Country Belarus Selected entrant Petr Elfimov | Selection process Eurofest 2009 Selected song "Eyes That Never Lie" | |
Selection date(s) Semi-final
15 December 2008
Final
19 January 2009 Semi-final result Failed to qualify (13th) | ||
Belarus and Belarusian Television and Radio Company (BTRC) announced their participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 on 29 September 2008 by releasing the rules of their national selection - "Eurofest 2009". The song did not progress from the first semi-final of the competition.
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Eurofest 2009
The country's quest to select their sixth entry at the Eurovision Song Contest began in a selection process, the first stage involving a professional jury which selected 15 songs to be performed at the semi-final of Eurofest 2009, which was then narrowed down to 5 by the jury for the final, which was decided by televoting.
Submission of songs to BTRC was held from 5 October to 20 November 2008. BTRC received a total of 126 entries for Eurofest 2009. Live auditions were held by BTRC to select the 15 artists that would compete in the semi-final on 15 December 2008. The names of the successful artists were released on 5 December.
Semi-final
The semi-final of Eurofest 2009 was held on 15 December 2008. A professional jury selected five artists to qualify for the final in January. The finalists had an opportunity to change their selected songs before performing in the final again.
Final
The five qualifiers from the semi-final competed again in a national final on 19 January, a show held at the Sports Palace in Minsk, and presented by singers Anastasija Tihanovich and Dmitry Koldun, with Koldun being the 2007 Belorussian entry, coming sixth. The interval act consisted of the 2008 Belorussian and Ukrainian entries, Ruslan Alehno and Ani Lorak. The host, Koldun, also performed. The winner was decided by televoting, and the running order for the songs was not held until the night of the contest.
The contest was won by Petr Elfimov, with his rock song "Eyes That Never Lie". He received a landslide number of votes, receiving 11475 votes in total, over 4000 more than runner-up Gunesh. The group "Veter v Golove" were the only act to have changed their song from the semi-final stage.
After being selected as the Belarusian entry, Elfimov promoted his entry in a number of countries before Eurovision, making guest appearances at both the Greek and Ukrainian national finals on 18 February and 8 March respectively.
At Eurovision
A new version of "Eyes That Never Lie" was made after winning the Belarusian national final, which was produced by Tero Kinnunen at the Finnvox Studios in Helsinki, both known for their associations with symphonic metal band Nightwish. Belarus competed in the first semi final where they failed to qualify, finishing 13th of 18 participants, scoring 25 points.