Flashback to Junior Eurovision 2010: Vladimir Arzumanyan from Armenia wins with Mama

JUNIOR EUROVISION 2010 IN MINSK, BELARUS

As the grand final of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest approaches, we’re flashing back to the contests of yesterday! Today we go back to cold and snowy Minsk, Belarus, which hosted the 8th Junior Eurovision Song Contest. 

THE WINNER

Twelve-year old Vladimir Arzumanyan from Armenia won this year. He was cute, happy and had a fancy red scarf around his neck. Who doesn’t like a boy with a red scarf? His song was already as sweet as himself: He sang “Mama” an ode to his mother, who helped him with girls and love. Vladimir performed tenth on the night, which was spelled out on the shirts of his backing dancers to help televoters remember his number. He won with 120 points, one more than Russia, who finished as runner-up.

THE BEST OF THE REST

2010 was a year of many talents. Moldova got eastern with “Ali Baba”, while the Netherlands stayed western with their song “My Family”. The latter covered a first world problem: annoying parents and siblings. Some of the acts have received more attention, including the beautiful Serbian ballad “Carobna noc” (Magic Night) by Sonja Skoric. Viewers from all over Europe loved everything about it and voted it into third.

However, by far the most talked-about act and voice was the one from Georgia. Fourteen-year old Mariam Kakhelishvilli—who we dubbed “Baby Gaga” sang “Mari Dari”, a song sung completely in an imaginary language. If Bzikebi can do it, she could do it too! Her dresses were the most creative things ever shown on the Junior Eurovision Song Contest stage. She totally rocked it, scoring a total of 109 points which gave her fourth place.

UNSUNG HEROES

Anja Veterova from FYROM was last to perform that night. Her song “Eooo, Eooo” has over one million views on YouTube, which makes it one of the most watched video clips from Junior Eurovision. The idea of travelling around the world was good, but apparently nobody could understand what she was singing about, because it was in Macedonian. She finished in 12th place. Junior Eurovision was over for her, but not for Dorijan, one of her dancers. He came back as a singer one year later.

The Belgian pair Jill & Lauren also had less success than people expected. After Belgium achieved their best placing a year earlier with the yodelling girl Laura, these Flemish girls came with “Get Up”. They were big favourites among the fans…but didn’t stand “aan de top” (at the top), finishing in a lower (albeit respectable) 7th place.

NOTABLE MENTIONS

The runners-up Liza & Sasha from Russia sang “Boy and Girl”. Big band meets Junior Eurovision to be more specific. They performed seventh that night, but seven was not their lucky number as they ended up second — only one point less than the Armenian Vladimir Arzumanyan.

One of the most magical moments of the night was when all the previous Junior Eurovision winners came on the stage to sing their song one more time. Most of them had really grown up. At the end they tapped and click-clacked together to the winning song of 2009.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfj7nvpK1fw

Charity Song

But the most magical moment was when all children worked their magic together with Eurovision participant Koldun on the charity song “A World Without War”.

You can read our reporting from Minsk here. 

Pictures: EBU, vandaag.be and belarus.by