Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015
Belarus participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "Time" written by Uzari, Gerylana and Maimuna. The song was performed by Uzari and Maimuna. The Belarusian entry for the 2015 contest in Vienna, Austria was selected through a national final organised by the Belarusian broadcaster National State Television and Radio Company of the Republic of Belarus (BTRC). The national final consisted of fifteen competing acts participating in a televised production where "Time" performed by Uzari and Maimuna was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from a jury panel and public televoting.
| Eurovision Song Contest 2015 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |  Belarus | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | National final | |||
| Selection date(s) | 26 December 2014 | |||
| Selected artist(s) | Uzari and Maimuna | |||
| Selected song | "Time" | |||
| Selected songwriter(s) |
| |||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Semi-final result | Failed to qualify (12th) | |||
| Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
| ||||
Belarus was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 19 May 2015. Performing during the show in position 11, "Time" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Belarus placed twelfth out of the 16 participating countries in the semi-final with 39 points.
Background
editPrior to the 2015 contest, Belarus had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest eleven times since its first entry in 2004.[1] The nation's best placing in the contest was sixth, which it achieved in 2007 with the song "Work Your Magic" performed by Koldun. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Belarus had managed to qualify to the final four times. In 2014, Belarus qualified to the final and placed sixteenth with the song "Cheesecake" performed by Teo.
The Belarusian national broadcaster, National State Television and Radio Company of the Republic of Belarus (BTRC), broadcasts the event within Belarus and organises the selection process for the nation's entry.[2] The broadcaster has used both internal selections and national finals to select the Belarusian entry for Eurovision in the past. Since 2012, BTRC has organised a national final in order to choose Belarus' entry, a selection procedure that continued for their 2015 entry.[3]
Before Eurovision
editNational final
editThe Belarusian national final took place on 26 December 2014. Fifteen songs participated in the competition and the winner was selected through a jury and a public televote.[4] The show was broadcast on Belarus 1 and Belarus 24 as well as online via the broadcaster's official website tvr.by and the Eurovision Song Contest's official website eurovision.tv.[5][6]
Competing entries
editArtists and composers were able to submit their applications and entries to the broadcaster between 21 October 2014 and 21 November 2014. At the closing of the deadline, over 110 entries were received by the broadcaster.[7] Auditions were held on 4 and 5 December 2014 at the BTRC "600 Metrov" studio where a jury panel was tasked with selecting up to fifteen entries from the 89 attendees to proceed to the televised national final. The auditions were webcast online at the official BTRC website. The jury consisted of Vasily Rainchik (musician/composer), Alexander Tikhanovich (singer), Elena Treshchinskaya (head of the radio station "Radius FM"), Olga Ryzhikova (television host), Evgeniy Papkovich (executive producer of the BTRC channel Belarus 1), Andrey Kholodinskiy (music editor at the radio station "Radio-Roks") and Marianna Drabovich (head of the Department of Arts, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus). Fifteen finalists were selected and announced on 5 December 2014 during BTRC's programme Panorama.[5][8]
| Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Alexey Gross | "Stand As One" | Leonid Shirin, Alexei Shirin, Yuri Vashchuk |
| Anastasia Malashkevich | "Don't Save My Name" | Pavel Klyshevsky, Anastasia Vahomchik |
| Beatrees | "Fighter" | Jamie Sellers |
| Daria | "Love Is My Colour" | Daria, Pavel Baranovsky |
| Gunesh | "I Believe in a Miracle" | Gunesh Abasova, Svetlana Geraskova |
| Janet | "Supernova" | Ylva Persson, Linda Persson, Will Taylor |
| Lis | "Angel" | Denis Lis, Dmitriy Minin |
| Milki | "Accent" | Alexander Rybak, Yaroslav Rakitin |
| Muzzart | "Only Dance" | Vladimir Krutikov, Yana Butskevich |
| Napoli | "My Dreams" | Olga Shimanskaya, Aleksey Zubarevich |
| Rostany | "Electric Toys" | Viktor Rudenko |
| Tasha Odi | "Giving Up Your Love" | Ylva Persson, Linda Persson, Peter Hägerås, Niclas Haglund |
| Uzari and Maimuna | "Time" | Uzari, Svetlana Geraskova, Maimuna |
| Valeria Sadovskaya | "Summer Love" | Leonid Shirin, Alexei Shirin |
