BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

05/12/2008

Belarus: EuroFest semifinalists announced

BTRC, the Belarussian broadcaster, received one hundred and twenty six applications for the country's selection for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. Out of them, fifteen were shortlisted to compete in the EuroFest semi final on 15 December.

More than ninety acts performed in the first casting for the EuroFest 2009 project. The following fifteen acts were chosen to compete live on First National Channel on 15 December and up to five will be selected by a jury to proceed to the Belarussian final to be held in mid January. The final winner will be chosen entirely by televoting.

A varied lineup has been set up for the Belarussian 2009 selection. From young artists to experienced ones, from heavy metal, to pop and on to more classical sounds. The Belarussian semifinalists are:

1. Alex Patlis Band, Alex is the former lead singer of famous Christian Belarussian band New Jerusalem

2. The Champions, also competed in 2008 but did not make it to the final

3.Anna Blagova and Yuriy Vaschuk, Anna is a young singer who represented Belarus in the 2007 Slavonic Bazaar Festival.

4. Petr Elfimov

5. Gunesh, who also tried in 2005, 2006 and 2008 where she came 4th and was beaten in the EuroFest final by Ruslan Alehno

6. Venera
7. Kola Band

8. Dakota, participated in the sevent season of the Russian Fabrika Zvezd show

9. Singerin

10.Dyadya Vanya

11. Litesound feat. Dakota, Litesound tried again for 2007 and 2008

12. Alexey Crechet
13. Domenika
14. "Wind in the head" band

15. Victoria Belova