Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest

Belarus participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 16 times, making its debut in 2004 and having its last appearance in 2019. The Belarusian participant broadcaster in the contest was the Belarusian Television and Radio Company (BTRC). Since 1 July 2021, Belarus has been unable to participate in the contest following the suspension of BTRC's membership in the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).[1] The country's first appearance in a final was in 2007, with the song "Work Your Magic" performed by Dmitry Koldun, where it placed sixth; this remains Belarus' only top ten placement. Belarus also qualified for the final in 2010, 2013, 2014, 2017, and 2019. More recently, the nation had planned to take part in the canceled 2020 contest and was disqualified from taking part in the 2021 contest.

Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest
Belarus
Former participating broadcasterBelarusian Television and Radio Company (BTRC; 2004–2021)
Participation summary
Appearances16 (6 finals)
First appearance2004
Last appearance2019
Highest placement6th: 2007
Participation history
External links
Belarus's page at Eurovision.tv Edit this at Wikidata
For the most recent participation see
Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019

History

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The Belarusian Television and Radio Company (BTRC) was a full member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) since 1 January 1993, thus eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest since then. It participated in the contest representing Belarus since its 49th edition in 2004.

Belarus entered the contest in the same year that semi-finals began to be used to determine who would compete in the final. Belarus has qualified for the final six times: in 2007 with "Work Your Magic", in 2010 with "Butterflies", in 2013 with "Solayoh", in 2014 with "Cheesecake", in 2017 with "Story of My Life", and in 2019 with "Like It".

Alexander Rybak, the winner of the 2009 contest representing Norway, expressed an interest in composing an entry for his birth country Belarus.[2] Rybak's song "Accent", performed by Milki, competed in the Belarusian national final for the 2015 contest,[3] placing fourth.

Belarus originally planned to participate in the 2021 contest, and were set to perform in the first half of the first semi-final. On 9 March 2021, Galasy ZMesta was announced as the chosen entrant with the song "Ya nauchu tebya (I'll Teach You)".[4] However, the entry was disqualified on 11 March, as it was decided by the EBU that the song was in violation of the contest's rules. Belarusian broadcaster BTRC was ordered to submit either a new version of the song or an entirely new song that is compliant with the rules, or face disqualification.[5] On 26 March, BTRC submitted the song "Pesnya pro zaytsev (Song about hares)" (Russian: Песня про зайцев), also sung by Galasy ZMesta, as Belarus' new entry, however that song was also disqualified, again for the same reasons as their previous attempt, and Belarus was subsequently disqualified from the 2021 contest altogether.[6][7]

On 28 May 2021, six days after the 2021 final, the EBU voted to suspend BTRC's membership. BTRC was given two weeks to respond before the suspension came into effect on 11 June, but there was no public response.[1] The broadcaster was expelled from the EBU on 1 July, therefore losing the rights to broadcast and participate in the contest.[8] It was subsequently stated that the expulsion would last for three years,[9] however, in late April 2024 (one month before the expiration), the EBU declared that there was "no reason to change [its] position at the current time", thus making the suspension indefinite.[10]

Participation overview

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Table key
X Entry selected but did not compete
Year Artist Song Language Final Points Semi Points
2004 Aleksandra and Konstantin "My Galileo" English Failed to qualify 19 10
2005 Angelica Agurbash "Love Me Tonight" English 13 67
2006 Polina Smolova "Mum" English 22 10
2007 Koldun "Work Your Magic" English 6 145 4 176
2008 Ruslan Alehno "Hasta la vista" English Failed to qualify 17 27
2009 Petr Elfimov "Eyes That Never Lie" English 13 25
2010 3+2 feat. Robert Wells "Butterflies" English 24 18 9 59
2011 Anastasia Vinnikova "I Love Belarus" English Failed to qualify 14 45
2012 Litesound "We Are the Heroes" English 16 35
2013 Alyona Lanskaya "Solayoh" English 16 48 7 64
2014 Teo "Cheesecake" English 16 43 5 87
2015 Uzari and Maimuna "Time" English Failed to qualify 12 39
2016 Ivan "Help You Fly" English 12 84
2017 Naviband "Story of My Life" Belarusian 17 83 9 110
2018 Alekseev "Forever" English Failed to qualify 16 65
2019 Zena "Like It" English 24 31 10 122
2020 VAL "Da vidna" (Да відна) Belarusian Contest cancelled[a] X
2021 Galasy ZMesta Entries disqualified[b] Disqualified X
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Heads of delegation

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Each participating broadcaster in the Eurovision Song Contest assigns a head of delegation as the EBU's contact person and the leader of their delegation at the event. The delegation, whose size can greatly vary, includes a head of press, the performers, songwriters, composers, and backing vocalists, among others.[14]

Year Head of delegation Ref.
20092011 Alexander Martynenko
20122016 Marat Markov
20172019 Olga Salamakha

Commentators and spokespersons

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Year Channel Commentator Spokesperson Ref.
2002 Unknown Unknown Did not participate
2003 Belarus-1 Ales Kruglyakov, Tatyana Yakusheva
2004 Unknown Ales Kruglyakov and Denis Dudinsky [ru] Denis Kurian
2005 Belarus-1 Ales Kruglyakov Elena Ponomareva
2006 Unknown Denis Dudinskiy Corrianna
2007 Denis Kurian, Alexander Tikhanovich Juliana
2008 Belarus-1, Belarus-TV Denis Kurian Olga Barabanschikova
2009 Belarus-1 Denis Kurian, Alexander Tikhanovich Ekaterina Litvinova
2010 Denis Kurian Aleksei Grishin
2011 Leila Ismailava
2012 Dmitry Koldun
2013 Belarus-1, Belarus 24 Evgeny Perlin Darya Domracheva
2014 Alyona Lanskaya
2015 Teo
2016 Uzari
2017 Alyona Lanskaya
2018 Naviband
2019 Maria Vasilevich
2020 Belarus-1, Belarus 24 Evgeny Perlin Not announced before cancellation
20212024 Suspended from broadcasting Did not participate

Other shows

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Show Commentator Channel Ref.
Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light Evgeny Perlin Belarus 1, Belarus 24
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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ The 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  2. ^ Originally "Ya nauchu tebya (I'll Teach You)" (Я научу тебя) was chosen as the Belarusian entry for 2021, however this was disqualified by the EBU due to the political nature of the lyrics relating to the 2020–2021 Belarusian protests. Subsequently a new entry, "Pesnya pro zaytsev (Song About Hares)" (Песня про зайцев), was chosen, however this was also barred from competing, which led to the exclusion of Belarus from the 2021 contest.[11][12][13]

References

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