| Vitaly Voronko | "Drajv" (Драйв) | Vitaly Voronko, Vladimir Kubyshkin |
Final
editThe televised final took place on 26 December 2014 at the "600 Metrov" studio in Minsk, hosted by Olga Ryzhikova and Denis Dudinskiy.[9] Prior to the competition, a draw for the running order took place on 7 December 2014. A combination of votes from seven jury members made up of music professionals (7/8) and public televoting (1/8) selected the song "Time" performed by Uzari and Maimuna as the winner. The jury consisted of Gennady Davydko (BTRC Chairman), Eduard Zaritskiy (People's Artist of Belarus/composer), Marianna Drabovich (head of the Department of Arts, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus), Andrei Mikheev (music critic and Eurovision expert), Sergei Andrianov (journalist), Elena Treshchinskaya (head of the radio station "Radius FM") and Dmitry Novik (television presenter).[10]
In addition to the performances from the competitors, the show featured guest performances by 2014 Belarusian Eurovision contestant Teo, 2013 Belarusian Eurovision contestant Alyona Lanskaya, Drozdy, Victoria Aleshko, Misters, Eliz, Dubravin and Krasovskiy, Aura, 4L and Olga Gornichar.[10]
| Draw | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote | Total | Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | Points | ||||||
| 1 | Napoli | "My Dreams" | 29 | 1,159 | 7 | 36 | 6 |
| 2 | Lis | "Angel" | 17 | 424 | 2 | 19 | 9 |
| 3 | Daria | "Love Is My Colour" | 14 | 193 | 0 | 14 | 11 |
| 4 | Gunesh | "I Believe in a Miracle" | 59 | 531 | 3 | 62 | 3 |
| 5 | Muzzart | "Only Dance" | 18 | 2,862 | 12 | 30 | 7 |
| 6 | Valeria Sadovskaya | "Summer Love" | 28 | 403 | 0 | 28 | 8 |
| 7 | Rostany | "Electric Toys" | 9 | 373 | 0 | 9 | 13 |
| 8 | Janet | "Supernova" | 5 | 200 | 0 | 5 | 14 |
| 9 | Alexey Gross | "Stand As One" | 40 | 917 | 5 | 45 | 5 |
| 10 | Milki | "Accent" | 37 | 2,226 | 10 | 47 | 4 |
| 11 | Uzari and Maimuna | "Time" | 68 | 1,188 | 8 | 76 | 1 |
| 12 | Beatrees | "Fighter" | 10 | 939 | 6 | 16 | 10 |
| 13 | Vitaly Voronko | "Drajv" | 1 | 268 | 0 | 1 | 15 |
| 14 | Anastasia Malashkevich | "Don't Save My Name" | 62 | 710 | 4 | 66 | 2 |
| 15 | Tasha Odi | "Giving Up Your Love" | 9 | 408 | 1 | 10 | 12 |
| Draw | Song | G. Davidko | E. Zaritskiy | M. Drabovich | A. Mikheev | S. Andrianov | E. Treshchinskaya | D. Novik | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "My Dreams" | 4 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 29 |
| 2 | "Angel" | 5 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 17 | ||
| 3 | "Love Is My Colour" | 4 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 14 | ||
| 4 | "I Believe in a Miracle" | 3 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 12 | 12 | 5 | 59 |
| 5 | "Only Dance" | 1 | 7 | 10 | 18 | ||||
| 6 | "Summer Love" | 5 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 28 | ||
| 7 | "Electric Toys" | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 | ||||
| 8 | "Supernova" | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||||
| 9 | "Stand As One" | 8 | 7 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 40 | |
| 10 | "Accent" | 6 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 37 |
| 11 | "Time" | 12 | 8 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 68 |
| 12 | "Fighter" | 10 | 10 | ||||||
| 13 | "Drajv" | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| 14 | "Don't Save My Name" | 7 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 10 | 12 | 62 |
| 15 | "Giving Up Your Love" | 3 | 5 | 1 | 9 |
Promotion
editUzari and Maimuna made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Time" as the Belarusian Eurovision entry. On 18 April, Uzari and Maimuna performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Edsilia Rombley.[11] On 24 April, Uzari and Maimuna performed during the Eurovision Pre-Party, which was held at the Place de Paris Korston Concert Hall in Moscow, Russia.[12]
At Eurovision
edit
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. In the 2015 contest, Australia also competed directly in the final as an invited guest nation.[13] The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into five different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot.[14] On 26 January 2015, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Belarus was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 19 May 2015, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.[15]
Once all the competing songs for the 2015 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Belarus was set to perform in position 11, following the entry from Serbia and before the entry from Russia.[16]
The two semi-finals and the final were broadcast in Belarus on Belarus 1 and Belarus 24 with commentary by Evgeny Perlin.[17] The Belarusian spokesperson, who announced the Belarusian votes during the final, was 2014 Eurovision entrant Teo.[18]
Semi-final
edit
