BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

22/11/2006

Exclusive: Angelica Agurbash on her miracle

Belarusian national selection project Eurofest submissions deadline has passed! Angelica Angurbash, the country's Eurovision Song Contest participant in 2005 has submitted a song, to the great pleasure of her fans. Today, esctoday.com spoke to Belarus' highest placed Eurovision Song Contest participant so far.

Angelica Agurbash is hoping ot return to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2007 with a song called Miracle. The song is written and produced by globally respected Rick Nowels and Billy Steinberg. Rick Nowels is a successful songwriter and producer who has worked with Carlos Santana, Madonna, Dido, Nelly Furtado, 2Pac, Belinda Carlisle and many many other international stars. Billy Steiberg has written (and co written) massive hits such as Like A Virgin (Madonna), True Colors (Cyndi Lauper), ), Eternal Flame (The Bangles), I'll Stand By You (Pretenders), I Drove All Night (Roy Orbison & Cyndi Lauper), I Touch Myself (the Divinyls), So Emotional (Whitney Houston) et al.

It is obvious that Angelica is raising the standards by bringing into the Eurovision race world renowned names such as Rick Nowels and Billy Steinberg. In the past we have had many famous songwriters writing Eurovision songs, among others: Serge Gainsbourg (Poupee de cire, poupee de son Luxemburg 1965, 1st place; and White and Black Blues, France 1990 that tied in second place); Dieter Bohlen, from Modern Talking, wrote Nur ein Lied for Austria and Flieger for Germany 1989, Zusammen geh'n for Austria 1992.

From now on the process is as follows: A jury will select 15 entries to compete in a semi-final round scheduled for December. For the semifinal, a jury will select two finalists; televoters will also be able to select one finalist. If the televoters select a finalist who was not selected by the jury, then three finalists will compete for the honor of representing Belarus. A professional jury will decide which song from the final will advance to Helsinki.

Today, Angelica spoke exclusively to esctoday.com about her reasons for trying to return to the Eurovision Song Contest, her experiences from 2005 and her hopes for 2007:

Why did you decide to come back?

"Because I have a song that is perfect for Eurovision. I loved the atmosphere, the experience of 2005, I made so many friends all over Europe. Eurovision is like a different planet with special people and a special spirit. It is addictive and it will be great if I can go there again. I felt free and happy there".

How confident are you that you can win the Belarusian selection twice?

"Actually, I'm really not confident about that. Who knows what songs we will face? I am absolutely confident in the song, and in myself and my performance. It's up to the people and the jury to decide. I just hope that they give the me opportunity to go to back to the Eurovision Song Contest and represent our country again".

Tell us about your experiences from 2005, would you do anything differently this time?

"The greatest problem in 2005 was the lack of experience and I know we made some mistakes. It is impossible to understand the mistakes until you get on stage. This time we know what we did right and what we did wrong, and we will try again with the best of intentions. The greatest thing I have is the experience of standing on the Eurovision Song Contest stage. It's not something you can explain, you just have to experience it".

What would it mean to you to become the 1st Belarusianto qualify for the final?

"I hope so much that I can do it this year. Everything is in God's hands. I have no idea why Belarus has not qualified yet. I think it's fair to say that my performance in 2005 was not best, but I think the song was good enough to qualify. We only came 13th in the semi-final but it is the highest that Belarus has finished at Eurovision so far. We are young country and anything can happen in the future. I am really counting on the support of the fans of the Eurovision Song Contest that made me feel so welcome in Kyiv. I will do my best for my fans and the fans of the Competition that make it so special".

If you win in Belarus, will you do another tour?

"We will go with pleasure if there is interest, if we are invited, we would love to go. We would like to spend more time preparing the performance and to prepare professionally for the contest, so it probably won't a big tour like we did in 2005. We can't decided anything unless the people Belarus give me another chance".

esctoday.com would like to thank Angelica Agurbash for speaking to us today and wish her luck in the challenges coming up over the next few weeks.

Lyrics of Miracle
It's a miracle to be alive
My brain's connected to my eyes
My eyes connect me to your smile
Your smile connects me to your heart
I just stepped out of the dark
Chorus
I feel love awakening in me
It's better than I ever thought it could be
I'm charged with electricity
I want to taste and feel and touch and see
Everything there is to see
I feel love:I feel love
I feel love awakening in me

It's a miracle to be with you
Feels like my soul can fly
I want to reach up and touch the sky
I'm ready to take a chance
My feet want to get up and dance

Source:

http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/6797

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