| Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest 2008 | ||||
| Country |  Russia | |||
| Selection process | Evrovidenie 2008 | |||
| Selection date | 9 March 2008 | |||
| Competing entry | ||||
| Song | "Believe" | |||
| Artist | Dima Bilan | |||
| Songwriters |
| |||
| Placement | ||||
| Semi-final result | Qualified (3rd, 135 points) | |||
| Final result | 1st, 272 points | |||
| Participation chronology | ||||
| ||||
Russia participated in and won theEurovision Song Contest 2008 inBelgrade,Serbia. The Russian entry was selected through a national final, Evrovidenie 2008 (Евровидение 2008) organised by the Russian broadcasterRossiya Channel (RTR).Dima Bilan represented Russia with the song "Believe", which qualified from the first semi-final of the competition and won the contest, placing 1st in the final with 272 points.[1]
Evrovidenie 2008 was the fourth edition ofEvrovidenie, the music competition that selects Russia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. The show took place on 9 March 2008 at the Akademicheskiy Concert Hall inMoscow and hosted byOxana Fedorova andOskar Kuchera.[2] Twenty-seven artists and songs participated and the winner was selected through a jury and a public televote. The show was broadcast onRussia-1,RTR-Planeta as well as online via the broadcaster's websiterfn.ru.[3]
On 8 December 2007, RTR announced a submission period for interested artists and composers to submit their entries between 15 December 2007 and 1 February 2008.[4][5] The broadcaster received 167 submissions at the conclusion of the deadline. A jury panel evaluated the received submissions and selected the twenty-five finalists for the national final. The competing acts alongside an additional two finalists were announced on 4 March 2008 and among the competing artists were2002 Russian Eurovision entrantsPremyer-Ministr,2006 Russian Eurovision entrantDima Bilan, and2006 Belarusian Eurovision entrantPolina Smolova.[6][7]
A documentary programme about the Eurovision Song Contest was produced and aired on Russia-1 in the lead up to the national final, whileMuz-TV and Love Radio presented the finalists to the public and covered the preparations of the national final.[8]
| Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) |
|---|---|---|
| A-Sortie | "Colours of My Love" | Kim Breiburg |
| Aero | "Siberia" | Aero |
| Aleksandr Panayotov | "Crescent and Cross" | Kim Breiburg,Karen Kavaleryan |
| Alexey Vorobyov | "New Russian Kalinka" | Vladimir Molchanov, Alexey Vorobyov |
| Anatoly Alyoshin | "One More Try" | Sasha Lev, Karen Kaveleryan |
| Anna Mushak and Project William | "The Needle" | Anna Mushak |
| Asılyar | "Qarlığaçlar"(Карлыгачлар) | Marat Muhin, Mönir Mazunov |
| Aziya | "Odinokiy dozhd"(Одинокий дождь) | Nalchik Amur Uspaev, Kazbek Shadov |
| BK! | "Don't Break My Heart" | Boris Khludnev, Pavel Maklay |
| Dima Bilan | "Believe" | Jim Beanz, Dima Bilan |
| Granat | "Another Side of Midnight" | Marcel Gonzales, Anastasiya Maximova, Ilya Mazurenko |
| Helena Gorskaya | "Always All Alone" | Alexandr Grata, Vyacheslav Kokarev |
| Max Lorens and Satsura | "Day nam dozhd'"(Дай нам дождь) | Seryoga |
| Natalia Astafyeva | "Tri luny"(Три луны) | Natalia Astafyeva |
| Natalia Terekhova | "So Can You Tell Me" | Natalia Terekhova |
| Nora Adam | "Gotta Let It Go" | Gosha Levchenko |
| Olga Varvus | "King of Seduction" | Olga Varvus |
| Pierre Narciss and Jam Sheriff | "Who Am I Without Your Love" | Musa Sheriff |
| Polina Smolova | "Na rasstoyanii dykhanya"(На расстоянии дыхания) | Svetlana Kulemina, Alfred Kin, Sergey Alihanov |
| Premyer-Ministr | "My parallelniye miry"(Мы параллельные миры) | Taras Demchuk, Irina Stepanova, Denis Khrushchov |
| Roman Bezhin | "I'm Missing" | Roman Bezhin |
| Sabrina | "Wreck" | Jim Beanz |
| Sergey Lazarev | "Flyer" | Rasmus Lindwall, Robert Watts, Mårten Eriksson |
| Tamila Bloggy | "Sny"(Сны) | Tamila Grishchenko |
| Yulia Mikhalchik | "Cold Fingers" | Natalia Pavlova, Vladislav Dzyatko |
| Zhenya Otradnaya | "Porque amor" | Anton Vartanov, P. Sepeda |
| Zhenya Rasskazova | "Otpuskayu tebya"(Отпускаю тебя) | Sergey Chepurnov |
The final took place on 9 March 2008. Twenty-seven entries competed and the winner, "Believe" performed byDima Bilan, was determined through a 50/50 combination of votes from a jury panel and public televoting.[9] The jury consisted ofIgor Krutoy (composer), Sergey Arhipov (deputy director ofRadio Mayak),Maxim Fadeev (composer and producer), Gennady Gokhshtein (executive entertainment producer of Russia-1) andVladimir Matetsky (singer-songwriter and producer).[2] In addition to the performances of the competing entries,Eurovision Song Contest 2007 winnerMarija Šerifović,2008 Belarusian Eurovision entrantRuslan Alekhno and2008 Ukrainian Eurovision entrantAni Lorak performed as guests.
