The very first to be sent to the main European music competition was Maria Katz, performing under the pseudonym Judith. It was thanks to her that Russia immediately managed to enter the top ten; in the final standings, Maria Katz took ninth place.
In 1995 and 1997, Philip Kirkorov and Alla Pugacheva entered the competition from Russia, taking 17th and 15th places, respectively. Commenting on his performance at that time, producer and musician Philip Kirkorov, during the “Live Broadcast” on the Rossiya 1 TV channel, said that he was young, but performed the song well, “didn’t sing a single false note.”
The singer Alsou was the next to conquer the European musical Olympus. Until now, her performance is considered one of the most successful in the history of Russia at Eurovision. She performed the song Solo, with which she took second place in Stockholm.
After not very successful performances by the groups Mumiy Troll and Prime Minister, the duo t.A.T.u managed to get closer to the results of Alsou, winning bronze at the competition in Riga.
In 2004, Russia was represented at the competition by Yulia Savicheva with the song Believe Me, and the next year by Natalya Podolskaya, but the girls managed to win only 11th and 15th places for the country, respectively. But the very next year, Dima Bilan entered the competition from Russia with the song Never Let You Go. In 2006, the singer took second place, losing to the Finnish band Lordi, but Bilan’s popularity and support was so high that he already decided to set off to conquer Europe again. But before Bilan, Europe was still waiting for the performance of the Russian trio Serebro, the girls won third place.
In 2008, the Rossiya TV channel broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time, and this year became the most successful for the country. Dima Bilan, again going to the competition, won the competition in Belgrade for the first time in the history of the country. The winning song was called Believe.
Then Anastasia Prikhodko, the Musical Group of Peter Nalich, and Alexey Vorobyov went to the competition from Russia. And in 2012, a broadcast on the Rossiya 1 TV channel again brought good luck to the country. The folk group from Udmurtia “Buranovsky Babushki” received silver in the competition. Their song Party for Everybody was so loved by the audience that they received only 13 votes less than Dima Bilan the year he won the competition.
In 2013, Russia was represented at the competition by Dina Garipova, who ultimately took fifth place. And the next year the touching duet of the Tolmachev sisters went to represent the country. 17-year-old Nastya and Masha performed the song Shine by Philip Kirkorov and Dimitris Konotopoulos with lyrics by John Ballard, Ralph Charlie and Gerard James Borg. According to the results of the European voting, our girls took seventh place.
In 2015, Russian singer Polina Gagarina was just a little short of winning. She performed the song A Million Voices, which brought her 303 votes from all over Europe, and this is Russia's highest result in the voting.
The Eurovision Song Contest was last held in Stockholm, Sweden in 2000 and ended with an excellent result for Russia by Alsou.
The results of the Eurovision music competition can be called a miracle
This opinion was expressed in his video blog by Ukrainian media expert Anatoly Shariy.
Video: Anatoly Shariy/YouTube
“I can’t help but say a few words, and my few words concern the miracle - because Eurovision has turned into a competition of miracles. It’s wonderful when bookmakers, who can “hit” hundreds of millions of euros, put certain people as winners, and then it all doesn’t add up. It’s wonderful when audiences all over Europe vote like this, but the jury – that is, a professional jury, which is very “professional” – votes differently from the audience. It's a miracle"
– he emphasized.
The blogger noted the obvious politicization of the competition. In his opinion, the jury's decision was based not on the performance of the performers, but on the attitude towards the countries they represented.
“I liked Jamala’s song, and I still like it. I like the performance, I like Jamala herself, let’s take away the politics - and it’s great. But it’s a miracle when the jury of all countries gives zero and minimal results to the country that has problems with Ukraine. It’s a miracle when two countries make it to the finals, and the whole world is watching, who is this one or that one? AND miraculously one country breaks out, as if we are seeing a written script"
– he noted.
Shariy also suggested that the organizers change the name of the competition to a more truthful one.
“If you turned your competition into a political competition, just call it Political Vision. And it will be honest and objective. And if you consider all thinking people to be a herd that does not understand what happened today in your wonderful competition, then you underestimate the mental development of people."
The winner of Eurovision in 2016 was Ukrainian Jamala with the song “1944”. Australian Demi Im took second place, Russian Sergey Lazarev took third. Spectators criticized the jury's voting results, and many of them admitted that the decision to award a prize to a musician from Ukraine was politically motivated.
The Internet is begging Russia not to give money to Kyiv for Eurovision 2017.
How Europe “leaked” Lazarev
In 2016, the rules for announcing the results of the competition were changed - if previously the points from spectators and professionals were summed up, now the results are announced separately.
At the same time, despite the boycott of the Russian performance by the Ukrainian jury, television viewers consider Lazarev the winner. Sergey became the first, receiving 361 points from the Europeans, and the Ukrainian Jamala was second.
Despite the success of the 33-year-old Russian ( according to bookmaker rates and iTunes charts, Sergey took first place), many jury representatives ignored his speech. Russia did not receive a single point from 20 out of 41 countries: Czech Republic, Ireland, Georgia, Finland, Switzerland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Israel, Germany, Norway, Australia, Belgium, Great Britain, Lithuania, Macedonia, Estonia, Italy, Poland, Slovenia, Hungary and Ukraine.
