Five young Georgian hopefuls progressed to the Semi-Final of Ranina today after completing the foreign language fourth round.
Sandro Gurgenadze, Andria Mishvelidze, Sandro Ashotia, Andria Putkaradze, and Barbara Morgoshia survived four challenging rounds and made it to next week’s Semi-Final.
This week, five of the contestants performed songs in French, Portuguese, Hindi, Turkish, and English, with mastery of foreign language an important Junior Eurovision test as historically many countries insert non-native language lyrics into their songs to appeal to foreign televoters.
Anastasia Iramadze performed the French song “Je ne veu pas travailler” by Pink Martini, earning 115 points.
Andria Mishvelidze was assigned a Portuguese song, the Brazilian samba classic “Aquarela do Brasil” by Ary Barroso. He earned rave reviews and a perfect 120 for his charismatic leading of the band in this peppy number.
Sandro Gurgenadze performed A. R. Rahman’s Hindi language “Maa Tujhe Salaam,” a challenging choice that earned applause and cheering from the judges. As such, it was no surprise when he earned a perfect score of 120 points as well as being lavished with praise for his performance.
Ia Lachelle performed the Turkish song “Dandini” by Mircan Kaya, earning 119 points.
Sandro Ashotia, in the last performance of the fourth round, was the second to perform a song in English, though this time it was an American one in Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” He earned 119 points.
At the end of Round 4, the standings for the first phase of Ranina finished as follows:
- Sandro Gurgenadze: 118 + 120 + 120 + 120 = 478
- Andria Mishvelidze: 120 + 120 + 118 + 120 = 478
- Sandro Ashotia: 118 + 120 + 120 + 119 = 477
- Andria Putkaradze: 117 + 120 + 120 + 120 = 477
- Barbara Morgoshia: 116 + 120 + 120 + 120 = 476
- Anastasia Iremadze: 119 + 120 + 120 + 115 = 474
- Ia Lachelle: 117 + 120 + 118 + 119 = 474
- Mate Martiashvili: 114 + 120 + 120 + 116 = 470
- Marta Nozadze: 114 + 120 + 118 + 116 = 468
- Giorgi Shashiashvili: 113 + 120 + 120 + 115 = 468
This round’s guest judge is Tinatin Rukhadze, Director of the Tbilisi National Palace. She joined regular judges Dato Evgenidze and Nato Metonidze on the panel.
Each contestant can potentially earn up to 120 points per round. There’s 10 points available for each judge across the four judging categories of vocals, performance, artistry and collaboration.
The five contestants with the highest scores after four tours (usually spread over eight weeks) progress to the Semi-Finals, where the top three progress to the Grand Final.
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.
Tune in to Ranina next weekend on Saturday, May 25th, 2024, for the Semi-Final round on 1TV Georgia.
Now that the fourth round is over, which one of the five 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.
