JESC 2013 Logo. Photograph courtesy of EBU/NTU

Big Eurovision’s little brother – Junior Eurovision – is here to stay. Ten years after the big fanfare of the inaugural event at the Forum in Copenhagen, the 11th edition will take place on 30 November in the Palace Ukraine in Kyiv.

Among some circles, Junior Eurovision is something not even acknowledged. But, particularly the further east you go in Europe, there is a long tradition in promoting child performers. That is probably why the bulk of countries this year come its eastern half.

Nevertheless, twelve countries from the Netherlands to Azerbaijan will be hoping to emulate last year’s winner, Anastasiya Petryk from Ukraine. In alphabetical order by country, we meet the first four here:

Armenia – Monika – “Choco-Fabric”

Monica Avanesyan took part in a national final in Yerevan on 27 September, which saw her beat 11 other young stars for the trip to Kyiv with the song Choco factory. A combination of jury and televoting decided the results. Here’s Monica’s performance from the national final. Monica is 15.
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Broadcaster Ictimai TV was given the task of selecting a song for Kyiv, and did this by way of an internal selection. Rustam Karimov, aged 10, has been stidying the piano for two years, but his real passions are the drums and guitar. Here’s Rustam’s official video.

Belarus – Ilya Volkov – “Poy so mnoy” (Пой со мной)

Belarus has had a very strong record in Junior Eurovision, and had a national final on 4 October. Ilya beat nine other songs and his song title translates as Sing with me. He is 13 and comes from the town of Kolodishchi. Here’s his national final performance.

Georgia – The Smile Shop – “Give Me Your Smile”

A six-member group will represent Georgia. Twenty-two boys and girls competed for the chance, and the lucky six were Mariam Shavladze (10), Mariam Samushia (11), Tamta Diasavidze (11), Ana Kvantaliani (12), Saba Chachua (13), and Luka Gogiberidze (14). They also have big shoes to fill, as Georgia has also won Junior Eurovision twice (2008, 2011). Here’s their official music video.

Look out for parts two and three during the course of the next week.

Remember that Junior Eurovision this year will have their “Diamond Dozen” participants taking part in the contest in Kyiv. The standard of the songs would certainly give their older sibling Eurovision a run for it’s money.Keep an open mind and take a look at the above selection that are competing in this Month’s Junior Eurovision Song Contest Final.

For more information on Junior Eurovision 2013 – including our Video Interview with Head Of Press for Junior Eurovision Ms Katherine Lockett – and details on their Twitter, Website and Facebook details – just check them out here.

Stay tuned for Part Two when we will profile another 4 Artists in the #DiamondDozen

Author : John Stantion – Editor

Source : Eurovision Ireland