Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016
| Eurovision Song Contest 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |
 Belarus | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | National Final | |||
| Selection date(s) | 22 January 2016 | |||
| Selected entrant | Ivan | |||
| Selected song | "Help You Fly" | |||
| Selected songwriter(s) |
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| Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
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Belarus will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "Help You Fly" written by Viktor Drobysh and Mary Susan Applegate. The song will be performed by Ivan, which is the artistic name of singer Alexander Ivanov. The Belarusian entry for the 2016 contest in Stockholm, Sweden 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 ten competing acts participating in a televised production where public televoting selected the winner. "Help You Fly" performed by Ivan was selected as the winner with 23,167 votes.
Background
Prior to the 2016 Contest, Belarus had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twelve 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 Dmitry Koldun. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Belarus had managed to qualify to the final four times. In 2015, Belarus failed to qualify to the final with the song "Time" performed by Uzari and Maimuna.
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. 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 2016 entry.[2]
Before Eurovision
National Final
The Belarusian national final took place on 22 January 2016. Ten songs participated in the competition and the winner was selected exclusively via a public televote.[2] The show was broadcast on Belarus 1, Belarus 24 and Radius FM as well as online via the broadcaster's official website tvr.by and the Eurovision Song Contest's official website eurovision.tv.[3][4]
Competing entries
Artists and composers were able to submit their applications and entries to the broadcaster between 23 October 2015 and 21 November 2015.[5] The chairman of BTRC, Gennady Davydko, encouraged applicants to submit entries in the Belarusian language.[6] At the closing of the deadline, 91 entries were received by the broadcaster.[7] Auditions were held on 26 November 2015 and 1 December 2015 at the BTRC "600 Metrov" studio where a jury panel was tasked with selecting up to fifteen entries to proceed to the televised national final.[7] The auditions were webcast online at the official BTRC website.[7] The jury consisted of Alexander Tikhanovich (chairman of the jury, singer), Vasily Rainchik (musician/composer), Olga Schlager (national final project manager), Olga Salamakha (deputy director of the TV channel Belarus 24), Marianna Nikolayeva (head of the department of arts at the Belarusian Ministry of Culture), Elena Treshchinskaya (head of the radio station "Radius FM"), Olga Ryzhikova (television host), Evgeny Perlin (television host), Alexander Mezhenny (director of the Shtam dance school), Sergei Andrianov (journalist), Olga Drozdova (producer, singer, and vocal coach), Ekaterina Samsonova (radio presenter), Dmitry Sankovich (radio presenter), Gunesh (singer), Iskui Abalyan (singer), Sasha Nemo (singer), Dmitry Koldun (singer, represented Belarus at Eurovision in 2007), Alyona Lanskaya (singer, represented Belarus at Eurovision in 2013) and Teo (singer, represented Belarus at Eurovision in 2014).[7] Ten finalists were selected and announced on 1 December 2015 during BTRC's evening news programme.[8]
The competing entries were presented to the public in the lead up to the national final through televised postcard presentations that aired to promote the show, a weekly review programme that covered the competing artists' preparations and appearances by the ten finalists in the BTRC morning programme Dobrai Ranitsy, Belarus.[4]
Final
The televised final took place on 22 January 2016 at the "600 Metrov" studio in Minsk, hosted by Olga Ryzhikova and 2014 Belarusian Eurovision contestant Teo.[3] Prior to the competition, a draw for the running order took place on 9 December 2015.[9] Public televoting exclusively selected the song "Help You Fly" performed by Ivan as the winner.[10]
In addition to the performances from the competitors, the show featured guest performances by the hosts Olga Ryzhikova and Teo, 2013 Belarusian Eurovision contestant Alyona Lanskaya, Gunesh, Sasha Nemo and Kattie.[4]
| Draw | Artist | Song (English translation) | Composer(s) | Televote | Points | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alexey Gross | "Flame" | Eugene Oleinik, Julia Bykova, Renee Pozzi | 3,202 | 6 | 5 |
| 2 | Sasha Zakharik | "Glory Night" | Alexandra Zakharik, Mariya Kirdun | 727 | 1 | 10 |
| 3 | Valeriya Sadovskaya | "Not Alone" | Valeriya Sadovskaya, Roman Kolodko | 1,322 | 3 | 8 |
| 4 | Radiovolna | "Radio Wave" | Vlad Chizhikov, Roman Kolodko | 805 | 2 | 9 |
| 5 | The EM | "Turn Around" | Maxim Aleinikov, Alexander Yatsevich, Colé van dais, Roy van der Merwe, Ian Fowell | 2,164 | 4 | 7 |
| 6 | NAVI | "Heta ziamlia" (This land) | Artyom Lukyanenko, Kseniya Zhuk | 5,423 | 7 | 4 |
| 7 | Ivan | "Help You Fly" | Viktor Drobysh, Mary Susan Applegate | 23,167 | 12 | 1 |
| 8 | Anastasiya Malashkevich | "Pray for Love" | Anastasiya Malashkevich, Alexandra Popkovich | 2,680 | 5 | 6 |
| 9 | Kirill Yermakov | "Running to the Sun" | Leonid Shirin, Kirill Yermakov, Natalia Tambovtseva | 13,555 | 8 | 3 |
| 10 | NAPOLI | "My Universe" | Leonid Shirin, Natalia Tambovtseva | 22,399 | 10 | 2 |
At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (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. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot.[11] On 25 January 2016, 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 second semi-final, to be held on 12 May 2016, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[12]
References
- ↑ "Belarus Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
- 1 2 Granger, Anthony (21 October 2015). "Belarus: 2016 singer to be selected by televote only". Eurovoix.com. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
- 1 2 "The Belarusian representative at Eurovision 2016 will be announced during the national selection round in 10 days". tvr.by. BTRC. 12 January 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
- 1 2 3 "Eurovision-2016. 5 days left till final". tvr.by. BTRC. 18 January 2016. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
- ↑ Jiandani, Sanjay (23 October 2015). "Belarus: BTRC opens submission period for national selection". Esctoday.com. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
- ↑ Romanova, Ekaterina (17 September 2015). "На «Евровидение-2016» поедет белорусскоязычная песня?" (in Russian). Komsomolskaya Pravda v Belorussii. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 "Прослушивание претендентов на участие в "Евровидении-2016" проходит в Белтелерадиокомпании" (in Russian). BTRC. 27 November 2015. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
- ↑ Lynch, Danny (1 December 2015). "Ten finalists for Belarus confirmed!". ESCBubble. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
- ↑ Weaver, Jessica (9 December 2015). "Belarus: Running order decided; national final on 22 January". Esctoday.com. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
- ↑ Brey, Marco (22 January 2016). "IVAN will represent Belarus!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
- ↑ Jordan, Paul (21 January 2016). "Semi-Final Allocation Draw on Monday, pots revealed". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
- ↑ Jordan, Paul (25 January 2016). "Allocation Draw: The results!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
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