In the last decade, the annual European song contest has been the focus of attention of all residents of our country. In the spring, all the media and ordinary citizens with them begin a heated discussion of the future vocal competition, in May everyone freezes in anticipation, but after the finale a few months later the whole country is excited by the results. How many of our talented performers throughout history have performed at the Eurovision Song Contest? The list of participants from Russia, all successful and not very numbers will be described below.
History reference
Eurovision was first held in Switzerland, and its goal was to unite Western Europe, trying to recover after the war. Despite the fact that the European vocal competition dates back to 1956, for obvious political reasons, the Soviet Union never sent its representatives there. The competition gained popularity and became one of the important annual events for Europe. In 1991, the Union collapsed, and Russia, like other former republics, began to establish ties with the West, so the presence of representatives of our country at such an event remained only a matter of time. Eurovision participants from Russia appeared at the competition in 1994.
Start and some statistics
The first test of the pen was the rather famous blues singer Maria Katz, who performed under the pseudonym Judith. Maria was chosen for such an honorable mission among 10 applicants for Program A. Her song “The Eternal Wanderer” took ninth place at a competition in Dublin, the capital of Ireland. The start was not the worst, at least she was in the top ten, which the Eurovision participants from Russia could not achieve until 2000. Although attempts were more than enough. Since 1994, only three times our country did not participate in the finals, but all three times in the 90s. Eurovision participants from Russia over the years to the present have reached the final 19 times. In 1996, Andrei Kosinsky was unable to qualify for the finals, in 1998 Russian performers were not allowed because of the low rating, and ORT did not broadcast the contest live, which led to a repeated refusal in 1999. The channel was able to draw conclusions, in 2000, our country triumphantly returned to the singing competition in Europe.
"Eurovision". Russia: participants and places in the 90s
After a pretty good start, they decided at ORT that venerable performers, well-known in the homeland, should represent our state at the European competition. Therefore, in 1995, the future pop king of the national stage, Philip Kirkorov, recovered again in Dublin. According to the assurances of the artist, he had only 10 days to prepare, after he was shocked by the news. This, perhaps, can explain the failure of the song "Lullaby for the volcano", which took 17th place. Or maybe the reason was the fact, revealed a little later, that the composition was not original, like most of Kirkorov’s repertoire. But one way or another, after his failure, Philip has repeatedly helped many Russian and not only young performers at Eurovision. And the prima donna of the national pop with the song of the same name Alla Pugacheva in 1997 was able to take only 15th place, and again in Dublin. Europe could not understand and accept the manner and style of Alla Borisovna, so her performance can be safely considered a failure.
Shock five-year plan
After a short two-year break, our country triumphantly returned to Eurovision. The list of participants from Russia in the early years of the new millennium was very diverse. In 2000, a young Tatar singer Alsou went to Stockholm , who conquered Europe with her song “Solo” and thereby earned the first silver for Russia. The well-deserved second place in the competition became a real sensation, and Alsou became a national heroine. Intoxicated by success, in 2001 ORT producers sent a rather unusual rock band Mumiy Troll to Copenhagen. Not everyone could understand him even in his homeland, and Europeans were not able to understand it all the more, so the group took only 12th place. The boy’s song “Prime Minister” called “Girl from the North” was sung by the whole country, and its English-language counterpart did not find a response from Europeans in 2002 in Tallinn. Probably the reason for the 10th place was also an overly strong excitement of the performers. The most controversial among those who were sent to Eurovision by Russia, participants of all seasons are the infamous girl group Tatu. Unbelievable, but in 2003 in Riga it was they who took 3rd place with the song “Do not Believe, Do Not Be Afraid, Do Not Ask,” thereby bringing the first bronze to your country. The next two years, Eurovision participants from Russia were graduates of the Star Factory. In Turkish Istanbul in 2004, Julia Savicheva performed very worthily. But complex choreographic steps prevented the artist from concentrating completely on vocals, and the result was 12th place. A performance in Kiev in 2005 by Natasha Podolskaya was the biggest failure since the time of Pugacheva, because the "factory" also took 15th place.
Bright streak and true victory
Be that as it may, domestic artists continued to perform at Eurovision. Participants from Russia for 10 years were very different. From untwisted stars to unknown teams. And their age ranged from young stars of the children's song contest to the representatives of the oldest generation. In 2006, the conqueror of young hearts, Dima Bilan, went to Athens for a vocal competition. His number was interesting, and the song definitely had to win, if not for the shocking Finnish rock band “Lordi”, which overtook Dima. Europe, which was fed up with standard good numbers, longed for spectacles, so Bilan was in second place. Nevertheless, it was another silver in the treasury of our country. What turned out to be symbolic was the little-known female pop group Silver with Song No. 1, which went to conquer European audiences in Helsinki in 2007, but received, however, bronze, although the third place was a very unexpected but pleasant result. But 2008 was a real sensation for Russia, because Dima Bilan, who promised to return to Eurovision and win, still kept his word. A delightful number accompanied by violinist Edwin Marton and figure skating star Evgeni Plushenko, as well as a stunning vocalist voice and a touching song, did their job - conquered Europe, and Russia took first place.
Fall from the top of the pedestal
Over the years, Eurovision participants from Russia have been representatives of the Federation itself, which is why it remains a mystery to many how in 2009, Anastasia Prikhodko , a native of Ukraine, went through the qualifying round and represented our country at a competition in Moscow. The song "Mamo" in Ukrainian and Russian took only 11th place, which was a crushing defeat after the previous victory. The next Eurovision participants from Russia, the new and unknown to the wide audience “Peter Nalich Musical Group”, again took 11th place in Norway in 2010, probably because the song was frankly boring and clearly not in the format of the European competition. Such a resounding failure as Alexei Vorobyev in 2011 in Germany, the Russian representatives have not had since the 90s. The artist took 16th place, and even several high-profile scandals were associated with his name.
Unexpected decisions
After three consecutive failures, the producers clearly had to come up with something new and unusual, and they decided to make the most unexpected move that Russia had only made at the Eurovision Song Contest. Participants of all seasons were more or less young artists, which can not be said about the "Buranovskie grandmothers" who hit Europe in 2012. The provocative collective of Russian old women took second place, which no one could have guessed for sure. And in 2013, Russia sent a young and talented Dina Garipova, the winner of the Golos project, to the contest, who took 5th place and entered the top ten, which was also a pretty good result.
Biased attitude
Over the past 10 years, all participants of the Eurovision of Russia have not experienced such pressure as the domestic representatives of 2014 and 2015 due to the aggravation of the situation in the world and the general political situation. Despite the fact that music is outside politics, Europe has perceived our country in the past two years as more hostile. Perhaps this factor influenced the fact that last year the Tolmachev sisters took only 9th place at the Eurovision Song Contest in Denmark, although their song and number as a whole were quite strong. But Polina Gagarina this year managed to get silver and take second place, which the whole country was very proud of, because now they are especially worried about their representatives in Russia.