The Grand Prix of the international song competition "Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk" was awarded to Adilkhan Makin from Kazakhstan
The first to pave the way to the cornflower olympus for the coveted Lyre was Dimash Kudaibergen in 2015, who then conquered many world stages, but noted that the Vitebsk one was fateful for him. Last year, contestant Yerner Sadyrbaev from Kazakhstan also vied for the main award. But the jury awarded him the first prize, and the Grand Prix went to Marcel Roșca from Romania, who scored the same number of points as Yerner. Judging by this year's results, Adilhan has a clear victory. His lead over other contestants on the first day was three points, and with the second day, it increased to seven.
This year, 16 performers participated in the song contest. There were supposed to be 18, but due to unforeseen circumstances, representatives from Slovenia and Cuba did not make it to Vitebsk. Unlike previous contests, there was no semi-final this year, and all participants immediately took to the main festival stage – the Summer Amphitheatre. On the first day, they performed Slavic hits accompanied by the National Academic Concert Orchestra of the Republic of Belarus, and on the second day, world hits. The organizers explained that these conditions somewhat leveled the playing field for those for whom Slavic languages are not native. However, contrary to these considerations, many foreign participants received higher scores specifically for their Slavic hit performances, notably representatives from Malta, Germany, Israel, and Georgia. Correct pronunciation is not a criterion for the jury's evaluation, which was headed this year by People's Artist of Russia and Georgia Tamara Gverdtsiteli. It is also important that the jury members represent diverse cultures, musical genres, and include singers, composers, and producers. There was even Professor Ivan Marković from Serbia and two-time Grammy Award winner Marlow Rosado.
For the first time, the contestants had backup dancers, with choreography for each song prepared by Alla Dukhova's "Todes" ballet. The dancers did not always enhance the performance; at times, they hindered the perception of the song. Although there were spectacular numbers, many generally noted that this experiment was not entirely successful.
Naturally, the Summer Amphitheatre hall was rooting the most for the Belarusian. Our country was represented at the competition by twenty-year-old Vanya Zdonyuk. Vanya, as he asks to be called, is a student of the Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts, a laureate of many national and international competitions, festivals, and television projects. Four years ago, he graduated from Igor Krutoy's Academy of Popular Music and attended masterclasses by Beyonce's first coach, David Lee Brewer. In addition to singing, he professionally practices dancing. After the first day, Vanya was in the middle of the competition standings, but for the hit from the repertoire of the rock band Imagine Dragons, he received one of the highest scores (one point lower than Adilkhan). As a result, the representative of Belarus shared second place and a prize of $10,000 with the Israeli contestant Ilay.
The first prize (15 thousand dollars) was awarded to Giorgi Putkaradze from Georgia, who captivated the audience with a performance of a song in Belarusian from the Nizkiz band's repertoire. The third prize was shared by Ivan Dyatlov from Russia and Dmitry Babak from Ukraine. By the way, Ivan perfectly combines lyrics and physics; he is a student at the National Research Nuclear University, while Dmitry is a finalist of the TV show "The Voice of Ukraine" in the team of Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, frontman of the Ukrainian rock band "Okean Elzy," and also the winner of the TV project "X-Factor" in the team of Georgian singer Nino Katamadze.
The special prize named after Vladimir Muliavin for the best embodiment of the national theme and high performing skill was awarded to Paulina, a singer from Lithuania. According to tradition, contestants from Belarus and Russia received prizes from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia, and Lidiya Isak from Moldova will take home the award from the Interstate Television and Radio Company "Mir" – "Song – a Path to Cooperation" for her high skill in preserving national traditions and a cash prize of 2 thousand dollars.
Representatives of countries debuting at the song contest – Syin Li from the PRC and Theo from Switzerland – scored the lowest number of points but were among the diploma winners. And that is also a victory!
– It is a great honor for me to represent my country at "Slavianski Bazaar". During the short time I have been in Belarus, I have managed to feel a very warm, friendly atmosphere, the hospitality of the people, – noted the Chinese woman.
All participants of the competition, in their native languages after their performances, expressed their best feelings towards the festival, the hospitable Vitebsk. In German – Emina from Germany, who, as it turned out, had already been on the stage of the Summer Amphitheatre 22 years ago. True, no one suspected this, only her mother Elada, who participated in the song contest while pregnant. Such amazing stories happen at "Slavianski Bazaar", which gives people joy and love.