Introduction

• Participant(s): Iriao
• Song: "For You"
  
• Writer(s): Irina Sanikidze
• Composer(s): David Malazonia; Mikheil Mdinaradze
• Broadcaster: GPB
  
• Social media:  
• Team review: 

The Georgian broadcaster GPB has made an internal selection to determine the Georgian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon this year. The announcement of the band Iraio has been taken quite early this year. The song “Sheni Gulistvis” has been revealed at a later stage.

The band has been founded in the capital of Georgia Tbilissi in the year 2013. The band leader Davit Malazonia has also composed the Georgian entry. He has been writing music since 30 years, also for TV and theatre productions. The band has also participated in the Borneo Jazz Festival in Malaysia in 2014. The genre of Iraio can be described as ethno jazz band based on Georgian polyphonic music and harmony, saturated with jazz and modern music elements. The group has been invited to various jazz festivals around the globe.

Now the band is able to show their talent at the Eurovision Song Contest, where approximately 200 million TV spectators will have the chance to watch the band.

The song “Sheni Gulistvis” (For You) is a love song with phrases like “the earth keeps turning with love”. The song will be performed in 100% Georgian language. This is the first time a Georgian song is being performed in the native language, instead of English. The spherical and special moments of the song will definitely fall out of the ordinary at the ESC in Lisbon. But maybe this kind of music is only made for a special interest group. The big question here is if this entry will find enough enthusiastic people to vote for Geogia?

History

• Debut: 2007
• Participations: 10
• Victories: 0
• Finals: 7
• Top 10: 2
• Chances for Top 10: 18%
• Chances for Final: 64%

Georgia’s first year in the Eurovision Song Contest was in Helsinki 2007. With a great debut song “Visionary Dream” by Sopho, Georgia has been celebrating its debut in the ESC. Armenia joined one year earlier and Azerbaijan another year later. Over all it can be considered as great enrichment having the Caucasian countries in the contest, as they mostly bring high quality entries and a big passion for this event. Of course not many people are aware of the music scene from this part of the world. That’s why the Caucasian countries are so keen in participating as this is one of the highest acclaimed TV shows of the year. Furthermore ESC is the perfect platform to get the world’s attention.

Last year in Kiev, “Keep The Faith” by Tako Gachechilatze did not make it into the final.For a country like Georgia it’s a great opportunity to show the music variety in the greatest music show of the world.

The Georgian entries were always surprising and inspiring, and Georgia has reached the Grand Final seven times. A Top10 rank could be reached two times, the chance for this is statistically at 18%.

Due to the fact that the Caucasian countries are located in the very south east corner of Europe, the neighbour countries like Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran do have an impact in the musical influence in an unequivocally strong way. Therefore it’s a pleasure to watch songs and performances from the Caucasian countries with such a great creativity, as this kind of music is not that well known in Western Europe. But there are also modern tunes as well.

Biggest successes

1x 9th place

• Sofia Nizharadze | Shine (2010)
• Eldrine | One More Day (2011)

Video Nostalgia

• “Visionary Dream” - Sopho, Rank 12 (Final), Helsinki 2007
• “We Don't Wanna Put In“ - Stephane & 3G, disqualified, Oslo 2009
• “Warrior” - Nina Sublatti, Rank 11 (Final), Vienna 2015