BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

01/06/2008

Live from Minsk the first Belarus JESC semifinal

Jaime Solloso (Spain)

We are live in Belarus to see 20 participants look to make their way to the JESC National final and hopefully book their place to Cyprus. Our hosts are three children (two girls, one boy) who will liaise with the singers as our judges watch on from an adjoining room. We are expecting a lively show from the country who has brought us two previous JESC winners.

WATCH THE SHOW ONLINE
www.belarus-tv.by/live/btv.asx

Diana Gromova "Ta-ru-ram (Gomel)
Our first performer of the night is a lively disco number. The singer (female) is accompanied by various girls who jump up and down while following a tuneful melody.

Roman Voloznev "Mammy" (Minsk)
Our second performer is singing a mellow ballad and accompanied by what can be described as gymnasts. There is nothing exceptional in the performance.

Maria Lemeshevskaya - "SMS MMS" (Kobrin, Brest region)
Our third performer, a girl who is singing about text messages. The song is easy to follow but her voice does seem to strain at times.

Irina Kulagina "Midsummer Song" (Lepel, Vitebsk region)
Our fourth performer, remember that there will be twenty in total is a folk song with a touch of dance. The song has a catchy chorus in "go, go, go".

Maria Dubovskaya "The Camomiles" (Minsk)
A lively number involving roller skates and some catchy chorus. May do well.

Alina Moshchenko "Time" (Mogilev)
This can only be described as an Amy Diamond wannabe. A pop tune with use of a mobile phone as a prop, seems to be typical tonight.

Darya Soroko "So-Da-Super Star" (Minsk)
Another pop tune with a catchy melody. The stage performance itself seems bizarre and this will need choreographic changes.

Roman Voloznev "Mammy" (Minsk)
This is a moving ballad with our male singer dressed in something resembling 70s sci-fi clothing. The song is ok but nothing outstanding.

Diana Guzino "Number one" (Grodno)
Accompanied by stage acrobatics, our performer (female) jumps up and down repeatedly to this pop tune with the catchy title of "Number One".

Dmitry Yermuzevich, "All of us are Children of the Earth" (Gomel)
Accompanied on stage by his female dancers and a globe, this is a pop tune that appeals to all bacause of it's lyrics. The performance itself is a little shaky but it works at this level.

Ekaterina Goncharov and Dmitry Korchevsky (duo) "Beyond the Horizon"
(Berestovitsa, Grodno district)
Our first fuet of the night (male and female), a pop tune with some interesting rolling on the floor performances. The song itself is ok but in need of some touch up if it was to make it to the final.

Nikita Zhurovich "Dreaming" (Lelchitsy, Gomel region)
One of the more lively songs of the night but the words seem to be playing catch up to the melody. However this song does have the potential to entertain.

Alina Konareva "Magic Dreams" (Vitebsk)
A dance tune with our singer looking like she has been starring in the Neverending Story. A catchy melody and not a bad voice but a bit unsurprising.

Cyril Yermakov "I Sing it for You" (Minsk)
As we near our final few, this is a different take on a ballad. Our singer had mixed in soem rap into it but yet the song itself is extremely mellow. The backing dancers are all over the place.

Darya Mikhailova "Ode to Jazz" (Vitebsk)
With our performer describing herself as the Cristina Aguilera of Jazz we can expect a fascinating performance. Sadly this is a mellow jazz sounding number and I am still wondering what on earth our backing dancers are doing. The song does reming you of a 30's movie.

Darya Shulgina "Dancing, Dancing" (Grodno)
A catchy number as our singer makes his presence on stage tell. I am not however a fan of the costumes which appear to be the standard school uniform with even shorter skirts. At least our singer has a good voice.

Ekaterina Mezhennaya "Pin Codes" (Minsk)
A ballad with a mellow melody. Our singer is surrounded by a two girls wearing the same costumes that she is and for some reason she has a flower on her microphone.

Alexandra Stelmakh "Young RNB" (Grodno)
Dressed in traditional Belarus clothing, our singer starts doing hip hop. How this works is still unclear. Her performance is clearly moving but where to we're not quite sure.

Polina Dutchik and Mikhail Sosunov (duo) "Ginny" (Brest)
A nice disco tune with powerful lead performance. Could do well.

Darya Nadina, Karina Zhukovich, Alina Molosh (trio) "Heart of Belarus" (Minsk, Baranobichi, Brets district and Ivatsevichi, Brest district)
The only trio of the night, they are all dressed in white and perform a pop-rock tune which is well co-ordinated. There is the catchy use of the lyrics "la, la, la, la" and a melody that stays with you. One of the better songs tonight.

That concludes the first Belarus JESC semifinal and now the judges will decide upon the qualifiers. We are also treated to a performance from the actual JESC winner of 2007.

Source:

http://www.oikotimes.com/v2/index.php?file=articles&id=3550

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