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Associated Press Online
March 8, 2012 Thursday 3:58 PM GMT
Russian grannies win bid to sing at Eurovision
By PETER LEONARD, Associated Press
MOSCOW
A Russian group known as the Buranovo Grannies has swept aside
glamorous opposition to represent the country at this year's
Eurovision Song Contest.
The eight women beat 24 competitors, including a double act comprising
2008 Eurovision winner Dima Bilan, in a televised show late Wednesday.
An outfit from a village in Russia's Udmurtia Republic, the women
blend modern pop sounds with their own traditional choral singing
style.
The refrain of the Buranovo Grannies "Party for Everybody" is in
English, but the remainder of the song is in Udmurt, a distant
relation of Finnish spoken by some 325,000 people.
The 57th Eurovision Song Contest will be held in May in Baku, Azerbaijan.
While some countries compete for the Eurovision title in earnest, the
contest has for many become an object of mockery.
But the Buranovo Grannies, who performed in customary peasant garb,
say they want to be taken seriously.
One group member, who identified herself in an interview to Russian
television station Rossiya-1 as granny Olya, said their goal in
performing is to raise money to build a church in their village of
Buranovo, which is home to around 650 people.
"Grandmothers don't need glory and wealth. We have family, we have a
home, we have enough to live," grandmother Olya said.
At an average age of 75, the Buranovo Grannies will be competing with
U.K. entry Engelbert Humperdinck for the gray vote.
Humperdinck, a sideburned, square-jawed, 75-year-old crooner who
famously beat the Beatles to the No. 1 spot in the U.K. charts in
1967, was selected by the BBC as Britain's entry in the Eurovision.
Humperdinck whose former name is Arnold Dorsey was a 1960s sex symbol
whose "Release Me" topped the British charts in 1967, keeping The
Beatles' "Penny Lane"/"Strawberry Fields Forever" at No. 2. He also
had a top 10 U.S. hit in 1976 with "After the Lovin."
Previous winners of the contest include '60s chanteuse Lulu, Sweden's
ABBA victors in 1974 with "Waterloo" and Canada's Celine Dion, who
triumphed for Switzerland in 1988.
On Wednesday, Armenia informed the European Broadcasting Union that it
would pull out of the contest over security concerns.
Armenia and Azerbaijan, which won the right to host the Eurovision by
winning the competition last year, have been bitter enemies since the
two former Soviet nations went to war in the 1990s over the disputed
Nagorno-Karabakh territory.
Online:
Buranovo Grannies' winning performance:
http://bit.ly/x2sie1
March 8, 2012 Thursday 3:58 PM GMT
Russian grannies win bid to sing at Eurovision
By PETER LEONARD, Associated Press
MOSCOW
A Russian group known as the Buranovo Grannies has swept aside
glamorous opposition to represent the country at this year's
Eurovision Song Contest.
The eight women beat 24 competitors, including a double act comprising
2008 Eurovision winner Dima Bilan, in a televised show late Wednesday.
An outfit from a village in Russia's Udmurtia Republic, the women
blend modern pop sounds with their own traditional choral singing
style.
The refrain of the Buranovo Grannies "Party for Everybody" is in
English, but the remainder of the song is in Udmurt, a distant
relation of Finnish spoken by some 325,000 people.
The 57th Eurovision Song Contest will be held in May in Baku, Azerbaijan.
While some countries compete for the Eurovision title in earnest, the
contest has for many become an object of mockery.
But the Buranovo Grannies, who performed in customary peasant garb,
say they want to be taken seriously.
One group member, who identified herself in an interview to Russian
television station Rossiya-1 as granny Olya, said their goal in
performing is to raise money to build a church in their village of
Buranovo, which is home to around 650 people.
"Grandmothers don't need glory and wealth. We have family, we have a
home, we have enough to live," grandmother Olya said.
At an average age of 75, the Buranovo Grannies will be competing with
U.K. entry Engelbert Humperdinck for the gray vote.
Humperdinck, a sideburned, square-jawed, 75-year-old crooner who
famously beat the Beatles to the No. 1 spot in the U.K. charts in
1967, was selected by the BBC as Britain's entry in the Eurovision.
Humperdinck whose former name is Arnold Dorsey was a 1960s sex symbol
whose "Release Me" topped the British charts in 1967, keeping The
Beatles' "Penny Lane"/"Strawberry Fields Forever" at No. 2. He also
had a top 10 U.S. hit in 1976 with "After the Lovin."
Previous winners of the contest include '60s chanteuse Lulu, Sweden's
ABBA victors in 1974 with "Waterloo" and Canada's Celine Dion, who
triumphed for Switzerland in 1988.
On Wednesday, Armenia informed the European Broadcasting Union that it
would pull out of the contest over security concerns.
Armenia and Azerbaijan, which won the right to host the Eurovision by
winning the competition last year, have been bitter enemies since the
two former Soviet nations went to war in the 1990s over the disputed
Nagorno-Karabakh territory.
Online:
Buranovo Grannies' winning performance:
http://bit.ly/x2sie1