Eurovision 2008 - Belarus

Hasta la vista
Ruslan Alekhno


History (1956 to 2007):

Belarus's previous appearances: 4 year(s) out of 52
Years participated: 2004-
Best result: 6th (2007)

Belarus was one of four countries participating for the first time in 2004, but while some of the newcomers did very well (Serbia & Montenegro in 2nd, Albania in 7th), Belarus unfortunately did very badly, 'My Galileo' finishing 19th in the Semi Final with just 10 points.

Undeterred, the country came back for another go in 2005, its entry one of the big stories of that year's Contest. To start with, the Belarussian broadcaster caused a bit of a stir by ditching the song that televoters had chosen, having been alarmed at the critical reaction to the song - 'Boys and girls', performed by Angelica Agurbash - among fans. It thus went ahead and commisioned a new song for Angelica, 'Love me tonight', from the team responsible for Sakis' 'Shake it' in 2004 - the Greek duo Nikos Terzis and Nektarios Tyrakis. With a promotional budget that allowed Angelica to visit an incredible 16 countries prior to the Contest, the Belarussian's clearly thought that their qualification to the Final was sewn up. Unfortunately, Belarus' 2005 experience proved that vast amounts of promotion and hype are of little value if your chosen performer is unable to carry a tune. Despite one of the campest performances Eurovision had ever seen, the televoters were generally unimpressed, 67 points and 13th place falling some way short of what was required.

Undeterred, the enthusiastic Belarussians came back for another go in 2006, where - unusually - Polina Smolova got to perform the song that she had actually won the national final with, though only after its title had morphed from 'Mama' to 'Ma' and finally to 'Mum'. However, 'Pah!' might have been a more apt ode to European sentiment, with all but Russia, Moldova and Ukraine ignoring the song completely. Marooned in the Semi Final for the fourth successive year in 2007, Belarus will be hoping that some of its success in the Junior Eurovision (Kseniya winning it in 2005 and 2007) can finally rub off on the adults.

Last year Belarus got 4 the 1st time in the final finishing 6th with Koldun.


This year's entry:





My opinion & prediction:

It’s a good entry for Belarus, but comparing to last year I don’t think it would do much.

My prediction for the Semi Final: 8th to 11th
My prediction for the Final: Possible qualifier; 14th to 16th