Grannies For Eurovision Glory

A Russian group known as the Buranovo Grannies will make their second bit for Eurovision glory when they represent their country in this year’s final.

In 2010, the eight women from a village in Russia’s Udmurtia Republic didn’t make the finals, finishing third in the competition to decide who should represent the country.

Within a couple of days of the national competition, a video clip of the 70-year-old ladies’ performance in Moscow in front of a huge TV audience became the viewing hit of the Russian Internet. It attracted more than 30,000 people.

Many posted comments saying the old dears could have won that year’s final in Oslo.

On March 7, the Grannies did better and won the national television vote to represent Russia in 2012. They beat a boy-girl duo young enough to be their great-grandchildren and also beat 2008 Eurovision winner Dima Bilan.

At the 57th Eurovision Song Contest final in May in Baku, Azerbaijan, the plucky Grannies will sing “Party for Everybody.”

The refrain is in English but the rest of the song is in Udmurt, a distant relation of Finnish that’s only spoken by about 325,000 people.

The song was written 10 years ago by Elizaveta Zarbatova, or “Granny Liza,” one of the singers of the group.

Unfortunately “Granny Liza” won’t be traveling to Baku with the rest of the girls because she’s 80.

Promoters should be advised that booking the Buranovo Grannies to perform live can be tricky.

They still live off the land, in much the same way as their grannies did. They’re not likely to take any shows when it’s time to plant potatoes or their domestic animals are about to give birth.