Eurofest 2009

Belarus participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with the song „Eyes That Never Lie“ written by Petr Elfimov and Valery Prokhozhy. The song was performed by Petr Elfimov. The Belarusian entry for the 2009 contest in Moscow, Russia was selected through the national final Eurofest 2009, organised by the Belarusian broadcaster National State Television and Radio Company of the Republic of Belarus (BTRC). The national final was a televised production which consisted of a semi-final and a final held on 15 December 2008 and 19 January 2009, respectively. Fifteen competing acts participated in the semi-final where the top five entries as determined by a jury panel qualified to the final. In the final, public televoting selected „Eyes That Never Lie“ performed by Petr Elfimov as the winner with 11,475 votes.

Belarus was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 12 May 2009. Performing during the show in position 4, „Eyes That Never Lie“ was not announced among the 10 qualifying entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Belarus placed thirteenth out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 25 points.

Eurofest 2009 was the national final format developed by BTRC to select the Belarusian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. The competition consisted of a semi-final and final held on 15 December 2008 and 19 January 2009, respectively. Both shows were broadcast on the First Channel and Belarus TV as well as online via the broadcaster’s official website tvr.by.

Competing entries

Artists and composers were able to submit their applications and entries to the broadcaster between 5 October 2008 and 20 November 2008. At the closing of the deadline, 126 entries were received by the broadcaster. Auditions were held between 3 and 5 December 2008 at the Youth Variety Theater in Minsk where a jury panel was tasked with selecting up to fifteen entries to proceed to the televised national final. The jury consisted of Anatoly Yarmolenko (chairman of the jury, director of the ensemble Syabry), Inna Afanasieva (singer), Yadviga Poplavskaya (singer), Leonid Shirin (composer), Alexander Mezhenny (choreographer), Vladimir Rylatko (deputy head of the Belarusian Ministry of Culture), Denis Shpitalnikov (head of music and entertainment programmes of BTRC) and Alexander Kapenkin (deputy director of BTRC). Fifteen semi-finalists were selected and announced on 5 December 2008.

Artist	Song	Songwriter(s)
Alex Patlis Band	„Kto skazal?“ (Кто сказал?)	Alex Patlis
Alexei Krechet	„Joy and Freedom“	Alexei Krechet, Vadim Ruzov
Anna Blagova and Yuriy Vashchuk	„Behind“	Yuriy Vaschuk, Anna Zhilina
The Champions	„Shake It, Europe“	Olisa Emeka Orakposim, Vyacheslav Lyschik
Cola feat. Lidiya Zablotskaya	„Gudok“ (Гудок)	Valeriy Shevchenko, Vladimir Gridin
Dakota	„Ciabie zabyvaju“ (Цябе забываю)	Dakota, Gleb Lobodenko
Dominica	„This Is My Day“	Sergey Sukhomlin, Andrey Kostyugov
Dyadya Vanya	„Nasha Belarussia“ (Наша Беларуссия)	Ivan Vabishchevich
Gunesh	„Fantastic Girl“	Gunesh Abasova, Marina Khaitbayeva
Litesound feat. Dakota	„Carry On“	Vladimir Karyakin, Dmitry Karyakin
Petr Elfimov	„Eyes That Never Lie“	Petr Elfimov, Valery Prokhozhy
SingeRin	„Don’t Think About It“	Ekaterina Dudich
Venera	„Big Game“	Alexander Nabeev
Veter v Golove	„Or or And“	Alexandra Zaharik, Gleb Galushko
„Špacyrujem“ (Шпацыруем)	Alexandra Zaharik, Andrey Zhukov, Vitya Bardak
Victoria Belova	„Don’t Give Up From Love“	Victoria Belova, Andrey Klimka

Semi-final

The televised semi-final took place on 15 December 2008 at the BTRC studios in Minsk, hosted by Denis Kurian. The votes of jury members made up of music professionals selected the top five songs to qualify to the final.

Semi-final – 15 December 2008

Draw	Artist	Song	Result
1	Alexei Krechet	„Joy and Freedom“	Eliminated
2	Petr Elfimov	„Eyes That Never Lie“	Finalist
3	Cola feat. Lidiya Zablotskaya	„Gudok“	Eliminated
4	SingeRin	„Don’t Think About It“	Eliminated
5	Dakota	„Ciabie zabyvaju“	Eliminated
6	The Champions	„Shake It, Europe“	Eliminated
7	Alex Patlis Band	„Kto skazal?“	Eliminated
8	Litesound feat. Dakota	„Carry On“	Finalist
9	Dominica	„This Is My Day“	Finalist
10	Dyadya Vanya	„Nasha Belarussia“	Eliminated
11	Veter v Golove	„Or or And“	Finalist
12	Anna Blagova and Yuriy Vashchuk	„Behind“	Eliminated
13	Gunesh	„Fantastic Girl“	Finalist
14	Victoria Belova	„Don’t Give Up From Love“	Eliminated
15	Venera	„Big Game“	Eliminated

Final

The televised final took place on 19 January 2009 at the Sports Palace in Minsk, hosted by Anastasiya Tikhanovich and 2007 Belarusian Eurovision contestant Dmitry Koldun. Prior to the final, Veter v Golove opted to change their song as the national final rules set by BTRC allowed for the finalists to completely change their candidate songs. Public televoting exclusively selected the song „Eyes That Never Lie“ performed by Petr Elfimov as the winner.

In addition to the performances from the competitors, the show featured guest performances by the host Dmitry Koldun, 2008 Belarusian Eurovision contestant Ruslan Alehno and 2008 Ukrainian Eurovision contestant Ani Lorak.

Final – 19 January 2009

Draw	Artist	Song	Televote	Place
1	Gunesh	„Fantastic Girl“	7,949	2
2	Petr Elfimov	„Eyes That Never Lie“	11,475	1
3	Litesound feat. Dakota	„Carry On“	4,385	3
4	Dominica	„This Is My Day“	1,225	5
5	Veter v Golove	„Špacyrujem“	2,804	4

Eurofest final On stage

Preparation

Following Petr Elfimov’s victory at Eurofest 2009, the singer’s producer Tatyana Kosmacheva stated that „Eyes That Never Lie“ would undergo changes for the Eurovision Song Contest. The revamped version of the song was produced at the Finnvox Studios in Helsinki by Mikka Karmila and Tero Kinnunen who worked with the band Nightwish. The official music video, directed by Anastasiya Tikhanovich and filmed at the National Museum of Folk Architecture and Life in Pyrohiv, was released on 26 April.