Uzari and Maimuna took part in technical rehearsals on 12 and 15 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 18 and 19 May.[19][20] This included the jury show on 18 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.[21]
The Belarusian performance featured Uzari dressed in black and performing on stage with violinist Maimuna who was dressed in white. The stage colours transitioned from red to blue as the performance progressed with the LED screens displaying an electrocardiogram as well as vibrating strings and strikes of lightning.[19][20] Uzari and Maimuna was joined by three off-stage backing vocalists: Yury Seleznyov, Artyom Akhmash and Denis Lis.[22]
At the end of the show, Belarus was not announced among the top 10 entries in the first semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final.[23] It was later revealed that Belarus placed twelfth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 39 points.[24]
Voting
editVoting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member were released shortly after the grand final.[25]
Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Belarus had placed thirteenth with the public televote and seventh with the jury vote in the first semi-final. In the public vote, Belarus scored 32 points, while in the jury vote, Belarus scored 65 points.[26][24]
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Belarus and awarded by Belarus in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:
Points awarded to Belarus
edit| Score | Country |
|---|---|
| 12 points |  Georgia
|
| 10 points | |
| 8 points |  Moldova
|
| 7 points |  Armenia
|
| 6 points |  Russia
|
| 5 points | |
| 4 points | |
| 3 points | |
| 2 points | |
| 1 point |
Points awarded by Belarus
edit
|
|
Detailed voting results
editThe following members comprised the Belarusian jury:[25]
- Nataliya Marinova (jury chairperson) – director of TV channel "Belarus 2"
- Vitaly Karpanov – singer, composer, showman
- Oksana Artushevskaya – expert in the field of culture and art
- Alexey Gross – singer, vocal coach
- Iskui Abalyan – singer, composer
| Draw | Country | N. Marinova | V. Karpanov | O. Artushevskaya | A. Gross | I. Abalyan | Jury Rank | Televote Rank | Combined Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Moldova
|
5 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 5 |
| 02 | Armenia
|
2 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 7 |
| 03 |  Belgium
|
4 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 04 |  Netherlands
|
14 | 7 | 10 | 7 | 15 | 10 | 13 | 14 | |
| 05 |  Finland
|
11 | 13 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 14 | 7 | 10 | 1 |
| 06 |  Greece
|
8 | 9 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 12 | 8 | 3 |
| 07 |  Estonia
|
10 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| 08 |  Macedonia
|
15 | 15 | 14 | 11 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 15 | |
| 09 |  Serbia
|
7 | 10 | 9 | 13 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 4 |
| 10 |  Hungary
|
9 | 12 | 12 | 15 | 6 | 11 | 11 | 12 | |
| 11 | Belarus
|
|||||||||
| 12 | Russia
|
3 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 12 |
| 13 |  Denmark
|
13 | 11 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 13 | 9 | 11 | |
| 14 |  Albania
|
6 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 14 | 13 | |
| 15 |  Romania
|
12 | 14 | 11 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 9 | 2 |
| 16 | Georgia
|
1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 10 |
| Draw | Country | N. Marinova | V. Karpanov | O. Artushevskaya | A. Gross | I. Abalyan | Jury Rank | Televote Rank | Combined Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 |  Slovenia
|
26 | 7 | 26 | 25 | 26 | 24 | 12 | 19 | |
| 02 |  France
|
16 | 24 | 23 | 5 | 12 | 16 | 27 | 23 | |
| 03 |  Israel
|
13 | 8 | 12 | 6 | 11 | 7 | 11 | 9 | 2 |
| 04 | Estonia
|
9 | 3 | 14 | 12 | 19 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 7 |
| 05 |  United Kingdom
|
10 | 18 | 7 | 17 | 7 | 10 | 25 | 18 | |
| 06 | Armenia
|
4 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 7 | 4 |
| 07 |  Lithuania
|
20 | 10 | 9 | 16 | 8 | 12 | 20 | 14 | |
| 08 | Serbia
|
17 | 11 | 24 | 19 | 22 | 20 | 15 | 16 | |
| 09 |  Norway
|
12 | 23 | 11 | 20 | 10 | 14 | 14 | 11 | |
| 10 |  Sweden
|
3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 10 |
| 11 |  Cyprus
|
7 | 17 | 4 | 15 | 9 | 8 | 24 | 15 | |
| 12 |  Australia
|
2 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 6 |
| 13 | Belgium
|
5 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 8 |
| 14 |  Austria
|
21 | 16 | 22 | 23 | 18 | 23 | 26 | 26 | |
| 15 | Greece
|
14 | 13 | 15 | 10 | 15 | 13 | 22 | 17 | |
| 16 |  Montenegro
|
25 | 27 | 21 | 26 | 17 | 26 | 18 | 24 | |
| 17 |  Germany
|
19 | 14 | 17 | 18 | 16 | 17 | 19 | 21 | |
| 18 |  Poland
|
18 | 12 | 20 | 22 | 21 | 19 | 17 | 20 | |
| 19 |  Latvia
|
