Belarus national selection hit by more drama after Alekseev controversy and Sofi Lapina’s withdrawal. This time, however, BTRC resolved issues with Shuma’s entry seemigly quickly.
Lyrics of Shuma’s enty “Chmarki” changed
A week ago, Belarusian news agency Sputnik reported that BTRC was investigating a potential breach of rules of Shuma’s entry “Chmarki”. BTRC was concerned that “Chmarki” (clouds) contained the lyrics of a Belarusian folk song, violating selection rules. However, a solution came quickly. BTRC press secretary Svetlana Smolonskaya-Krasovskaya, interviewed by Sputnik said:
“The group Shuma has changed the lyrics of their entry at the Belarus national selection [and] the changed lyrics have been sent to the organisers “
BTRC has not yet released the updated version of the song. Below is the former version:
Not the first controversy
While Shuma’s troubles were short lived, this year’s selection has been a roller coaster ride for Belarus. As we previously reported, participants published an open letter openly requesting for Alekseev to be disqualified for having peformed the Russian version of his entry in May 2017. Frustrated by the leniency give to Alekseev, one of the finalists, Sofi Lapina, decided to withdraw from the show.
National final to take place on February 16
Belarus will select its act on Friday, February 16. Teo and Olga Ryzhikova will be the hosts of the show, 10 acts will participate with the following running order:
- Adagio – Ty i ja
- Alekseev – Forever
- Shuma – Chmarki
- NAPOLI – Chasing Rushes
- Anastasiya Malashkevich – World on Fire
- Gunesh – I Won’t Cry
- Radiovolna – Subway Lines
- Alen Hit – I Don’t Care
- Lexy – Ain’t You
- Kirill Good – Deja Vu
A combination of 50% jury vote and 50% televote will select the winner, with the jury vote serving as tie-breaker in case of a tied result.
Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest
Belarus first entered the contest in 2004 with Alexandra and Kostantin’s “My Galileo” and took part every year since. However, it had mixed success at the contest, managing to qualify for the grand final 5 times out of 14 times. Their best result is Dmitry Koldun’s 6th place in 2007. Last year, they were represented by Naviband who who performed an entry entirely in Belarusian for the first time. They also gave Belarus their first final since 2014.
What do you think of Shuma’s entry? Do you like Belarus’s line up? Who would you like to see in Lisbon?
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