Alexander Rybak’s talent search for a girl group to compete at Eurofest 2015 has concluded.  Eurofest will determine the next Belarusian entrant at the Eurovision Song Contest, to be held in Vienna in May.

Alexander Rybak won the Eurovision Song Contest for Norway in 2009, when Fairytale stormed to victory on the Moscow stage with a record-breaking 387 points.  Alexander was born in the Belarusian capital of Minsk before relocating to Norway with his family as a child and Belarus is still a country deep in Alexander’s heart, as he explains to www.kp.by:

I love my country Belarus .. I was interested in working on Eurovision.  I decided to compose a song that would show the Belarusian soul.

Alexander confirms that the talented young quintet, comprising of Marina, Vika, Anna, Taisia and Tanja, has bonded as friends, and each member of the group has an individual style and a solid understanding of folk music.

The girl group is as yet unnamed, and Alexander has appealed for name suggestions via social media:

What should I name this girl group from #Belarus? Any suggestions? http://t.co/yUV7kcJDVx

— Alexander Rybak (@AlexanderRybak) November 11, 2014

The application process for Eurofest 2015 continues until 21 November 2014, and a professional jury will select 15 finalists by 5 December 2014.  Alyona Lanskaya, who represented Belarus at the Eurovision Song Contest of 2013 with Solayoh, is rumoured to be participating.  Other names rumoured include Belarusian national selection regular Gunesh, violinist Maymunah and a group called Misters, who consist of former “Mr. Belarus” participants.  The final of Eurofest 2015 will take place no later than 25 January 2015.

Belarus was last represented at Eurovision by Teo, who sang Cheesecake at the Eurovision Song Contest of 2014, finishing in 16th place at the Grand Final of the Copenhagen contest with a total of 47 points.

Stay tuned to esctoday.com for all the latest news on Belarus and the Eurovision Song Contest.