The Russian singer was given the highest rating by representatives of four countries: Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Belarus and Greece.
Russophobic sanctions of Eurovision 2016
You don’t have to be a music lover, just an open mind is enough to understand: “Eurovision” is a show for the mass fooling of people all over the world.
More precisely, another fairly successful “soft power” of the West, used under the guise of mass musical culture to influence public opinion in the direction desired by the West.
The usual propaganda poison of the West
But this action began to stall. Just as Western propaganda no longer works when the average person is lied to about the participation of the Russian Armed Forces in civil war in Ukraine, when they falsify the history of the Great Patriotic War and World War II in favor of growing neo-Nazism, they lie about the “seizure” of Crimea, whose people through elections proved their desire to return to Russia.
So, at first glance, the results of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest that ended in Stockholm, which ended in Stockholm, were favorable to the West, clearly revealed the hypocrisy and, as most observers and commentators on the Internet write, the politicization of the current “Political Vision”. And this is a gross violation of the rules (apoliticality) of this competition. That's it. And yet, taking a closer look at the voting results, you discover: behind everything is banal Russophobia, which has become the main propaganda poison of the West, used against Russia and to brainwash its own “golden billion”.
And yet the incompetence of... the jury?
Mikhail Tverskoy’s Estonian project “We Speak Russian” organized a vote to determine the professional suitability of members of the Estonian “professional” jury, which gave Russian performer Sergei Lazarev only 18th place out of 26 finalist countries at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. As you know, the performer from Russia received a total of first place from the audience, and 5th-6th place from the jury of other countries (the overall result was third place!).
You can talk as much as you like about the professionalism of the members of any jury, each of whom can boast of personal achievements in the music world, but such a blatant discrepancy between the Estonian jury and the overall opinion of other juries casts doubt, no, not on the competence of the mass audience who understand nothing, but on the jury itself in Estonia. And this even takes into account different taste preferences and characteristics of national cultures.
Five members of the Estonian jury gave Sergei Lazarev the following places: 10th (Els Himma), 11th (Kadri Koppel), 16th (Priit Pajusaar), 18th (Taavi Paomets) and the last 26th (Hanna Parman) . You involuntarily turn your finger at your temple. But it’s a fact: the younger the member of this jury, the worse he assessed the performance of the representative of the Russian Federation. The same correlation of Russophobia is observed among the population of Estonia - the younger a person is, the more he is poisoned by xenophobia and Russophobia produced by the school, the media, and the state machine.
NATO, it is also at Eurovision NATO
If we recognize the work of the Estonian jury as objective, then the question arises about the professionalism of the jury of other countries (42 in total), who on average rated the work of singer Sergei Lazarev quite highly (remember: 5th-6th place, although with a lag of 2.5 times from the leader - Australia).
The loyalty of the jury of a particular country to speakers from neighboring countries, which gave rise to serious indignation in past years, is becoming a thing of the past. Fewer and fewer national characteristics can be seen in the works of the contestants, although they still leave their mark today.
But another trend became obvious - Russophobic. The jury of 18 (!) countries out of 36 did not give Russia a single point. And, above all, these are NATO countries, known even for state Russophobia. Russia received the steering wheel from Denmark, Holland, Germany, Norway, Belgium, Great Britain, Lithuania, Macedonia, Estonia, Italy, Poland, Slovenia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Friends of NATO - Australia and Ireland, and even Israel and Ukraine voted similarly. Serbia, which shyly recalled its love for Russia, almost fell into this system of countries loyal to Brussels and Washington. She received from the "brotherly Slavic people» 1(?!) point, and Ukraine - 12 (?!). And what is characteristic is that almost all of the named countries gave the maximum points to Kyiv. Interestingly, several countries compromised by not awarding even one point to either Russia or Ukraine. These are the Czech Republic, Ireland, Finland, Hungary. France decided to show (in order not to be accused of obscenity) objectivity (Russia - 1 point, Ukraine - 0) and Holland (0 and 3, respectively).
Nothing musical, just Russophobia
Proud Poland became the victim of an undocumented but obvious behind-the-scenes game. The organizers chose Australia to act as a bridge between Russia and Ukraine in order to mitigate the inevitable scandal - a direct clash of interests between them. It would still be that kind of politics! Because of this, those who counted the votes bitterly offended the representative of the Green Continent. Having taken first place by a large margin (320 points against second-placed Ukraine with 211 points and third - France with 148 points), Australia received fewer votes from the audience than Poland. The jury of other countries “for some reason” forgot about it - only 7 points (?!) and 229 points from the audience (!). Alas, the cheaters had to sacrifice someone.
In general, Russia’s victory, which was given to it by viewers in many countries around the world (despite the facts of refusal to accept calls in Tallinn, as some commentators on the Internet wrote about), became, figuratively speaking, a powerful nationwide exposure of the head-on and vulgar Russophobia of the West. But also the disagreement of representatives of the “golden billion” with the rulers of their countries, who are more and more threatening to Russia and are shamelessly asking for trouble.
