Introduction

Russia had a national selection this year again. The only Russian winner Dima Bilan took also part with a duet and came second. Therefore a group of six elderly women named Buranovskie Babushki (grandmothers) have made the race with the song “Party for Everybody”. The reactions of the jury members were quite varied from enthused to shocked.

This is a truly outstanding song, as it is a more traditional Russian song with a funny note. These women are dressed in traditional clothes and sing their music as they would normally do in their villages at home. In a way it appears old fashioned but on the other hand is has a modernity in the way these ladies present their song full of energy and sympathy. The little disharmonies in the voices give the special flavour to this song. This song could not be described as a gimmick song; it’s a modernized folk song with some similarities to the popular Bulgarian women’s choir music “La Mystère de voix Bulgares”.

This contribution will definitely stand out and could be a dark horse in Baku if Europe is open for this.

History

This will be the 16^th entry from Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest. Russia’s debut year has been in 1994 in Dublin with “Vechni Stranik” by Youddiph, when a lot of new countries took part for the first time like Lithuania, Slovakia, Romania, Poland, Hungary and Estonia.

In the short history of Russian entries there is a clear trend of the new Russian music with mainly English songs with the utmost contemporary touch. Russia always wanted to win and made good results and in 2008 Dima Bilan could fulfil the Russian hope with “Believe”. The year after the Russians could show the world their high level of technology and what the Russians are able to realize on stage.

Russia is the biggest country of the world and therefore it has the a huge amount of viewers, the interest in the ESC has grown from year to year, there were also singers from the Asian part in Vladivostok Mumiy Troll with “Lady Alpine Blue” (12^th).

The most outstanding Russian songs were: “Primadonna” by Alla Pugachova in 1997 (15^th), “Ne Ver, Ne Boisia” by t.A.T.u. in 2003 (3^rd) and “Never Let You Go” by Dima Bilan in 2006 (2^nd).