ANDRZEJEWICZ

Gosia Andrzejewicz - a musical personality with a soft and warm voice, was born on 14th of January 1984. Music has been with her ever since she was a child. Beginning at school, she was the "top vocalist", singing at various school ceremonies. She drove all over Poland performing at youth singing competitions. She won over 30 of them, including many national ones. She grew up in Bytom, where she received twice the President's Award for exquisite artistic achievements. After many failed attempts with different local composers, Gosia has discovered her own creative talent and began to compose melodies that would represent her personality the best. In third grade of high school Gosia began her adventure with Italian with which she fell in love endlessly. To improve her foreign language skills she went to Florence on her vacation, where her talent and herself were discovered by an Italian composer Goffredo Orlandi,. He instantly offered her cooperation, becoming the third composer and producer of Gosia'a debut album "Stone". Gosia's album appealed to people, what could be observed by high positions in hit lists, response during concerts and a high interest in the songs placed on Polish internet portals. For instance, "Slowa" reached 1st place in all musical categories and the number of daily clicks was 5000. Last year Gosia was invited to Eurovision Song Contest 2005 by the band Ivan & Delfin. She was a back vocalist in their song "Czarna Dziewczyno" and played solo parts on accordion. The beginning of new year 2006 is very successful for Gosia. She has been selected to take part in Belarussian National Selection Round for Eurovision-2006. Her song is called "Dangerous Game".

ALEXANDRA GAIDUK

First solo concert of Alexander Gaiduk was held back in 1997. First album "Mrs. Sadness" was released in 1998. Alexandra Gaiduk positions herself as Belarusian singer and is always welcomed at biggest international festivals. In 2000 the singer presented second album "Sunny" and held solo program at the biggest stage of the nation - at the Palace of the Republic. The third album "Adrenaline Angel" was completed in fall of 2004. the singer considers that in this album she managed to express her character, vocal and acting abilities. Alexandra Gaiduk also has a special romance program. She initiated and produced tremendous music project "Countrymen congratulate Belarus" dedicated to 60 years anniversary of liberation of Belarus. Annually she holds charity concert tour donating part of the money earned to "Babies" orphanage. At present Alexandra works over an English language album. She will sing "An A-Class Face" at the Eurovision-2006 National Selection Round.

LYAVONY

"Lyavony" started their career in 1996, when the English-speaking "Soulus Rex" led by vocalist Pavel Zaitsev came to be auditioned by Vladimir Mulyavin. Between 1999 and 2004, "Lyavony" worked within the core staff of Pesnyary under Mulyavin. In 2004 the band somewhat shrinks in size down to Pavel Zaitsev and Andrei Yushko. The band spends a lot of time on the road visiting different international festivals and taking part in large-scale projects. November 2005 marked the beginning of a new stage in the life of the band when the collaboration with arranger Vladimir Kurlovich and some session musicians resulted in the recording of several English-language songs, including "Come Back", with which "Lyavony" intends to conquer the Eurovision-2006 National Selection Round.

TYANA

Unlike most of her competition TYANA has not yet garnered an impressive collection of titles and released albums. She has been active on stage since 2002, awarded the Honorable Certificate of the Presidium of Minsk Regional Union Committee, BSU diplomas. She toured all of Belarus with charity concerts together with performer Oleg Eliseenkov. The choice of her musical style and repertoire has been greatly influenced by composers N.Neronsky, O.Eliseenkov, V.Ivanov and V.Serykh. She will sing "You Never Know" at the Eurovision-2006 National Selection Round.

DMITRY KOLDUN

This young singer has no decorations and achievements to brag about so far. But Dmitry definitely has quite a few talents. In 2002, he graduated from high school in Minsk with a silver medal to be enrolled in the Chemical Department of Belarusian State University the same year. In 2004, he became a finalist of the RTR's National Artist-2. 2005 brought Dmitry the victory in the Starry Stagecoach musical project. In 2004-2005, he worked with the National Concert Orchestra of Belarus under professor Mikhail Finberg, has ongoing cooperation with "Grand Prix" (under the guidance of Oleg Eliseenkov). Dmitry took part in Molodechno'2005 and the Slavonic Bazaar in Vitebsk. His song for the Eurovision-2006 National Selection Round is called "May Be".

GUNESH

Born in Baranovichi, she considers Belarus to be her homeland. She sings in Turkish, Azerbaijani and Belarusian. In 2000, Gunesh joined the State Youth Stage Theater as a soloist, then worked with the StateConcert (Syabry Studio). The very same year she wins the audience prize at the Malvy International Contest, Poland. In 2003, young and charming Gunesh wins a bunch of awards including Discovery diploma (Varna, Bulgaria, top five in Europe, laureate of the 1st Award of Yalta-2003 (Ukraine), Grand-prix holder of Amber Star-2003 (Yurmala, Latvia). In 2005, she captures 2nd award at the Young Performer Contest at the Slavonic Bazaar in Vitebsk and secures the victory at the Song of Belarus-2005 fall round. Her musical choice for the Eurovision-2006 National Selection Round is called "Connect the Hearts".