So nothing personal or musical, just politics and Russophobia!
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Russia has been taking part in the international Eurovision Song Contest since 1994. In 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2017 Russian singers did not participate in the final of the competition.
In 1996, due to the excess number of countries, the organizers had to conduct an additional selection, and Russian Andrei Kosinsky did not pass it. Two years later, Russia was not included in the competition according to the ranking determined by the results of previous years. In 1999, Russia found itself out of Eurovision, since a year earlier it had decided not to broadcast the competition live due to the absence of a Russian representative, and according to the Eurovision rules, such broadcasting is mandatory.
In 2017, at Eurovision in Kyiv (Ukraine), Russia was to be represented by Yulia Samoilova with the song Flame Is Burning. However, the Security Service of Ukraine banned her from entering the country for three years because of her performance in Crimea.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) suggested that Russia either broadcast the competition via satellite or change the contestant. The Russian Channel One stated that they consider these options unacceptable and in the current situation the channel does not consider it possible to broadcast the competition. EBU stated that Russia refused the proposed alternatives.
The first Russian participant in the international Eurovision television competition, which took place in Dublin (Ireland), was Maria Katz under the pseudonym “Judith” in 1994. With the song "Eternal Wanderer" she took ninth place out of 25.
Maria Katz was born on January 23, 1973 in Moscow. Russian singer, sang in musical groups"Kvartal", "League of Blues", "Maryland", was a backing vocalist for many famous Russian performers. Laureate of the title "Voice of Russia". Lead singer of the band Balls of fire. Founder of the Hit Start recording company. Characters in Russian versions of Hollywood films (the musical "Chicago") and cartoons ("Anastasia", "Rapunzel") sing in Maria's voice, and she voices commercials.
Philip Kirkorov was born on April 30, 1967 in Varna. Multiple winner of the Ovation, Golden Gramophone, MUZ-TV, Stopudovy Hit awards, World Music Awards, as the most popular artist Russia, laureate annual festival"Song of the Year". Awarded the Kinotavr Film Festival award in the Best Actor category.
Currently, Philip Kirkorov produces artists and groups and performs his own concert programs.
In 2009, Philip Kirkorov was the host of the Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in Moscow.
In 1997, Alla Pugacheva took part in the Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on May 3 in Dublin (Ireland). She finished 15th out of 25.
Alla Pugacheva was born on April 15, 1949 in Moscow. Soviet and Russian pop singer, People's Artist USSR (1991), laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation (1995). Over the years of creative activity, Alla Pugacheva has created many concert programs. Along with active concert activities took part in dozens of prestigious festivals and song competitions, both as a participant and as a jury member. Pugacheva is the owner of a unique collection of titles, prizes, and awards. The Cambridge International Biographical Center awarded her the personalized medal "2000 Outstanding Musicians of the 20th Century".
In 2000, Alsou represented Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest. The competition took place in Stockholm (Sweden). Alsou performed the song in English Solo and became the first Russian singer, who took second place in the competition.
Alsou (Alsu Abramova, maiden name- Safina) was born on June 27, 1983. Alsou's musical career began in 1998, when the singer was 15 years old. The song “Winter Dream” brought her great popularity. The singer's discography includes several albums, including "Alsu" (1999), Alsou (in English, 2001), "I Dreamed of Autumn" (2002), "19" (2003), "The Most Important Thing" (2008), "Native Speech" (), "Letters from the war" (), etc.
In 2001, the group Mumiy Troll performed from Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest. The competition took place on May 12, 2001 in Copenhagen (Denmark). The group took 12th place with the song Lady alpine blue. "Mumiy Troll" - Russian rock band from Vladivostok. Formed in 1983. Songwriter, vocalist and band leader is Ilya Lagutenko. Stylistics of the Lagutenko group. The group is the winner of the Ovation, Golden Gramophone, FUZZ, MTV Russia Music Awards, MUZ-TV awards, etc. Its discography includes more than 10 studio albums, including Polar Bear (2010), Rare Earths ( 2010), Vladivostok (2012), Hey Tovarish! (2012), "Moomikam from Trolliks. Sleep, rock and roll" (2012), Malibu Alibi (2016), "EAST X NORTHWEST" (), etc.
In 2002, Russia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest by the Prime Minister quartet. The competition took place on May 25, 2002 in Tallinn (Estonia). The group sang the English version of Kim Breitburg's song based on the verses of Karen Kavaleryan Northern Girl ("Girl from the North") and took 10th place among 24 participants in the competition.
The group "Prime Minister" was formed in early 1998 by producer Evgeny Fridland and sound producer Kim Breitburg. Since 2005, the team has been called "PM Group". The group consists of Zhan Milimerov, Marat Chanyshev and Pete Samuel Jason.
In 2003 Russian group t.A.T.u. came third at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Don’t Believe, Don’t Be Afraid, Don’t Ask.” The competition took place on May 24, 2003 in Riga (Latvia).
