Yes, what better way is there to celebrate the victory of Believe than to take a run through the YouTube videos of every single Russian Eurovision Song Contest entry - ever! That’s a decade and a half of top notch Russian Europop - t.A.t.U, Mumy Troll, Alsou, Dima Bilan - we’ve got them all!
No - there’s no need to thank me. Really. No need at all.
1994 - Youdipph - Vechni Strannik (9th)
1995 - Philip Kirkorov - Kolibelnaya dlya vulkana (17th)
1996 - Andrei Kosinskiy
Sadly, Andrei didn’t make it to the televised final of Eurovision. RTR reacted in typical Russian fashion by going off in a huff and refusing to take part in Eurovsion any more. ORT took up the reigns instead.
1997 - Alla Pugachova - Primadonna (15th)
1998 - Tatyana Ovsienko
ORT, like RTR, didn’t quite get the hang of Eurovision. In televised domestic heats, they selected Tatyana Ovsienko to represent Russia, only to discover that because of a low average score over the past few years, Russia wasn’t allowed to enter the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest.
ORT reacted in true Russian fashion. Yes - you’ve guessed it, they went off in a huff and refused to televise the 1998 event.
1999 - No entrant
Russia would have been eligible to send an entrant to the 1999 Eurovision. However, because ORT had failed to televise the 1998 Eurovision, they were barred from the 1999 event.
ORT duly learnt their lesson, and televised the 1999 Eurovision, even though there wasn’t a Russian contestant.
2000 - Alsou - Solo (2nd)
20001 - Mumiy Troll - Lady Alpine Blue (12th)
2002 - Prime Minister - Northern Girl (10th)
2003 - t.A.t.U - Ne ver’, ne boisya, ne prosi (3rd - robbed!)
2004 - Yulia Savicheva - Belive Me (11th)
2005 - Natalia Podolskaya - Nobody Hurt No One (15th)
2006 - Dima Bilan - Never Let You Go (2nd)
2007 - Serebro - Song #1 (2nd)
2008 - Dima Bilan - Believe (1st)
So, there you have it. Fifteen glorious years of Russian participation in Europe’s flagship cultural event.
My thanks to the guys who compiled the history of Russian Eurovision - a truly awesome resource without which this post would not have been possible.
Update: For almost every Latvian Eurovision song ever, check out All About Latvia.
- What next?
Stumble it
Digg it
Save to Delicious
Leave a comment
Subscribe
{ 3 trackbacks }
{ 9 comments }
am 05.10.07 at 2:00 am
Cool!
Russophile.com 05.10.07 at 3:44 am
Russia a has a history of picking great pop groups but poor songs. I have one or more CDs of Mumiy Troll, Alsou, Dima Belan, and Prime Minister, but the competition songs are not that great compared to some of their other work. Although, I must disagree with you that TaTu was robbed — they were a one trick pony show and that trick was not signing. They can’t even sing on key.
GER O'BRIEN 05.10.07 at 7:14 am
My wife, who’s Russian, blames Ireland for Alsu losing in controversial circumstances in 2000, when they really were robbed. At the last minute the Irish had to abandom their telephone vote because of technical trouble and a bunch of judges gave the points instead. The Irish gave the winners, a pair of geriatric Danes, 12 points in the last of the results and Russia was beaten. Every year at Eurovision I’m reminded of how we cheated Russia!)
Tim Newman 05.10.07 at 7:21 am
When Ireland win Eurovision, the whole country stifles a yawn.
GER O'BRIEN 05.10.07 at 7:35 am
You’ve seen the episode of Father Ted?) Trying NOT to win the Eurovision because of the bill?)
Actually something strange has happened at home -because of our recent thumpings, the Irish have gotten a bit upset and decided we want to win it again! There’s a train of thought that its past us now though because of Eastern Europe entering the fray. Instead of tasteless Irish songs sung by has-beens, the majority audience want tasteless Slavic songs sung by women wearing as little as possible or novelty acts. It could be a long time before Dublin hosts it again.
Lyndon 05.11.07 at 8:48 pm
Thanks, Andy, this is a delightful trip down memory lane.
Russia a has a history of picking great pop groups but poor songs.
You’re definitely right that for at least a few of these performers (the ones whose bodies of work I know) the songs picked were questionable. But I’m not sure about “great pop groups,” although I’m not super-familiar with all of the more recent years’ entrants. I’d say Mumii Troll is really more than just a pop group, whereas Pugachova and Kirkorov probably qualify as pop icons, and the rest generally seem to be in the little-to-no-talent popsa genre. I think the weakness that is revealed for a lot of these acts is indeed live singing, which is not typically done at pop concerts in Russia - I don’t think you are allowed to lip-synch at Eurovision, which puts acts like Tatu (although I loved their first album) and even Pugachova out to sea.
That performance by Kirkorov is far from his best, either. Interesting story about Filya - I once ran into him in the Starlite Diner in Moscow and decided the proper way to approach him would be to speak English to him. Turns out his English is quite good, and he was delighted to have a foreign fan. He gave me a goofy autographed postcard that had a whole text on the back (in English) all about how he is “Russian superstar Filip Kirkorov.”
Michael Averko 05.13.07 at 3:41 am
Serbia, Russia & Ukraine. Booyah!
Russophile.com 05.13.07 at 9:01 pm
Averko: Serbia, Russia & Ukraine. Booyah!
I noticed that too, so I had to post about the Slavic Domination.
Josh 05.15.07 at 2:41 pm
I have collected all Eurovision 2007 Videos (from YouTube.com) in my blog:
SEMI FINAL:
http://hippotizer.blogspot.com/2007/05/all-eurovision-2007-semi-final-videos.html
GRAND FINAL:
http://hippotizer.blogspot.com/2007/05/all-eurovision-grand-final-videos.html
Comments on this entry are closed.