Buranovskiye Babushki, a group of elderly folk singers from a village in Udmurtia, became the winners of the Eurovision Song selection. The grandmothers will represent Russia in Baku where the 57th Eurovision Song Contest will be held. At present, they are in their native village preparing for an international tour.
Buranovskiye Babushki, a group of elderly folk singers from a village in Udmurtia, became the winners of the Eurovision Song selection. The grandmothers will represent Russia in Baku where the 57th Eurovision Song Contest will be held. At present, they are in their native village preparing for an international tour.
When the babushkas returned to their native Buranovo, the entire village welcomed them with placards and a brass band.
The delight of their fellow villagers is the sincerest praise for the performers.
The Buranovskiye Babushki became famous with covers sung in Udmurt, including A Star Named the Sun, by Viktor Tsoi, and Gold City, by Boris Grebenshchikov. The group’s producer Kseniya Rubtsova first saw the grandmothers perform in a night club in Izhevsk in 2008. Today, group leader Galina Koneva barely has time to give interviews.
After ten days in Moscow, the group members were glad to return home. Photo: Nadezhda Babkina and folk group Buranovskiye Babushki at a concert at Crocus City Hall.
The core of the group is eight grandmothers who perform on stage: Granya Baisarova, Alevtina Begisheva, Galina Koneva, Natalya Pugachyova, Yekaterina Shklyayeva, Zoya Dorodova, Olga Tuktaryova and Valentina Pyatchenko, although there are others that age and health prevent from leaving the village. All eight grandmothers will go to Baku, but in accordance with Eurovision rules, only six can perform on stage.
The singers vied for the right to represent Russia at the Eurovision song selection in 2010, but were beaten out by Pyotr Nalich and his group.
