Dancers and video operators preparing for the Eurovision 2009 song contest rehearsal in Moscow on May 3, 2009 (AFP Photo / Michael Eckels)
Eurovision rehearsals start in Moscow
Published 03 May, 2009, 21:59
The first rehearsals for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest kicked off at Moscow’s Olympiyski Indoor Arena on Sunday.
For the next week, participants from 42 countries will sing their songs to an empty concert hall in preparation for the final, when they’ll face a huge audience. Each day, hopefuls from nine countries will have the chance to get used to the vast Olympiyski arena.
Technical problems interrupted the rehearsal of Belarus’s Pyotr Yelfimov on Sunday. The producer said the singer is planning to use sophisticated special effects during his performance.
Belgium’s Patrick Ushen will sing his song “Copycat” with a live cat on stage. The cat, he says, will be dressed the same as himself. Ushen is a rockabilly singer inspired by Elvis Presley. He says: “Eurovision could have done with a bit of traditional rock’n’roll.”
The Czech Republic will be represented by the band Gipsy.cz. They will play a ‘Gipsy hymn’ “Aven Romale” which can be translated as “Go, Gypsies!” With this song the band aims to show that no matter what color you are, music unites all people, says the front man of the band Radoslav Banga aka Gipsy.
The Swedish singer, opera star Malena Ernman, combines classical music with pop in her song. She believes such combinations help popularize academic music among people. She will sing her song in English and French.
Sisters Inga and Anush Arshakyan are representing Armenia. Their song Jan-Jan is about love for the whole world. The word ‘jan’ is translated from Armenian as ‘dear’. “Jan-Jan” is not a name, it’s an idiomatic term meaning to give the maximum amount of sun, warmth and love,” Anush Arshakyan says.
The Danish singer Susanne Georgi, representing Andorra, will sing her song “La teva decision” (Get a life) in Catalan and English. Unlike the majority of performers, who are expected to sing in English, Georgi has decided to add Catalan “to support [her] small country.”
Montenegro’s Andrea Demirovic told journalists that she will sing “the song of [her] life” in Moscow. Her entry is full of “personal experience,” Demirovic says. Her big hope is to get her country to the final.
Singer Hadise, representing Turkey, is very superstitious. She arrived in Moscow not only with an amulet, but also with her own security.
“I very much trust in amulets and I will perform in the semi-final with one of them,” Hadise says. The bookmakers make her third favorite to win the competition.
The favorite this year is Norway’s Alexander Rybak with Greek Singer Sakis Rouvas in second place.
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