The Tatu project was created in 1999 by screenwriter and director Ivan Shapovalov, two 15-year-old schoolgirls Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova were selected as participants. The song "I'm Crazy" debuted on the radio in 2000 and spent several months at number one on the radio charts. On May 15, 2002, the Russian pop duo "Tatu" received the IFPI Platinum Europe Award for one million copies of the album "200 in the opposite direction" sold in Europe.
In November 2002, the group, which from now on became known as t.A.T.u., took part in the European Music Awards, presenting the Best Dance Video category and performed the hit All the Things She Said live. After this event, the group received worldwide recognition. In 2003, after participating in the Eurovision Song Contest, Volkova and Katina broke their contract with Ivan Shapovalov and began producing themselves, releasing two albums - “Disabled People” (2005) and “Management of Waste” (2007). In 2009, the girls announced that they were planning to start solo careers. In April 2013, the group's first concert took place after the breakup. In February 2014, girls at the pre-party of the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
In 2004, Yulia Savicheva took 11th place at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Believe Me. The competition took place on May 15, 2004 in Istanbul (Türkiye).
Yulia Savicheva was born on February 14, 1987. In 2003, she took part in the Star Factory-2 project. Her songs regularly became hits: “Ships”, “Vysoko”, “Sorry for Love”. The year 2004 was marked by Yulia’s participation in several international competitions, where she represented Russia. In addition to Eurovision, in 2004 she performed at the World Best competition and took 8th place. The singer's discography includes the albums Believe Me (2004), "Vysoko" (2005), "If Love Lives in the Heart" (2005), "Magnit" (2006), "Origami" (), etc.
In 2005, Russia was represented at Eurovision by Natalya Podolskaya with the song Nobody hurt no one by Viktor Drobysh. The final of the competition took place on May 21, 2005 in Kyiv (Ukraine). At the competition, Natalya took 15th place.
Natalya Podolskaya was born on May 20, 1982. In 2004, she became one of the brightest participants in the Star Factory-5 project, the music producer of which was Alla Pugacheva. At the end of the project, Natalya became one of the winners of “Star Factory-5” and the only singer who released her solo album “Late” (2004) as part of the project.
In 2006, Russia was represented at the competition by Dima Bilan, who took second place with the song Never Let You Go. The final of the competition took place on May 20, 2006 in Athens (Greece).
The Serebro group, formed in 2006, is a project of Channel One producer Maxim Fadeev. In 2009, the group's debut album "OpiumRoz" was released. Currently, the members of the group are Olga Seryabkina, Ekaterina Kishchuk and Tatyana Morgunova. Among the group's awards are the Golden Gramophone and Breakthrough of the Year awards.
In 2008, Dima Bilan took part in the Eurovision Song Contest for the second time. The competition took place on May 24, 2008 in Belgrade (Serbia). With the song Believe, with which Bilan and the Hungarian violinist Edwin Marton, he took first place.
In 2009, Russia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest by Anastasia Prikhodko with the song “Mamo”, she took 11th place. The final of the competition was held on May 16, 2009 at the Olimpiysky Sports Complex in Moscow.
Anastasia Prikhodko is a Ukrainian and Russian pop folk singer. Born on April 21, 1987 in Kyiv. She gained fame after winning the Channel One show “Star Factory-7”.
In 2010, Russia was represented at Eurovision by the Musical Band of Peter Nalich with the song Lost and Forgotten. The final of the Eurovision Song Contest took place on the night of May 30 in Oslo (Norway). Petr Nalich and his group with 90 points based on the results of the audience vote and the decision of the professional jury. The "Peter Nalich Musical Band", made famous in 2007 by the Guitar video on YouTube, consists of Petr Nalich himself, who is a songwriter, vocalist, pianist, accordionist and guitarist; Sergei Sokolov playing on acoustic guitar and domre; Konstantin Shvetsov, playing the electric guitar, as well as saxophonist, flutist and vocalist Yuri Kostenko; keyboardist Oscar Chuntonov; bass guitarist Dmitry Simonov and drummer Igor Javad-Zade. The group has several albums to its credit - “The Joy of Simple Melodies”, “Merry Baburi”, “ Goldfish", "Songs about love and homeland", etc.
In 2011, Russia was represented at the Eurovision 2011 Song Contest by Alexey Vorobyov with the song Get You. The final of the competition took place on May 14 in Dusseldorf (Germany).
Alexey Vorobyov was born in 1988 in Tula. In 2005 he. In 2007, he received the “Discovery of MTV-2007” award at the MTV Russia Music Awards. A song for Russian participant“Eurovision” was written by RedOne, the author of Lady Gaga’s hits and the official melody of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, collaborating with Shakira, Enrique Iglesias, Jennifer Lopez and other world stars. In recent years, as an actor, Vorobyov has starred in films and TV series “Treasures of O.K.” (2013), “The Three Musketeers” (2013), Ekaterina (2014), “Guest Players” (2015), “Get Up and Fight” (), etc.