| Draw | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote | Total | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A-Sortie | "Colours of My Love" | 17 | 16 | 33 | 11 |
| 2 | Polina Smolova | "Na rasstoyanii dykhanya" | 12 | 12 | 24 | 16 |
| 3 | Asılyar | "Qarlığaçlar" | 1 | 1 | 2 | 27 |
| 4 | Zhenya Otradnaya | "Porque amor" | 25 | 25 | 50 | 3 |
| 5 | Aero | "Siberia" | 3 | 4 | 7 | 24 |
| 6 | Anna Mushak and Project William | "The Needle" | 22 | 19 | 41 | 7 |
| 7 | Nora Adam | "Gotta Let It Go" | 2 | 2 | 4 | 26 |
| 8 | Natalia Terekhova | "So Can You Tell Me" | 6 | 6 | 12 | 22 |
| 9 | Zhenya Rasskazova | "Otpuskayu tebya" | 19 | 21 | 40 | 8 |
| 10 | Dima Bilan | "Believe" | 27 | 27 | 54 | 1 |
| 11 | Helena Gorskaya | "Always All Alone" | 14 | 13 | 27 | 14 |
| 12 | Aleksandr Panayotov | "Crescent and Cross" | 26 | 26 | 52 | 2 |
| 13 | Pierre Narciss and Jam Sheriff | "Who Am I Without Your Love" | 8 | 8 | 16 | 20 |
| 14 | Yulia Mikhalchik | "Cold Fingers" | 21 | 22 | 43 | 6 |
| 15 | Granat | "Another Side of Midnight" | 11 | 10 | 21 | 18 |
| 16 | Sabrina | "Wreck" | 10 | 9 | 19 | 19 |
| 17 | BK! | "Don't Break My Heart" | 5 | 5 | 10 | 23 |
| 18 | Aziya | "Odinokiy dozhd" | 7 | 7 | 14 | 21 |
| 19 | Tamila Bloggy | "Sny" | 18 | 20 | 38 | 9 |
| 20 | Premyer-Ministr | "My parallelniye miry" | 20 | 18 | 38 | 9 |
| 21 | Anatoly Alyoshin | "One More Try" | 13 | 11 | 24 | 16 |
| 22 | Alexey Vorobyov | "New Russian Kalinka" | 23 | 23 | 46 | 5 |
| 23 | Roman Bezhin | "I'm Missing" | 4 | 3 | 7 | 24 |
| 24 | Sergey Lazarev | "Flyer" | 24 | 24 | 48 | 4 |
| 25 | Natalia Astafyeva | "Tri luny" | 15 | 14 | 29 | 13 |
| 26 | Max Lorens and Satsura | "Day nam dozhd'" | 9 | 17 | 26 | 15 |
| 27 | Olga Varvus | "King of Seduction" | 16 | 15 | 31 | 12 |
With changes to the format of the Eurovision Song Contest coming into effect in 2008, Russia was required to compete in one of two semi-finals in order to qualify to compete in the final. In the allocation draw on 28 January 2008, Russia was drawn to compete in the first semi-final on 20 May 2008.[10] On 17 March 2008 during the draw for running order, Russia was drawn to receive the third of three wildcards for the first semi-final, allowing the Russian head of delegation to select the starting position for the nation.[11] Russia chose to perform 18th in the first semifinal, followingRomania and precedingGreece.
Bilan was joined on stage byfigure skaterEvgeni Plushenko, who performed on a mobile ice rink placed on stage specifically for the Russian performance, andviolinistEdvin Marton, who performed with aStradivarius.[12] Russia qualified from the first semi-final, placing 3rd and scoring 135 points.[13] During the winners' press conference following the conclusion of the first semi-final broadcast, Russia was drawn to perform 24th in the final followingSerbia and precedingNorway.[14] Russia won the 2008 Contest placing 1st and scoring 272 points.[15] As the winning nation of the 2008 Contest and the host of the forthcoming contest, Russia pre-qualified to compete in the final of theEurovision Song Contest 2009.
The first semi-final and final were broadcast onTelekanal Rossiya, with commentary by Dmitriy Guberniyev and Olga Shelest. The voting spokesperson for Russia wasOxana Fedorova.
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