This year’s Belarusian national selection has sparked so much drama before it has even aired — and we’re not even talking about Alekseev‘s participation.
As we reported on January 17, Sputnik recently revealed that Shuma’s entry “Chmarki” (Clouds) was put under investigation due to suspicions that it might contain lyrics from a Belarusian folk song.
However, the national broadcaster BTRC managed to resolve the issue rather quickly.
“The group Shuma has changed the lyrics of their entry at the Belarus national selection,” BTRC press secretary Svetlana Smolonskaya-Krasovskaya told Sputnik.
Songwriter Max Shchur helped Shuma rewrite certain parts of their song.
“The changed lyrics have been sent to the organisers,” Smolonskaya-Krasovskaya said. “I must point out that the selection has not finished yet, we are still on our first step, there is still time to make corrections.”
“In accordance with our position and rules, the participants in the project are obligated to respect the organisers’ recommendations when it comes to the staging and performance of the song and all other questions related to participating in this project.”
“To the artist and to everyone else we stress: all our recommendations are done to make sure that everything is being done legally, that we will all get a great television show that will attract the viewers and inspire them to vote, and that we get a worthy representative for the Eurovision Song Contest.”
The Belarus national final will take place on the 16th of February.
Belarus Drama Contest 2018
• Belarus: Six finalists threaten to withdraw if Alekseev is allowed to appear in the national final
• “I won’t participate” — Sofi Lapina withdraws from Belarus’ national selection over Alekseev drama
• Belarus national final drama continues: Shuma to be investigated for potential rule break
Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest
Belarus made their debut in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2004 with the song “My Galileo“, performed by Aleksandra and Konstantin. The song placed 19th in the semifinal. They took part in 2005 and 2006, but without much success. The first Belarusian entry to qualify for the grand final was “Work Your Magic“, performed by Dmitry Koldun, which achieved 6th place in 2007.
Belarus has not missed any contest since their debut in 2004, but their success so far has been mixed. Apart from “Work Your Magic” – which remains their most successful entry – only four representatives have managed to go through the semifinal to the grand final. Those were: 3+2 feat. Robert Wells with “Butterflies” (24th place in 2010), Alyona Lanskaya with “Solayloh” (16th place in 2013), Teo with “Cheesecake” (16th place in 2014) and NAVIBAND with “Story of My Life” (17th place in 2017).
Apart from “Story of My Life”, all Belarusian entries were sung in English. “Story of My Life” was their first entry to be sung in the Belarusian language.
What do you think? Will all the drama affect Shuma and the other contestants’ performances in the Belarusian national final? Or will they be able to overcome all this drama? Tell us in the comments section below!
Wonder it there’ll be a revamp with intent on lyrical extension…
Again they didn’t show where came the text from.
What happened of the other acts threatening to withdraw?
Now they should do another “investigation into unoriginal material” on Mr. Alekseev’s overrated song