Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009

Belarus and Belarusian Television and Radio Company (BTRC) announced their participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 on 29 September 2008 by releasing the rules of their national selection Eurofest 2009.[1][2] The song did not progress from the first semi-final of the competition.

Eurovision Song Contest 2009
Country	Belarus
National selection
Selection process	Eurofest 2009
Selection date(s)	Semi-final: 15 December 2008 Final: 19 January 2009
Selected entrant	Petr Elfimov
Selected song	"Eyes That Never Lie"
Finals performance
Semi-final result	Failed to qualify (13th, 25 points)
Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2008 • 2009 • 2010►

Before Eurovision

Eurofest 2009

The Belarusian national final Eurofest 2009 consisted of two shows: a semi-final on 15 December 2008 and a final on 19 January 2009. Fifteen songs participated in the competition. The shows were broadcast on Channel 1 and Belarus TV as well as online via the broadcaster's official website tvr.by.[3]

Competing entries

Artists and composers were able to submit their applications and entries to the broadcaster between 5 October 2008 and 20 November 2008.[1][2] At the closing of the deadline, 126 entries were received by the broadcaster. Auditions were held between 3 and 5 December 2008 where a jury panel was tasked with selecting fifteen entries to proceed to the televised national final. The jury consisted of Anatoly Yarmolenko, Inna Afanasieva, Yadviga Poplavskaya, Leonid Shirin, Alexander Mezhenny, Vladimir Rylatko, Denis Shpitalnikov and Alexander Kapenkin.[3] The selected finalists were announced on 5 December 2008.[4][5]

Semi-final

The televised semi-final took place on 15 December 2008 at the BTRC studios in Minsk, hosted by Denis Kurian.[6][7] The votes of jury members made up of music professionals exclusively selected the top five songs to qualify to the final: "Eyes That Never Lie" performed by Petr Elfimov, "Carry On" performed by Litesound feat. Dakota, "This Is My Day" performed by Dominica, "Or or And" performed by Veter v Golove and "Fantastic Girl" performed by Gunesh.[8]

Semi-final – 15 December 2008
Draw	Artist	Song	Composer(s)	Result
1	Alexei Krechet	"Joy and Freedom"	Alexei Krechet, Vadim Ruzov	Eliminated
2	Petr Elfimov	"Eyes That Never Lie"	Petr Elfimov, Valery Prokhozhy	Finalist
3	Cola feat. Lidiya Zablotskaya	"Gudok"	Valeriy Shevchenko, Vladimir Gridin	Eliminated
4	SingeRin	"Don't Think About It"	Ekaterina Dudich	Eliminated
5	Dakota	"Ciabie zabyvaju"	Dakota, Gleb Lobodenko	Eliminated
6	The Champions	"Shake It, Europe"	Olisa Emeka Orakposim, Vyacheslav Lyschik	Eliminated
7	Alex Patlis Band	"Kto skazal?"	Alex Patlis	Eliminated
8	Litesound feat. Dakota	"Carry On"	Vladimir Karyakin, Dmitry Karyakin	Finalist
9	Dominica	"This Is My Day"	Sergey Sukhomlin, Andrey Kostyugov	Finalist
10	Dyadya Vanya	"Nasha Belarussia"	Ivan Vabishchevich	Eliminated
11	Veter v Golove	"Or or And"	Alexandra Zaharik, Gleb Galushko	Finalist
12	Anna Blagova & Yuriy Vashchuk	"Behind"	Yuriy Vaschuk, A. Zhilina	Eliminated
13	Gunesh	"Fantastic Girl"	Gunesh, Marina Khaitbayeva	Finalist
14	Victoria Belova	"Don't Give Up From Love"	Victoria Belova, Andrey Klimka	Eliminated
15	Venera	"Big Game"	Alexander Nabeev	Eliminated

Final

The televised final took place on 19 January 2009 at the Sports Palace in Minsk, hosted by Anastasiya Tihanovich and 2007 Belarusian Eurovision contestant Dmitry Koldun.[9][10] Before the final, Veter v Golove withdrew their original song "Or or And" and changed to "Špacyrujem". Public televoting exclusively selected the song "Eyes That Never Lie" performed by Petr Elfimov as the winner.[11][12][13]

In addition to the performances from the competitors, the show featured guest performances by the host Dmitry Koldun, 2008 Belarusian Eurovision contestant Ruslan Alehno and 2008 Ukrainian Eurovision contestant Ani Lorak.[14]

Final – 19 January 2009
Draw	Artist	Song	Composer(s)	Televote	Place
1	Gunesh	"Fantastic Girl"	Gunesh, Marina Khaitbayeva	7,949	2
2	Petr Elfimov	"Eyes That Never Lie"	Petr Elfimov, Valery Prokhozhy	11,475	1
3	Litesound feat. Dakota	"Carry On"	Vladimir Karyakin, Dmitry Karyakin	4,385	3
4	Dominica	"This Is My Day"	Sergey Sukhomlin, Andrey Kostyugov	1,225	5
5	Veter v Golove	"Špacyrujem"	Alexandra Zaharik, Andrey Zhukov, Vitya Bardak	2,804	4

Promotion

After being selected as the Belarusian entry, Elfimov promoted his entry in a number of countries before Eurovision, making guest appearances at both the Greek and Ukrainian national finals on 18 February and 8 March respectively.[15][16][17]

At Eurovision

A new version of "Eyes That Never Lie" was made after winning the Belarusian national final, which was produced by Tero Kinnunen at the Finnvox Studios in Helsinki, both known for their associations with symphonic metal band Nightwish.[18][19] Belarus competed in the first semi final where they failed to qualify, finishing 13th of 18 participants, scoring 25 points.