In 2012, Russia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest by the group "Buranovskie Babushki" with the song Party for Everybody, which took second place. The final of the competition took place on May 26 in Baku (Azerbaijan). The ensemble "Buranovskie Babushki" was created in the village of the same name in Buranovo, Udmurtia, more than 40 years ago. Middle age members of the group are 70 years old, the basis of the repertoire is . The ensemble also became famous for performing modern hits in Udmurt, Russian and English. Since the end of 2014, "Buranovskie Babushki" have been performing under the name "Brangurt Pesyanayos", which translated from Udmurt means "Grandmothers from the village of Buranovo".
In 2013, at the Eurovision Song Contest, the final of which took place on May 18 in the Swedish city of Malmo, Russia was represented by singer Dina Garipova. The lyrical composition What if, performed by Garipova, took fifth place.
Dina Garipova was born on March 25, 1991 in Zelenodolsk (Tatarstan). From the age of six she studied vocals at the Zelenodolsk Song Theater "Golden Microphone". Graduated from Kazan Federal University with a degree in journalism. In December 2012, she won the Channel One television project “The Voice”. After this, she was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the Republic of Tatarstan. In February 2013, Garipova in Kursk. The Tolmachevs' first achievements were victories in music competitions"Golden Boat", "Neva Stars", "Constellation of the Young". In 2007, with a song of their own composition “Spring Jazz”, the Tolmachevs recorded their first album “Halves”, made their debut as TV presenters in several popular programs, and starred in the New Year’s television musical “The Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors”, where.
In 2016, at the Eurovision Song Contest, the final of which took place on May 14 in Stockholm (Sweden), Russia was represented by Sergey Lazarev. He performed the song You Are The Only One and took third place out of 26.
Singer and actor Sergei Lazarev was born on April 1, 1983 in Moscow. From 9 to 11 years old he sang in the Loktev ensemble and was a member of the children's musical group "Fidgets". From 2001 to 2004 he performed with Vlad Topalov as part of the Smash duo. In 2003 he graduated from the Moscow Art Theater School.
His discography includes six albums Freeway (2003), 2nite (2004), Don't Be Fake (2005), TV Show (2007), Electric Touch (2010), "Lazarev" (2012); the collection The Best (2015) and video albums "Show "Heartbeat": Live in Moscow" (2012), "Show "Lazarev": Live in Moscow" (). took second place in the competition and won the award from Alla Pugacheva "Alla's Golden Star".
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources
TASS-DOSSIER /Pavel Duryagin/. Russia first took part in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994, after joining the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The first Russian representative was the singer Judith (real name - Maria Katz). At a competition in Dublin (Ireland), the Russian woman performed the song “Eternal Wanderer” and took 9th place.
Russia was in the top three seven times
Since 1994 Russian musicians performed at Eurovision 18 times and missed only three competitions. In 1996, Andrei Kosinsky’s song did not pass the preliminary correspondence selection. In 1998, the Russians did not qualify for the competition due to a low rating (the average score for the performances of the five previous years was taken into account). In 1999, participants from Russia were not allowed due to the fact that the 1998 competition was not broadcast live in the country, despite the fact that this is a mandatory condition of the EBU.
Seven times domestic musicians managed to get into the top three according to the voting results. The singer Alsou achieved this success for the first time in 2000 with the song Solo (2nd place, English “Solo”). In 2003, the group t.A.T.u. came third with the song “Don’t Believe, Don’t Be Afraid.” In 2006, Alsou’s result was repeated by singer Dima Bilan (Never Let You Go, English “I’ll never let you go”). In 2007 Serebro group took third place, performing the song Song #1 (English: “Song number 1”).
On May 24, 2008, in Belgrade (Serbia), Russia won its first and to date only victory at Eurovision. Dima Bilan, who took part in the competition for the second time, took first place with the song Believe. The Russian received the highest score of 12 points from viewers from 7 countries: Armenia, Belarus, Estonia, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine.
In 2012, second place was taken by the Russian folklore group"Buranovskie Babushki", its participants performed the song Party for Everybody (English: "Party for everyone") in English and Udmurt languages. In 2015, at a competition in Vienna (Austria), Polina Gagarina also became second with the song A Million Voices.
Also in different years, Philip Kirkorov, Alla Pugacheva, “Mumiy Troll”, “Prime Minister”, Yulia Savicheva, Natalya Podolskaya, Anastasia Prikhodko, “Petr Nalich Musical Group”, Alexey Vorobyov, Dina Garipova and Tolmachev sisters.
In 2016, Russia will be represented at the competition by Sergey Lazarev with the composition “You are the only one”.
Eurovision in Moscow
In 2009, after the victory of Dima Bilan, Russia became the host of Eurovision for the first time (according to the rules, the winning country of the previous year hosts the competition). The final took place on May 16 in Moscow at the Olimpiysky sports complex. The hosts of the final were Ivan Urgant and Alsou. The victory was won by the Norwegian violinist of Belarusian origin Alexander Rybak with the song Fairytale (English: “Fairy Tale”).
