Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008
Russia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade, Serbia. The Russian entry was selected through a national final, Evrovidenie 2008 (Евровидение 2008) organised by the Russian broadcaster Rossiya 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]
| Eurovision Song Contest 2008 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |  Russia | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Evrovidenie 2008 | |||
| Selection date(s) | 9 March 2008 | |||
| Selected entrant | Dima Bilan | |||
| Selected song | "Believe" | |||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Semi-final result | Qualified (3rd, 135 points) | |||
| Final result | 1st, 272 points | |||
| Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
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Before Eurovision
Evrovidenie 2008
For the 2008 Contest, Rossiya Channel (RTR) was responsible for the selection of the Russian entry, opting to organize a national final. The final took place on 9 March 2008 at the Akademicheskiy Concert Hall in Moscow, hosted by Oxana Fedorova and Oskar Kuchera.[2]
Competing entries
On 8 December 2007, RTR announced a submission period for interested artists and composers to submit their entries from 15 December 2007 until 1 February 2008.[3][4] A documentary about the national final would also be produced, and Muz-TV and Love Radio would follow the preparations of the participants through special diary presentations.[5] On 16 February 2008, RTR announced in a press conference that 25 entries would be selected by a jury panel for the competition. The jury evaluated the 167 received submissions and selected 25 entries for the competition, which were announced on 25 February 2008. An additional 2 entries were announced on 4 March 2008.[6]
Among the competing artists, Dima Bilan represented Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006; Premyer-Ministr represented Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 and Polina Smolova represented Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. Alexey Vorobyov and Sergey Lazarev would later represent Russia in 2011 and 2016 and 2019 respectively.[7]
| 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 & Project William | "The Needle" | Anna Mushak |
| Asılyar | "Qarlığaçlar" (Карлыгачлар) | Marat Muhin, Mönir Mazunov |
| Aza Batayeva | "It's No Dream" | 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 & 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 & 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 |
Final
The final took place on 9 March 2008. Twenty-seven entries competed and the winner, "Believe" performed by Dima Bilan, was determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from a jury panel and public televoting.[8] The jury panel consisted of Igor Krutoy, Sergey Arhipov, Maxim Fadeev, Gennady Gohstein and Vladimir Matetsky.[2]
2007 Serbian entrant Marija Šerifović, 2008 Ukrainian entrant Ani Lorak and 2008 Belarusian entrant Ruslan Alekhno were the interval acts for the show.
| Final – 9 March 2008 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 & 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 & 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 | Aza Batayeva | "It's No Dream" | 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 & Satsura | "Day nam dozhd'" | 9 | 17 | 26 | 15 |
| 27 | Olga Varvus | "King of Seduction" | 16 | 15 | 31 | 12 |
At Eurovision
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.[9] 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.[10] Russia chose to perform 18th in the first semifinal, following Romania and preceding Greece.
Bilan was joined on stage by figure skater Evgeni Plushenko, who performed on a mobile ice rink placed on stage specifically for the Russian performance, and violinist Edvin Marton, who performed with a Stradivarius.[11] Russia qualified from the first semi-final, placing 3rd and scoring 135 points.[12] During the winners' press conference following the conclusion of the first semi-final broadcast, Russia was drawn to perform 24th in the final following Serbia and preceding Norway.[13] Russia won the 2008 Contest placing 1st and scoring 272 points. As the winning nation of the 2008 Contest and the host of the forthcoming contest, Russia pre-qualified to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2009.
The first semi-final and final were broadcast on Rossiya 1, with commentary by Dmitriy Guberniyev and Olga Shelest. The voting spokesperson for Russia was Oxana Fedorova.
Points awarded to Russia
| 12 points | 10 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |
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| 12 points | 10 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |
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Points awarded by Russia
Semi-final 1Points awarded in the first semi-final:[12]
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FinalPoints awarded in the final:[1]
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References
- "Eurovision Song Contest 2008 Final". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
- Mikheev, Andy. "Russia 2008". ESCKaz. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
- Kuipers, Michael (9 December 2007). "Russian national final on March 9th". ESCToday.com. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
- Klier, Marcus (10 December 2007). "Russia: more details on national final". ESCToday.com. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
- Floras, Stella (17 February 2008). "Russia: Details of the 2008 preselection announced". ESCToday.com. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
- Floras, Stella (25 February 2008). "Russia: List of finalists announced". ESCToday.com. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
- Krasilnikova, Anna (4 March 2008). "Russia: Was 25, now 27 national finalists". ESCToday.com. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
- Krasilnikova, Anna (9 March 2008). "Russia: Dima Bilan returns to Eurovision". ESCToday.com. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
- Viniker, Barry (28 January 2008). "The Eurovision Song Contest semi final draw". ESCToday.com. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
- Klier, Marcus (17 March 2008). "Live: Eurovision 2008 - Draw of the running order". ESCToday.com. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
- Floras, Stella (21 March 2008). "Russia: Bilan's staging plans for Belgrade". ESCToday.com. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
- "Eurovision Song Contest 2008 Semi-Final (1)". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
- Klier, Marcus (21 March 2008). "UPD Eurovision 2008: the results of the first semi final". ESCToday.com. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
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Note: Entries scored out are when Russia did not compete | |||||||||||||