Eurofest's Project director, Alexander Tikhanovich, promised a spectacular selection gala for the 15 participants of the �Eurofest 2007�, in conditions as much approximated to the real Eurovision Song Contest as possible. The event will take place in the Big Hall of the Palace of the Republic and will be covered by the First National TV Channel.
Few days ago the Belarusian Broadcaster announced the 15 semi-finalists. Among them there are two Russian singers, Diana Gurtskaya and Natalya Lapteva, and one Ukrainian, Irina Yarina. Most of the selected contenders come from Minsk, the Belarusian capital. There were 66 applications submitted but only 56were acceptedfor the audition.
Eurofest's Project Director, Alexander Tikhanovich said that there were not any applications from such professional performers as Inna Afanasieva, Irina Dorofeyeva, Pyotr Elfimov although they were approached. On the other hand, he said that “the audition opened up new names” . He added that the main criteria for the jury were “live performance and pure intonations”. Angelika Agurbash , who performed the Belarusian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005, was also going to participate but the song she submitted was performed in public before 1st October 2006, violating in this way the rules.
Project Arts Director Vasily Rainchik noted that “the main idea has worked this year – selecting singers on the platform”. He also said that “the number of applications has gone down greatly, but performance standards were much higher”. He said that despite the fact that all performances were of different genres with “peculiar ways of presentations”, there were not any ‘monsters’ as it was with the last year’s ‘Eurovision’ prize winners.
Vasily Rainchik added that running the selection by the new rules (live performance rather than backing track) had a great effect on the quality of the music presented to the jury. “Now it’s about voices, not backing tracks,” he said. Moreover, many artists this time use certain music arrangements making their music more nationally recognisable.
Alexander Tikhanovich promised a gala very similar to the Eurovision Song Contest. The 15 performers will be singing live, and their presentations will include short personal introductions. The event will take place in the Big Hall of the Palace of the Republic and will be covered by the First National TV Channel.
The professional jury and viewers will select two or three best singers. Two will be selected by the jury, and one by the TV viewers. In case the jury and viewers’ choices coincide, only two participants will go through to the final. The jury will not be present in the hall but will stay in a studio with TV screens. “We need to see what singers look like on the screen, as ‘Eurovision’ is a TV contest,” explained Alexander Tikhanivich.