Selection of participants
The national selection of participants for Eurovision is alternately carried out by Channel One (in odd-numbered years) and VGTRK (in even-numbered years) - Russian television companies that are members of the European Broadcasting Union and broadcast the competition in Russia. As a rule, a representative from Russia is selected at a closed meeting of the expert commission. Open qualifying competitions were held on air on RTR (Russia 1) TV channels in 1994, 1996, 2008, 2010 and 2012, as well as on Channel One in 2005 and 2009.
From 8 to 12 May 2018, the 63rd Eurovision Song Contest was held in Portugal. 42 countries took part in it. 37 contestants competed for the right to reach the final of the show through the semi-final system, and Great Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Spain and a representative of the host country of the competition, Portugal, reached the final automatically.
In the final, on May 12, 2018, 25 solo performers and musical groups competed for the main prize.
Eurovision final 2018 in Lisbon
Netta Barzilai scored 317 points from viewers, which ensured her a landslide victory.
6 countries immediately qualified for the finals.
1. UK/SuRie. The British have participated in Eurovision 60 times, winning 5 times: Sandie Shaw in 1967, Lulu in 1969, Brotherhood of Man in 1976, Bucks Fizz in 1981, Katrina and the Waves in 1997. Three times the British finished last. Suzanne Marie Cork, who performs under the pseudonym SuRie, will perform the song "Storm". According to bookmakers, Sandy will take a place in the second ten.
2. Germany/Michael Schulte. Germany is one of seven countries that have taken part in the Eurovision Song Contest since the very first competition. The Germans were first only twice: in 1982 by Nicole and in 2010 by Lena Mayer-Landrut. Seven times Germany's representatives ended up in last place. Michael Schulte will sing "You Let Me Walk Alone", but is unlikely to rise above 15th place.
3. Spain/Alfred & Amaya. She has been participating in the competition since 1961, and was the winner for 2 years in a row: in 1968 - Massiel, in 1969 - Salomé. Eight times the Spaniards were last. Alfred & Amaya will perform a composition in Spanish "Tu canción", with which they can hit the top ten.
4. Italy/Ermal Meta & Fabrizio Moro. She took part in the competition 43 times and won twice. In 1964 Gigliola Cinquetti won, and in 1990 Toto Cutugno won with the song "Insieme: 1992". The Italians took the last place only once - in 1966. The duet Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro will perform the song "Non mi avete fatto niente" in Italian. Bookmakers do not give Italians any place higher than 12th.
5. Portugal/Claudia Pascoal. This country has sent its representatives to Europe's largest song show 49 times. But the victory went to Salvador Sobral in 2017 in Kyiv, where he performed the song “Amar pelos dois” in Portuguese. Claudia Pascoal took part in the Portuguese music show "Ídolos", as well as the "X Factor" finals and "The Voice of the Country". Claudia will perform the song "O jardim" in Portuguese.
6. France/Madame Monsieur. Participants have competed at Eurovision 60 times and won five times: André Claveu in 1958, Jacqueline Boyer in 1960, Isabelle Oubre in 1962, Frida Boccara in 1969, Marie Miriam in 1977. The last time was only once - in 2014. Madame Monsieur - a duo of vocalist Emily Sutt and producer Jean-Carl Lucá will perform the single on French"Mercy". The French have a high chance of winning in Portugal; they are predicted to take second place.
Based on the results of the two semi-finals, in addition to the six participants listed above, the Eurovision 2018 final included:
- Serbia: Sanja Ilić & Balkanika - Nova deca
- Moldova: DoReDos - My Lucky Day
- Romania: The Humans - Goodbye
- Ukraine: MELOVIN - Under the Ladder
- Sweden: Benjamin Ingrosso - Dance You Off
- Australia: Jessica Mauboy - We Got Love
- Norway: Alexander Rybak - That"S How You Write ASong
- Denmark: Rasmussen - Higher Ground
- Slovenia: Lea Sirk - Hvala, ne!
- Netherlands: Waylon - Outlaw in "Em"
- Austria - Cesar Sampson "Nobody But You"
- Estonia - Elina Nechaeva "La Forza"
- Cyprus - Eleni Foureira "Fuego"
- Lithuania - Eva Zasimauskaite "When We"re Old"
- Israel- Netta Barzilai "Toy"
- Czech Republic - Mykolas Josef "Lie to Me"
- Bulgaria - EQUINOX "Bones"
- Albania - Eugene Bushpepa "Mall"
- Finland - Saara Aalto "Monsters"
- Ireland - Ryan O'Shaughnessy "Together"
First semi-final at Eurovision 2018
Azerbaijan/Aysel Mammadova. The country has been participating in Eurovision since 2008. In 2011 in Düsseldorf, the duet Ell & Nikki won the competition with the song "Running Scared". In 2012, Eurovision was held in Baku. In just ten years of participation in the competition, Azerbaijan received 1359 points. The worst result, 22nd place, was achieved by representatives of Azerbaijan in 2014. According to bookmakers' forecasts, Aysel Mamedova will not make it to the final this year.
Iceland/Ari Olavsson. The country has taken part in the competition 30 times since 1986, missing out on the song action only in 1998 and 2002. Twice the representatives of Iceland were one step away from victory. In 1999 through the efforts of Selma and in 2009 in Moscow thanks to Johanna. Iceland showed its worst result in 2005 - 16th place. Bookmakers are confident that Ari Olavsson will not make it to the final.