LESYA KODUSH

She got her musical education at Disna's Music School, Vitebsk Region, and the singing studio of the House of Culture in the town of Myory. She took part in many children's musical contests among which "We All Come From Childhood" stands out. Lesya received her first laureate diploma in 1997 at the Zornaya Rostan contest. She participated in Molodechno-2003 and the Slavonic Bazaar in Vitebsk. In 2004, she graduated from Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts under the singing specialty (vocalist). In 2004-2005, Lesya worked at the National Concert Orchestra of Belarus guided by Professor Mikhail Finberg as part of "Grand Prix" directed by Oleg Eliseenkov. Lesya mixes well singing and studying: she is seeking a second degree in Socio-Cultural Management. She will present her "Baby-Sitter" at the Eurovision-2006 National Selection Round.

IRINA DOROFEEVA

Irina Dorofeeva is rightfully considered to be one of the most popular and actual singers of our country. She actively promotes Belarusian music and often performs together with other popular singers and bands. Her repertoire includes songs of Glebov, Hanok, Zalhlevny, Palivoda, Rainchik, Tsvetkova, Molchan, Dolgalev, Neronsky, Zubrich, Yeremenko. And among the lyrics authors are Neklyaev, Legchilov, Rybchinsky, Tanich, Polikanina and Pronchak. Lately she has taken up songs by foreign authors such as Mozgovoi, Rybchinsky, Ponomareva (Ukraine) and Kozan (Romania). The career of a talented performer is tracked in music films "Moments" and "Roads of Irina Dorofeeva". Irina Dorofeeva brought Belarusian music to Belgium, Germany, Luxemburg, Poland, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine and Cyprus. She recorded 4 solo albums with the songs of the Belarusian composers. Irina is going to sing "Vyshita Sorochka" ("The Shift is Stitched") at the Eurovision-2006 National Selection Round.

LITESOUND

Rock quartet "LITESOUND" appeared in 2004. It consists of vocalist and author Dmitry Karyakin, guitarist Vladimir Karyakin, drummer Sergey Ginko and bass player Mario Gulinsky. First Dmitry and Vladimir Karyakin performed as a duo and gave concerts in Belarus, Russia, China and the USA. They became laureates at the contests "MOVA Songwriters' Competition 2002" (USA) and "Modern Rock Bands Competition" (China). At the competition "Third Millennium Talents" the duo draw the attention of audio supervisor Andrey Starovoitov, who became a sound producer of "LITESOUND". The quartet was founded in winter 2004 and the first maxi single of the band was recorded in summer 2005. "LITESOUND" will present the song "My Faith" at the Eurovision-2006 National Selection Round.

RUSLAN MUSVIDAS & SVETLANA VEZHNOVETS

Ruslan Musvidas is a professional musician, having an education in classic music. Ruslan was born in Brest in a family of great antiquity, which had a baronial title. His parents were hereditary musicians. The singer's grandfather Stasis Musvidas was a brilliant violinist and played in Lithuanian military band. Ruslan first appeared on the stage, when he was 5, and after that his music career was quite successful. He was a winner of many festivals and competitions. For the last 7 years he has been a soloist of National Concert Orchestra, directed by professor Mikhail Finberg. The lyrics for his song is written by his wife, TV host Veronica Musvidas. Their song Jan was born in March 2004. A beautiful and talented singer Svetlana Mezhnovets was born in Belarus. Svetlana presented our country at "Slavonic Bazaar" festivals in Kiev and in Vitebsk. Now she studies in the University of Modern Arts in Moscow. Lately she has passed a state exam in vocal. Russian teachers put her "5++" according to a 5-grade system. Their song for Eurovision-2006 National Selection Round is "Proch s Glaz!" ("Out of Sight").

POLINA SMOLOVA

Polina Smolova began her music career in children's amateur bands. She learned to play the piano in music school and sing in the children's folk theater "Gostsitsa" and Belarusian folk band "Zhavoronochki". Then Smolova graduated from Glinka Music School and finished the department of folk song at Belarusian State University of Culture and Art. Polina Smolova has a wide collection of titles and regalia. She was a laureate of International competition "Malvy 2001" ( Poland), national competition of the Belarusian folk song "Voices of Motherland", "International Moscow Festival of Folk Song" (2002), International competition of patriotic song in St. Petersburg (2002). Polina won the First Premium of international festival "Voices of Europe" and grand prix of the contest of young performers "Slavonic Bazaar 2005". Also Polina was a teacher and manager in children's folk band "Tsernichka" and a curator of Brest finalists at TV competition "Fest of Young Performers". At the moment Polina Smolova is a soloist of Youth Pop Theater and MVD orchestra. Her song for Eurovision-2006 National Selection Round is "Mama" ("Mother").

Source:

http://www.oikotimes.com/site/index.php?id=3765

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