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Russia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 1994 in Dublin, Ireland. This was Russia's first entry in the Eurovision Song Contest. The Russian entry was selected through a national final, organised by the Russian broadcaster Rossiya Channel (RTR). Youddiph represented Russia with the song "Vechny strannik", which placed 9th and scored 70 points at the contest.[1]
Evrovidenie 1994 - Nacionalny Otbor was the first edition of Evrovidenie, the music competition that selects Russia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. The competition was held on 12 March 1994 at the Shabolovka Studios in Moscow, hosted by Vadim Dolgachev and broadcast on RTR.[2]
Format[]
The competition featured nine entries where the Russian entry for Dublin was selected by a sixteen-member jury panel (nine music professionals and seven representatives of the public). Each juror gives 1 point to his/her one, two or three favorite entry/entries. The summation of the jury scores determined the winning entry.
The jury panel consisted of:
Sergey Podgorbunsky - CEO of RTR (jury chairperson)
Tatiana Algebraistova - student of Pedagogical Institute.
Andrey Kalachikhin - businessman.
Olga Suvorova - student of Bauman University.
Irina Berezina - engineer-economist.
Andrey Panov - student of Moscow State University.
Aleksandr Danilkin - businessman.
Competing entries[]
In 1994, RTR opened the submission period for interested artists and composers to submit their entries. All submitted songs were required to be performed in Russian. A panel of experts appointed by RTR selected eleven entries for the competition from more than 30 received submissions.
Final[]
Final was held on 12 March 1994 at the Shabolovka Studios in Moscow, hosted by Vadim Dolgachev. Two songs were disqualified prior to the competition: "Oi oi oi" performed by Alena Apina was disqualified after receiving radio airplay prior to the competition and "Kogda vernus’ v Rossiyu" performed by was disqualified with reasons such as the singer being accused of antisemitism and the singer deciding to withdraw the song herself being cited. The disqualified songs were performed as part of the interval act. Youddiph was the winner of the national final with the song "Vechny strannik".[3][4]
Russia performed 23rd at the 1994 Contest, following Hungary and preceding Poland. At the contest, the song was introduced under the English title "Eternal Wanderer", despite being performed entirely in Russian. On stage, Youddiph appeared with two acoustic guitar players: Igor Khomich and Vadim Chebanov.[5] After the voting concluded, Russia scored 70 points and placed 9th.[6]
The Russian conductor at the contest was the composer of the song, Lev Zemlinski. The voting spokesperson for Russia was Irina Klenskaya.[4]
Russia