Albania/Eugent Bushpepa. The country has been participating in the competition since 2004 and has never come close to winning. The best result was 5th place in 2012, and the worst performance was in 2007, 17th place. The Albanian representative is not considered as a finalist in the 2018 song show.
Evgen Bushpepa (photo: YouTube)
Belgium/Sennec. The country has participated in the competition 59 times, of which 51 times in the finals. Once upon a time, the Belgians became Eurovision winners. It was in 1986, when Sandra Kim triumphed with the song in French "J" aime la vie". The worst result of the Belgian representatives was in 2007 - 26th place. Sennek should perform in the final, bookmakers are sure.
Czech Republic/Mykolas Josef. The country made its debut at the competition in 2007 and participated in the show 6 times and only once - in the final. The best result is 25th place, the worst is last. Mikolas Josef has a good chance of making it to the final, and bookmakers promise him 7th place.
Lithuania/Eva Zasimauskaite. The country has taken part in Eurovision 14 times since 1994. The best result was sixth place in 2006, and the worst was last place in 2005. Lithuania has minimal chances of reaching the final, according to bookmakers.
Eva Z asimauskaite (photo: euroinvision.ru/blog/eva_zasimauskajte)
Israel/Netta Barzilai. Representatives of the country stormed the Eurovision Olympus 40 times and succeeded three times, and for two years in a row. In 1978, Izhar Cohen and the Alphabet brought victory to the country, in 1979 Gali Atari & Milk and Honey, and in 1998 Dana International triumphed with the hit “iva”. Bookmakers are confident that Netta Barzilai with the song “Toy” will not only make it to the finals, but will also win Eurovision 2018.
Belarus/Alekseev. The country is participating in the competition for the 15th time. Previously, representatives of Belarus appeared in the finals 5 times. The best was the performance of Dmitry Koldun - 6th place, the worst - Ruslan Alekhno, who did not make it to the final. Ukrainian performer representing Belarus, Nikita Alekseev, most likely will not qualify for the finals in 2018.
Estonia/Elina Nechaeva. Participated since 1994 and best performance It was 2001 when Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL won the Copenhagen Song Show with "Everybody". The last place was taken by Estonia in 2016. Elina Nechaeva gets to the final according to bookmakers' forecasts, where she will probably take 6th place.
Elina Nechaeva (photo: ru.sputnik-news.ee)
Bulgaria/Equinox. She made her debut in competitions in Kyiv in 2005, taking 19th place. Last year, again in Kyiv, Christian Kostov took second place, losing only to the Portuguese Salvador Sobral. The Equinox group is not only the favorite of the first semi-final, but also a contender for victory in the competition; they are in the top five.
Macedonia/Eye Cue. Out of 17 participations, the Macedonians made it to the finals 8 times. The Balkans did this best in 2006 and 2012 (12th place), worse in 2011 and 2013 (16th place). The Eurovision 2018 participant is not expected to make it to the final.
Croatia/Franka. She has been participating since 1993, and was fourth twice in 1996 and 1999. They performed worst in 2007, failing to even reach the final five times. Franke is predicted to miss the semi-finals.
Frank (photo: YuoTube)
Austria/Cesar Sampson. Representatives of the country have participated in the song show since its inception in 1957. The Austrians were disqualified twice and refused to take part 9 times. Austria has won Eurovision twice. In 1966, Udo Jurgens triumphed with the song “Merci, Chérie”, and in 2014, the scandalous Conchita Wurst triumphed with the single “Rise Like a Phoenix”. Cesar Sampson will advance to the finals, where he will be in the middle of the second ten.
Greece/Gianna Terzi. They have been performing in the competition since 1974, six times the show was held without Greeks. In 2005 in Kyiv, Elena Paparizou with the composition My Number One brought Greece its first and last victory to date. Gianna Terzi will be in the final, bookmakers say, but she will not be the winner.
Finland/Saara Aalto. She began performing in 1961, and since then - 51 times. Once the Finns triumphed. Lordi achieved success in 2006 with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah". Last place in 2015 is the worst performance of Finnish representatives. Saara Aalto may make it to the final of the song show.
Saara Aalto (photo: YuoTube)
Armenia/Sevak Khanagyan. The country has been participating in Eurovision since 2006, taking fourth place twice: in 2008 and 2014. Armenia has never fallen below 12th place. This year, participant Sevak Khanagyan has a good chance of making it to the finals, where he is predicted to place in the second ten.
Switzerland/Zibbz. The Swiss did not take part in Eurovision only four times. Twice representatives of this country won the song show. The first time Liz Assia triumphed with Refrain, the second - Celine Dion with Ne partez pas sans moi. The Zibbz duo is unlikely to make it to the finals.
