Grannies rehearsal for Eurovision Song Contest

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Grannies rehearsal for Eurovision Song Contest

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Buranovo Grannies would represent Russian Culture in Eurovision Song Contest.

26 April,2012 02:17 pm

A group of elderly village ladies known as Buranovskiye Babushki (the Buranovo Grannies) have been chosen to represent Russia in the finals of the Eurovision Song Contest scheduled for May 22, in Baku, Azerbaijan.The performance of their song, Party for Everybody, with simple dance moves in bark slippers, charmed audience members in Russia and is now one of the favorites to win the contest.The Buranovo Grannies, most in their seventies, still lead normal lives in the village of Buranovo, in Russias Udmurtia Republic, even though they have become famous by the contest.Established in the early 1990s, the group first participated in various competitions in 2008 with the purpose of winning money to help build a church in the village.Their first time to compete for a place in the Eurovision Song Contest ended with a third place finish. However, only one winner is allowed to represent Russia at the annual event.Two years later, the group returned and beat out other competitors to participate in this years contest, while also setting a record as the oldest participants.One feature that contributes to their success is that they are good at absorbing different music elements to enrich their own songs. For instance, they cover many popular Russian and English songs in their own language, Udmurt.Even though the village grannies remain calm towards fame, they still hope to show their best on stage.As the contest is less than a month away, the grannies come together to rehearse every day, some are even too busy to have meals. In terms of their song, Party for Everybody, they need to practice English as well because they have changed the chorus into English to attract a wider audience.Popular across Europe, the Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among countries of the European Broadcasting Union. Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries songs to determine the most popular song in the competition.