11 | 6 | 6 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 |
| 20 | Romania
|
24 | 15 | 16 | 21 | 20 | 21 | 16 | 22 | |
| 21 |  Spain
|
15 | 19 | 18 | 13 | 25 | 18 | 13 | 12 | |
| 22 | Hungary
|
23 | 20 | 19 | 27 | 27 | 25 | 21 | 25 | |
| 23 | Georgia
|
6 | 22 | 10 | 9 | 14 | 11 | 7 | 8 | 3 |
| 24 |  Azerbaijan
|
22 | 25 | 25 | 14 | 13 | 22 | 10 | 13 | |
| 25 | Russia
|
1 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 12 |
| 26 | Albania
|
27 | 21 | 27 | 24 | 24 | 27 | 23 | 27 | |
| 27 |  Italy
|
8 | 26 | 13 | 8 | 23 | 15 | 4 | 10 | 1 |
References
edit- ^ "Belarus Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
- ^ Jiandani, Sanjay (8 September 2014). "Belarus: BTRC confirms participation in Eurovision 2015". ESCToday. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
- ^ Jiandani, Sanjay (25 September 2014). "Belarus: BTRC opts for a national final". ESCToday. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
- ^ Jiandani, Sanjay (20 November 2014). "Belarus: National final on 26 December". Esctoday.com. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
- ^ a b "Финалисты национального отбора на "Евровидение-2015" определены" (in Russian). BTRC. 5 December 2014. Archived from the original on 17 December 2014. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
- ^ Weaver, Jessica (26 December 2014). "Watch now: Belarus selects their act for Vienna". Esctoday.
- ^ "Шансы каждого из претендентов на победу в белорусском отборочном туре «Евровидения-2015» — один к семи" (in Russian). Interfax Belarus. 26 November 2014. Archived from the original on 5 December 2014. Retrieved 29 November 2014.
- ^ Olena, Omelyanchuk (5 December 2014). "Belarus: Who will compete in the national final?". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
- ^ "Белтелерадиокомпания продолжает подготовку к проведению финала национального отборочного тура Международного конкурса песни "Евровидение-2015"" (in Russian). BTRC. 15 December 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
- ^ a b Omelyanchuk, Olena (26 December 2014). "Uzari & Maimuna won in Belarus!". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
- ^ Petersen, Christian (9 April 2015). "Eurovision in Concert 2015". Eurovisionworld. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
- ^ "Russian Pre-Party on April 24th". The Eurovision Times. 28 March 2015. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
- ^ Siim, Jarmo (10 February 2015). "Australia to compete in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
- ^ Brey, Marco (25 January 2015). "Tomorrow: The semi-final allocation draw". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
- ^ Escudero, Victor M. (26 January 2015). "Allocation Draw results: Who's in which Semi-Final?". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
- ^ Siim, Jarmo (23 March 2015). "Running order of Semi-Finals revealed". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
- ^ Белорусская делегация отправится на конкурс песни "Евровидение" 10 мая. belta.by (in Russian). Belarusian Telegraph Agency. 6 May 2015. Archived from the original on 14 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
- ^ Roxburgh, Gordon (23 May 2015). ""Good evening Vienna" - Voting order revealed". eurovision.tv. EBU. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
- ^ a b Omelyanchuk, Olena (12 May 2015). "Belarus: Transit through time". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
- ^ a b Roxburgh, Gordon (15 May 2015). "Is it time for the Belarusian duo?". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
- ^ Roxburgh, Gordon (18 May 2015). "Juries...start voting!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
- ^ "Uzari & Maimuna: Time". eurovisionartists.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 22 December 2015.
- ^ Roxburgh, Gordon (19 May 2015). "We have our first ten finalists". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
- ^ a b "First Semi-Final of Vienna 2015". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
- ^ a b Bakker, Sietse (1 May 2015). "Exclusive: Here are this year's national juries!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
- ^ Adams, Willy Lee (25 May 2015). "Semi final split results: Who the jury hurt at Eurovision 2015". wiwibloggs.com. Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
- ^ a b "Results of the First Semi-Final of Vienna 2015". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
- ^ "Results of the Grand Final of Vienna 2015". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
- ^ "Full Split Results | First Semi-Final of Vienna 2015". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 24 May 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
- ^ "Full Split Results | Grand Final of Vienna 2015". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 24 May 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2021.