Ireland/Ryan O'Shaughnessy. The country has participated in the competition 51 times, 44 of which in the finals. More than anyone else, and this is 7 times, representatives of Ireland achieved victory, three of which in a row. So, in 1970, Dana Rosemary Scallon celebrated the victory in Amsterdam, in 1980 - Johnny Logan, aka in 1987, in 1992 - Linda Martin, in 1993 - Neve Kavanagh, in 1994 - Paul Harrington and Charles McGettigan and in 1996 year in Oslo - Eimear Quinn. Performer Ryan O'Shaughnessy will not be able to overcome the semi-final barrier.
Ryan O'Shaughnessy photo: esckaz.com)
Cyprus/Eleni Foureira. The country made its Eurovision debut in 1981 and featured best result(5th place) four times, in: 1982, 1997, 2002 and 2004. The lowest place was 18th in 2011. The Cypriot has a good chance of singing in the final and even entering the top ten.
Second semi-final
Norway/Alexander Rybak. Participates in the competition almost every year since its inception, and this is 57 times. Three times, through the efforts of Bobbysocks in 1985, Secret Garden in 1995 and Alexander Rybak with his “Fairytale” in 2009, the country celebrated the victory. The Norwegians performed very poorly (18th place) in 2007. Alexander Rybak easily gets to the final, where he will be a clear contender for victory and can only lose to the Israeli Netta Barzilai.
Romania/The Humans. Romanians have sung at Eurovision 18 times and have always made it to the final stage. At the same time, they never won, but were third twice (2005,2010). In 1998, fortune did not smile on them and they became 22nd. The Humans has slim hopes for the finale.
The Humans (photo: uchastniki.com)
Serbia/Sanja Ilic and Balkanica. The country participated in the song show 10 times, but in its debut year, 2007, they became the winning country. In 2008, the competition was brought to Belgrade by Maria Šerifović, who performed the legendary “Prayer”. Sani Ilic has no chance to please the audience in the final.
San Marino/Jessica and Jennifer Brening. Representatives of the country sang at Eurovision only eight times and always took last places. The female duet will not advance from the semi-final stage to the final show.
Denmark/Rasmussen. The Danes have been participating since 1957 and have been winners three times. In 1963 in London Greta and Jürgen Ingmann, in 2000 - Olsen Brothers, in 2013 - Emily de Forest. The Danes also took last place in 2002. Rasmussen will advance to the final stage of the competition.
Rasmussen photo (YouTube)
Russia/Yulia Samoilova. The country took part in the song show 20 times and was always in the finals. At the same time, the Russians won only once - in 2008 in Belgrade, Dima Bilan brought victory to Russia. The representatives of Russia performed worst of all in 1995 and it was Philip Kirkorov (17th place). Yulia Samoilova will reach the final, but she has no chance of winning there.
Moldova/DoReDo s. Moldovans have been participating since 2005 and almost always make it to the finals. In 2017, through the efforts SunStroke Project the country was third. The last place was taken in 2014. DoReDos will sing their fiery song, the music for which was written by Philip Kirkorov, in the finale.
Netherlands/Waylon. This country is one of the seven participants in the first Eurovision in 1956. Since then, she has participated 58 times and won four times: Corrie Brocken in 1957, Teddy Scholten in 1959, Lenny Cure in 1969, Teach-In in 1975. But in 2011, the Netherlands came in last place. Waylon is likely to confidently overcome the semi-final stage.
For 6 decades now, the Eurovision Song Contest has been sweeping the world. It unites a huge number of countries in a single impulse - to hear high-quality music, see an unprecedented show and, of course, cheer for its participant. The traditional month for it is May.
Certain rules that have been developed over the years apply to competition participants:
- A performer must be at least 16 years old to participate in Eurovision.(for younger heroes there is the so-called Junior Eurovision). There is no upper age limit. For example, one of the “Buranovsky grandmothers” was 79 years old at the time of the performance;
- The nationality of the contestant is not important, moreover any performer can represent any country, his citizenship is not taken into account;
- Of course, the decision about what vocal abilities a representative of a country will have is decided at the internal selection; there are no strict criteria here, but it is worth remembering that the competition itself requires “live” singing;
- Gender of the participant does not matter. Moreover, there are many precedents when it is generally difficult to say who is on stage - a woman or a man. In 1998, a transvestite appeared on stage for the first time, it was Yaaron Cohen from Israel, who at the time of his performance had already changed his gender and performed as Dana International. In 2002, the trio “Sestre” was also not entirely female. And 2007 was remembered by Russians for the performance of the Ukrainian Verka Serduchka, the screen image of Andrei Danilko. And although the use of this approach cannot be called successful, among these participants there is also the Eurovision winner - Conchita Wurst from Austria.
Participants enter the competition itself only after selection within their country. Moreover, the choice can be made both through the opinions of experts and through popular vote. IN lately many countries combine these two methods. This stage is preliminary.
Long-term monitoring of Eurovision results shows that there is no 100% recipe for victory. If a participant wants to stand out, this is not always to his benefit. For example, the 75-year-old rapper from Croatia did not make a splash in 2008, but Freaks “Lordie” made such a lasting impression in 2006 that he won.
Gender is not very important, statistics only show that groups win less often than solo performers. The obvious secret of success is a song in English. Such compositions are familiar to all European countries, although the flavor native language no one canceled.
