Last year Georgian Idol gave us Oto Nemsadze, the bearded musical warrior who brought dramatic staging and a very big voice to Tel Aviv. And while he may have failed to advance to the Eurovision final with “Keep On Going”, the series has, indeed, kept on going and will be used to choose the country’s Eurovision artist once more.
The contest will kick off on October 26. And to make sure you’re ready we’ve prepped a little primer to fill you in on the judges, the well-known contestants we’ve spotted in the queues, the voting process and more.
Host
Georgian Idol looks set to run for two months from October to December. Auditions are ongoing, with open calls being held across Georgia over the past month. GPB have already revealed the host of Georgian Idol — Ruska Makashvili. She is a famous actor and TV presenter in the country and Georgians will know her from shows including Georgian Idol, Georgia’s Got Talent, The X Factor Georgia and more.
Voting Process
The public will be able to vote for their favourite acts via both telephone voting as well as through the Facebook Messenger app. It’s thought this approach will encourage voters young and old to express themselves.
Contestants
We’ve spotted several behind-the-scenes photos on social media. And so far we have seen a few famous faces: Tornike Kipiani (the Winner of X Factor Georgia and a Georgian national finalist in 2017) and Barbara Samkharadze (the winner of Georgia’s Got Talent). As you can see, the competition is going to be intense — and it’s only getting started!
Judges
And a final question: Who will judge Georgian Idol?
Tinatin Berdzenishvili is Director of Media and Communications at Georgian Public Broadcaster. She is a dear friend of wiwibloggs and well-versed in this field. She’s worked with Georgia’s delegation in the past and took part in organising of JESC 2017 in Tbilisi.
Natia Todua is a Georgian-born singer with a Cinderella story. She grew up in Gali — currently in the Russian-occupied territory of Georgia. She sang from an early age but never had any formal music training. As an adult she tried her luck on The X Factor Georgia and The X Factor Ukraine, but failed to make an impact. But then, while working as an au pair in Germany, she entered The Voice of Germany…and won it all. Natia got back in the singing show game this year and made a run for Eurovision 2018. She sang “My Own Way” at Unser Lied für Lissabon — Germany’s Eurovision 2018 selection.
Davit Evgenidze is a Georgian musician and composer.
David Aladashvili is a Georgian pianist.
In the second stage of the competition, the Georgian Public Broadcaster’s team will select a song for the winner of Idol.
