Belarus was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "Time" written by Uzari, Gerylana and Maimuna. The song was performed by Uzari and Maimuna. The Belarusian entry for the 2015 contest in Vienna, Austria was selected through a national final organised by the Belarusian participating broadcaster Belarusian Television and Radio Company (BTRC). The national final consisted of fifteen competing acts participating in a televised production where "Time" performed by Uzari and Maimuna was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from a jury panel and public televoting.
Belarus was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 19 May 2015. Performing during the show in position 11, "Time" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Belarus placed twelfth out of the 16 participating countries in the semi-final with 39 points.
Prior to the 2015 contest, Belarus had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest eleven 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 Koldun. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Belarus had managed to qualify to the final four times. In 2014, Belarus qualified to the final and placed sixteenth with the song "Cheesecake" performed by Teo.
The Belarusian national broadcaster, Belarusian Television and Radio Company (BTRC), broadcasts the event within Belarus and organises the selection process for the nation's entry.[2] 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 2015 entry.[3]
Before Eurovision
National final
The Belarusian national final took place on 26 December 2014. Fifteen songs participated in the competition and the winner was selected through a jury and a public televote.[4] The show was broadcast on Belarus 1 and Belarus 24 as well as online via the broadcaster's official website tvr.by and the Eurovision Song Contest's official website eurovision.tv.[5][6]
Competing entries
Artists and composers were able to submit their applications and entries to the broadcaster between 21 October 2014 and 21 November 2014. At the closing of the deadline, over 110 entries were received by the broadcaster.[7] Auditions were held on 4 and 5 December 2014 at the BTRC "600 Metrov" studio where a jury panel was tasked with selecting up to fifteen entries from the 89 attendees to proceed to the televised national final. The auditions were webcast online at the official BTRC website. The jury consisted of Vasily Rainchik (musician/composer), Alexander Tikhanovich (singer), Elena Treshchinskaya (head of the radio station "Radius FM"), Olga Ryzhikova (television host), Evgeniy Papkovich (executive producer of the BTRC channel Belarus 1), Andrey Kholodinskiy (music editor at the radio station "Radio-Roks") and Marianna Drabovich (head of the Department of Arts, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus). Fifteen finalists were selected and announced on 5 December 2014 during BTRC's programme Panorama.[5][8]
The televised final took place on 26 December 2014 at the "600 Metrov" studio in Minsk, hosted by Olga Ryzhikova and Denis Dudinskiy.[9] Prior to the competition, a draw for the running order took place on 7 December 2014. A combination of votes from seven jury members made up of music professionals (7/8) and public televoting (1/8) selected the song "Time" performed by Uzari and Maimuna as the winner. The jury consisted of Gennady Davydko (BTRC Chairman), Eduard Zaritskiy (People's Artist of Belarus/composer), Marianna Drabovich (head of the Department of Arts, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus), Andrei Mikheev (music critic and Eurovision expert), Sergei Andrianov (journalist), Elena Treshchinskaya (head of the radio station "Radius FM") and Dmitry Novik (television presenter).[10]
Uzari and Maimuna made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Time" as the Belarusian Eurovision entry. On 18 April, Uzari and Maimuna performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Edsilia Rombley.[11] On 24 April, Uzari and Maimuna performed during the Eurovision Pre-Party, which was held at the Place de Paris Korston Concert Hall in Moscow, Russia.[12]
At Eurovision
Uzari and Maimuna during a press meet and greet
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (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. In the 2015 contest, Australia also competed directly in the final as an invited guest nation.[13] The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into five different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot.[14] On 26 January 2015, 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 first semi-final, to be held on 19 May 2015, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.[15]
Once all the competing songs for the 2015 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Belarus was set to perform in position 11, following the entry from Serbia and before the entry from Russia.[16]
The two semi-finals and the final were broadcast in Belarus on Belarus 1 and Belarus 24 with commentary by Evgeny Perlin.[17] The Belarusian spokesperson, who announced the Belarusian votes during the final, was 2014 Eurovision entrantTeo.[18]
Semi-final
Uzari and Maimuna during a rehearsal before the first semi-final
Uzari and Maimuna took part in technical rehearsals on 12 and 15 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 18 and 19 May.[19][20] This included the jury show on 18 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.[21]
The Belarusian performance featured Uzari dressed in black and performing on stage with violinist Maimuna who was dressed in white. The stage colours transitioned from red to blue as the performance progressed with the LED screens displaying an electrocardiogram as well as vibrating strings and strikes of lightning.[19][20] Uzari and Maimuna was joined by three off-stage backing vocalists: Yury Seleznyov, Artyom Akhmash and Denis Lis.[22]
At the end of the show, Belarus was not announced among the top 10 entries in the first semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final.[23] It was later revealed that Belarus placed twelfth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 39 points.[24]
Voting
Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member were released shortly after the grand final.[25]
Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Belarus had placed thirteenth with the public televote and seventh with the jury vote in the first semi-final. In the public vote, Belarus scored 32 points, while in the jury vote, Belarus scored 65 points.[26][24]
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Belarus and awarded by Belarus in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:
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