Junior Eurovision 2009: The Netherlands won, Armenia did pretty good - No. 2-3

Was watching Junior Eurovision live on their official website. That was such a mistake. Well, I did not have much of the choice, really, as I am in London now, and they do not show it here. Commentators at Junior Eurovision website were so annoying. They were speaking, making their comments during children’s performance (!). For example, when Armenia entry was performing, they started interviewing Serbian children; then camera failed to show Luara’s actual performance on stage, but rather other parts of the auditorium under the accompaniment of her voice. How ridiculous. And this happened not only during Armenia entry but most of the other entries too. Anyway.

There were 2 Armenians in this year's Junior Eurovision: Luara Hayrapetyan from Armenia and Andranik Alexanyan from Ukraine.

Just watched some of the performances on YouTube (as I said above, the online broadcast I was following was horrible).

Luara is such a cool girl. I am not a big fan of that particular song (song-wise I preferred Ukraine one) but Luara did really a great job performance-wise. I quite liked the Netherlands (the winner), Belgium and Russia too.

Oh, and I loved "Bari ereko, Hayastan" greeting at the very start of Junior Eurovision. Sounded cute :)

Luara Hayrapetyan to represent Armenia at Junior Eurovision 2009

Luara Hayrapetyan will represent Armenia at this year's Junior Eurovision song contest to be held in Kiev on 21 November. Her song "Barcelona" is effectively a tribute to Barcelona's most famous football team Barca, which according to Luara, her family is fan of. I wonder if people's football preferences won't affect the votes. Good luck to Luara!!

There is another singer of Armenian origin at this year's contest. It's Andranik Aleksanyan who will represent host country Ukraine.



Oikotimes provides details about Luara:

11 years old Luara Hayrapetyan, performing usually under stage name Lara, will represent Armenia at Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with the song "Barcelona".

Luara is studying in gymnasium N3 in city of Astrakhan, Russia. Since the age of 4, Luara has been studying vocal and attending ballroom dancing classes, at the age of seven entered a musical school, studies in children pop music studio "Vesnushki" of Astrakhangazprom center of culture "Victoria", where she is lead soloist. Since she was five, she has been a participant of various contests and festivals representing Russia and Armenia: In 2004 - I Prize Winner of the International Contest 'Small Asterisks' (Tuapse, All-Russia Children Centre 'Orlenok'); In 2005 - I Prize Winner of the International Festival 'Childhood Without Borders' (Moscow, Russia); In 2006 - Grand Prix Winner of the International Contest 'Small Asterisks' (Tuapse, Russia);

I Prize Winner of the International Contest 'Small Asterisks' (Volgograd, Russia); In 2007, Grand Prix Winner of the All-Russia Contest ' Constellations of Volga ' (Samara, Russia); the I Prize Winner of the VI All-Russia Contest ' XXI Century Voices' (Anapa, Russia);In 2008, Grand Prix Winner of Junior section of prestigeous Slavyanski Bazar in Vitebsk and winner of special prize "Lira" (Belarus); In 2009 qualified for the international final of "New Wave Junior" contest (Moscow, Russia).

Since 2005, she has been the grant holder of the Astrakhan Region Government for the achievements in the field of art and creative activity.