Naviband wanted to sing Belarusian cover of ‘1944’ behind the scenes

Belarusian Eureovision-2017 representatives Naviband made a promo trip to Kiev last weekend. Kseniya Zhuk and Artsyom Lukyanenka gave an interview to a number of Ukrainian mass media, visited the radio stations Europa Plus, PeretsFM and Happy Radio and were the guests of the first semifinal of the Ukrainian Eurovision national selection tour.

The video of Naviband singing Jamala’s 1944 in Belarusian was watched by 80 thousand people in 2 days. The idea to sing Jamala’s song (the singer was a jury member) has been suggested by PR manager Syarhei Andryyanau who is cooperating with Naviband during their preparation for Eurovision.

"The band wanted to sing it behind the scenes at first but the Ukrainian producer liked the idea and they sang it on air,” Syarhei Andryyanau said. “Naviband and Jamala met after the concert and talked. Naviband were very good and looked really original, she said. Jamala also put on Naviband’s gift -  a ribbon with the Belarusian national ornament.”

Naviband brought a 10-metre ribbon with the ornament symbolizing movement and life to Kiev – the things the Belarusians sing about in their contest song Story of My Life.

Besides Jamala, Andrei Danilka also commented on Naviband’s performance. He was happy that Belarus was finally sending ‘non-foreign artists’ to Eurovision. All the previous ones sang in English which made them look like foreigners, he thinks. A real Belarusian story will finally be presented at Eurovision this year.

Naviband are not answering the phone at the moment – they are having a rest after the trip. The band will soon start working on the song arrangement, Syarhei Andryyanau said.

 Naviband went up by few positions in bookmakers’ rankings after the performance in Kiev.