Three young Georgian hopefuls progressed to the Grand Final of Ranina today after last night’s Semi-Final.
Andria Putkaradze, Sandro Gurgenadze and Barbara Morgoshia made it to next week’s Semi-Final, while Andria Mishvelidze and Sandro Ashotia narrowly missed out.
In a Semi-Final focused on Georgian nostalgic childhood songs by pianist and composer Meri Davitashvili (1924 – 2004), with backing vocals provided by the children’s group The Bookmarks, Putkaradze, Gurgenadze and Morgoshia excelled.
Each song was arranged by Buka Cartozia, who joined Dato Evgenidze and Nato Metonidze on this week’s judging panel.
First up was Sandro Ashotia with a medley of Davitashvili’s “Little Train” and Glenn Miller’s “Chattanooga Choo-Choo.”
Sandro Gurgenadze then impressed the judging panel with his take on the melancholic childhood classic “This Poor Rabbit,” with “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz thrown in.
Andria Mishvelidze performed “Chickens,” and judge Dato Evgenidze praised Mishvelidze’s being a drummer as well as a vocalist and how he has good rhythm as a result.
Barbara Morgoshia performed “Iaunana,” and Andria Putkaradze finished the evening with “Baghdaduri,” being praised in particular for an adult performance and, in a play on his last name, being like a bee, being able to switch genres like a bee going from flower to flower.
Tonight, in the Ranina Grand Final, the three finalists will perform the songs of famed Georgian singer Gogi Dolidze.
Hosted by David Aladashvili, with Ranina 2022 finalist Vache Ghviniashvili as co-host and green room interviewer, this is the seventh time that Ranina will be used to select Georgia’s representative at Junior Eurovision. The song is usually released close to the European Broadcasting Union deadline, with the songwriter selected internally (more often than not, it’s serial JESC winning songwriter Giga Kukhianidze).
The best performance by Georgia in the Ranina era is Mariam Bigvava, who came in 3rd at Junior Eurovision 2022 with “I Believe,” one year after Niko Kajaia’s 4th place with “Let’s count the Smiles.”
Last year, 1TV mixed up the formula slightly by pairing Season 6 winner Anastasia Vasadze with Season 5 finalists Nikoloz Kharati and Oto Bazerashvlili on “Over the Sky.” Georgia came in 14th, equaling their lowest ever placement of Giorgi Rotiashvili’s “We Need Love” from 2019.
Overall, Georgia has the joint most wins with France among Junior Eurovision nations with three victories (all Kukhianidze compositions) in 2008, 2011, and 2016.
Now that the Semi-Final is over, which one of the three remaining hopefuls do #YOU think has what it takes to win a fourth JESC crown for Georgia? Or do #YOU feel that your favorite was unjustly eliminated? Let us know in the comments, in our forum, or in our social media.
