Belarus

__//**Artist Biography:**//__ The contestant representing the country of Belarus in this year's Eurovision Song Contest is [|Petr Elfimov]. Petr was born on February 15, 1980, in the city of [|Mogilev], the Republic of Belarus. Since his parents are both musicians, he has been exposed to music his entire life. According to the [|Eurovision official website], his father, whom he is named after, is a professional bass player in a church choir. On the other hand, his mother, Jeanette, is a conductor of a superb choir that has won many first prizes at international competitions. In addition, she was ruled the best conductor at an international festival in Poland in 2007.

Petr had natural musical talent even at a young age, debuting on stage at only age six. Throughout his life, he has tried many various musical pursuits. At fourteen he joined the band, Double W, and became the solo singer. In the late 1990’s he created the band, the Egoist. At eighteen he wrote his first song If You Only Knew and in 2004 he won the Grand Prix at the International Popular Song Contest Vitebsk 2004. The contest was within the framework of the [|International Arts Festival Vitebsk Slavic Bazaar]. He later competed in other music contests throughout Europe, including Estonia, Poland, and Serbia. From 1999-2003 he competed as a lead singer in a number of panel game teams for the [|KVN], which is an abbreviation for Klub Vesyolykh i Nakhodchivykh, the Merry and Inventive People Club. Some of his teams include the teams from [|Belarus State University] and the People’s Friendship University of Russia. The Eurovision website states that Petr holds the title of the absolute champion of the International KVN Union.

In addition to his creative pursuits, Petr also attended a variety of music schools. He finished the Mogilev Music and Choreography Lyceum in 1998. A major in Academic Singing, he then graduated from the [|Belarus State Music Academy] in 2005. Since then Petr has been a pop vocal coach at the Modern Knowledge Institute. Currently he is working on his master degree at the Belarus State Music Academy, and hopes to graduate this June.

Many different types of music, such as classical, jazz, blues, soul, and heavy metal, have influenced Petr yet his music mostly resembles that of heavy rock and romance. In fact, a lot of his inspiration came from the UK band [|Queen]. He was eleven the first time he listened to the harsh instrumental sound and incredible vocal polyphony of Queen. Later he turned to the roots of rock music and performers such as: [|The Beatles], [|Pink Floyd], [|Deep Purple], [|Led Zeppelin], and [|Bryan Adams]. [|Ian Gillian], the lyricist for Deep Purple, was in the original cast of [|Andrew Lloyd Webber]’s “[|Jesus Christ Superstar].” It was him that inspired Petr’s dream to one day perform the part of Jesus in that famous rock opera. This dream has yet to come true.

This isn't Petr's first experience of Eurovision. According to [|Belarus News and Analysis], he was one of the backing vocalists on the first [|Belarusian entry in Istanbul in 2004]. However, [|Alexandra & Konstantin] did not make it to the final on the country's debut. Currently, he is the third male solo performer representing Belarus in a row and he continues the country's tradition of singing in English at the competition.

Petr has given countless solo concerts in Belarus, and has extensively tours foreign countries. The Eurovision website states that he has made two solo albums: I Want (2005) and The Bells (2007), and is in the process of working on his new album, "Glance Of Love", which will include his Eurovision entry in both English and Russian.

//__**Song Information:**__//
The song [|Petr Elfimov] will be performing is titled "Eyes That Never Lie". Although he composed the song himself, the lyrics were written by Valery Prokhozhy. Specifically for finals the Eurovision 2009 contest, a new version of the song was produced by [|Tero Kinnunen] and recorded at the Finnvox Studios in Helsinki, Finland.