Points awarded to Belarus

Points Awarded to Belarus (Semi-Final 1)

12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
				Macedonia
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
	Armenia  Finland  Israel		Montenegro	Bulgaria  Czech Republic  Iceland  Malta  Sweden

Points Awarded by Belarus[20]

Semi-final 1 12 points  Iceland 10 points  Armenia 8 points  Malta 7 points  Sweden 6 points  Turkey 5 points  Bosnia and Herzegovina 4 points  Israel 3 points  Montenegro 2 points   Switzerland 1 point  Romania

Final 12 points  Norway 10 points  Azerbaijan 8 points  Russia 7 points  France 6 points  Ukraine 5 points  Greece 4 points  Estonia 3 points  United Kingdom 2 points  Iceland 1 point  Armenia

Split voting results from Belarus (final)
Draw	Country	Jury points	Televoting points	Scoreboard (Points)
01	Lithuania		2
02	Israel	1
03	France	8	4	7
04	Sweden
05	Croatia
06	Portugal
07	Iceland		6	2
08	Greece	10	1	5
09	Armenia	2	3	1
10	Russia	4	8	8
11	Azerbaijan	5	10	10
12	Bosnia and Herzegovina
13	Moldova	3
14	Malta
15	Estonia		7	4
16	Denmark
17	Germany
18	Turkey
19	Albania
20	Norway	12	12	12
21	Ukraine	6	5	6
22	Romania
23	United Kingdom	7		3
24	Finland
25	Spain

See also

• Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest
• Eurovision Song Contest 2009

References

1. "Eurofest 2009 rules published". Eurovision-Belarus. 29 September 2008. Archived from the original on 15 September 2008. Retrieved 29 September 2008.
2. Floras, Stella (29 September 2008). "Belarus: Welcome to the Eurofest project!". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 1 October 2008. Retrieved 29 September 2008.
3. "Belarus 2009".
4. Bakker, Sietse (5 December 2008). "Belarus: BTRC announces 15 hopefuls". Eurovision.tv. Archived from the original on 7 December 2008. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
5. "Belarus: BTRC announces the 15 participants". Oikotimes. 5 December 2008. Archived from the original on 7 December 2008. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
6. Klier, Marcus (15 December 2008). "Tonight: Semi final in Belarus". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 15 December 2008. Retrieved 15 December 2008.
7. Bayliss, Marc Calleja (15 December 2008). "Belarus: BTRC airs the semifinal for Moscow selection tonight". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 22 January 2009. Retrieved 15 December 2008.
8. Klier, Marcus (15 December 2008). "Replay: Semi final in Belarus". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 17 December 2008. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
9. Klier, Marcus (14 January 2009). "Belarus: national final on 19th January". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 18 January 2009. Retrieved 14 January 2009.
10. Calleja Bayliss, Marc (14 January 2009). "Belarus: "Eurofest 2009" to take place on January 19". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 22 January 2009. Retrieved 14 January 2009.
11. Klier, Marcus (19 January 2009). "Belarus: Petr Elfimov to Eurovision". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 20 January 2009. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
12. Fisher, Luke (19 January 2009). "Belarus: Petr Elfimov to Moscow!". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 22 January 2009. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
13. Siim, Jarmo (19 January 2009). "Belarus decided: Petr Elfimov to Moscow!". Eurovision.tv. Archived from the original on 20 January 2009. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
14. Floras, Stella (15 January 2009). "Belarus: More Eurofest final details". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 18 January 2009. Retrieved 15 January 2009.
15. Klier, Marcus (18 February 2009). "National final in Greece". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 19 February 2009. Retrieved 18 February 2009.
16. Fantis, Giorgos (18 February 2009). "Live from Athens, the Greek national final". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 21 February 2009. Retrieved 18 February 2009.
17. Klier, Marcus (8 March 2009). "National final in Ukraine". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 9 March 2009. Retrieved 8 March 2009.
18. Backfish, Emma (9 February 2009). "Petr Elfimov records new version of song in Finland". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 14 February 2009. Retrieved 9 February 2009.
19. Floras, Stella (23 February 2009). "Belarus: New version of Eurovision entry". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 25 February 2009. Retrieved 23 February 2009.
20. Eurovision Song Contest 2008