"Eyes That Never Lie" is both sung and written entirely in English, with little or no accent that can be noted in the performance. Through the [|lyrics], Elfimov sings a praise to a loved one and describes his intimate feelings toward him/her. In an [|interview] with Eurovisionary.com, he describes the song: //"////My song is autobiographical. Its a little story of my life, my search, my love! It is dedicated to the person I love."//

"Eyes That Never Lie"s a 3:06 long generic guitar-driven rock/pop song, with Eurovision's [|official preview video] of the performance showing a guitarist, drummer, keyboarder, and back-up singer performing behind Elfimov. The song's tempo is typical for modern rock, with the energy gradually building up throughout the performance. The keyboard and variations of guitar riffs compliment Elfimov's singing, creating bridges between his emotional and anthem-like lyrics. There are no instrumental solos, and Elfimov's voice remains the emphasis throughout the performance. The song draws heavily from the classic 70's rock and 80's metal, with a strong pop influence being the basis. The visuals of the live performance also remain true to the pop-rock performances of today, featuring bright and colorful lights that create a backdrop for the band.

Along with a video-recording of his Eurovision performance, an [|official music video] directed by Semen Gorov was released on April 26. According to [|esctoday.com], the video //"tells the touching story of love between two children, violently separated by the authorities. The girl ends up in an orphanage and grows up to be a successful painter. None of them forgets their childhood love until fate brings them back together later in life."//

//**__Narrative of the Entry:__**// On January 19, 2009 the final contestants were chosen and Petr was among them receiving 11,475 votes via a televote. The next closest contestant received just under 8,000 votes showing the wide gap and obvious favoritism for Petr's work. I have been unable to find out how many other contestants there were in the running, but his sound which consists of a mainstream, almost "American Idol" sound, obviously struck a cord with judges as well as fans.

As of May 3, 2009 Petr's song entitled "Eyes That Never Lie" was being received well by the press at the first public engagement which addressed reporters and journalists for the first time. From my understanding, during Petr's work on his new album entitled "Glance of Love" has opened him up to a larger target market prior to the Eurovision competition in that both English and Russian language copies will be distributed at its completion. Due to Petr's extensive musical training mentioned above, there really was no information provided about upcoming preparation, but the official music video more or less speaks for itself.

Though his song was slightly tweaked upon his second rehearsal, his entry has "strong beats" heard coming from the arena while his white leather suit, a symbol of luck was present as well. Petr feels that his all white suit symbolizes the feelings that his song "Eyes That Never Lie" means to both him and his fans.

__**//History of Belarus in Eurovision://**__
Belarus joined Eurovision in 2004 with their entry "My Galileo", performed by Aleksandra & Konstantine. This was also the first year Eurovision implemented a semi-final round in the contest with the top 10 moving on to the final round. The contest that year was hosted by the 2003 winner, Turkey. Belarus finished a disappointing 19th out of the 22 countries competing in the semi-finals for one of the top ten spots to move on the final. Ukraine won the contest that year with their song "Wild Dances", defeating the other 23 finalists.

Belarus continued to compete in the Eurovision song contest in 2005 and 2006 with two more disappointing performances. In 2005 with[| Angelica Agurbash's] "Love Me Tonight", which finished 13th in the semi-final. And in 2006, [|Polina Smolova's] "Mum" finished 22nd out of 24 in the 2006 semi-final. The luck of Belarus would quickly change for the 2007 Eurovision contest with their smash entry "Work Your Magic", performed by [|Dmitry Koldun]. "Work Your Magic" finished 4th in the semi-finals and moved on to the final round while no participants from any western European country moved on to the finals this year, causing quite a stir amongst the media. Belarus ended up finishing 6th in the finals while Serbia took the top spot in it's debut year in Eurovision as a sovereign country.

In 2008 Eurovision brought in a second semi-final with Belarus claiming the 17th spot with [|Ruslan Alekhno's] "Hasta La Vista", ending their chances at moving on to the finals. Going back to the drawing board Belarus put all their chips on Petr Elfimov for this years contest with his hit "Eyes That Never Lie". Hopefully Belarus can at least get past the semi-finals this year to compete in the finals for the title as Eurovisions #1 song.