Georgia: Pop music meets traditional sounds

When we met the Georgian team backstage, they were in a calm mood again, taking photos and enjoying mingling with the other delegations.

We asked Zaza Miminoshvili, one of the band members, why they had chosen to put a parachute jumper on stage for their Eurovision Song Contest performance. "It's a symbol for the story we are telling in our song, which is about coming home - as the band name The Shin ('Home') suggests. When you go skydiving, you first have to overcome the fear, then you jump, and when the parachute opens, this is a symbol that the fear goes away. You are coming home, back to the Earth."

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On stage, the lighting and the displays on the floor have been changed for the second rehearsal today: Now the floor turns into a green meadow towards the end of the song, surrounded by a mountain landscape. Artificial smoke covered the stage floor.

Mariko was wearing a long bright green dress with gemstones attached to it, while the band members of the Shin wore dark suits. It was another confident performance delivered by them today.

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On May 1st, the delegation invited the other artists and press to an official reception at the Georgian Embassy in Copenhagen, with food and Georgian wine. The Shin and Mariko also performed there.

"The Shin is open to all kinds of music"

The Georgian artists started the press conference by performing a traditional song for the press audience. 

What makes their song Georgian? "Georgian traditional song usually base on three voices because then the three voices can move independently", Zurab Gagnidze explained.

"I am very happy about the rehearsal, it's great to work with the production team", Mariko Ebralidze commented on their rehearsal.

The director of the performance, Basa Potskhishvili, stated that the main changes since the first rehearsal were the stage backdrop and the lighting, as well as the camera work - more wide shots were used this time to capture the choreography.

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Eugene Eliu, explained the concept of their Eurovision entry: "We did this song together in the team, and we started from the idea to have a song about the Earth. But in the end we had to finish it very quickly. We added the idea of coming home, and Felix Baumgartner with his great space jump gave us some additional ideas for the song and the stage act. In the end, it's a very green song, both literally and figuratively too. In this matter it's also dedicated to the wonderful green city of Copenhagen."

"As time passes, I am more calm and more relaxed. Everyone working on our song gives us the feeling that it will be great. Of course there is still tension because, as an artist, if you don't feel tension, you are dead", Zurab Gagnidze said. "We are the most satisfied delegation", Tinatin Berdzenishvili, Head of Press of the Georgian delegation, added.

Zurab Gagnidze went on to explain the mixture traditional music and pop in their music: "Georgia is on the border between East of West, and you will see it once you visit our country: It's a mixture of countries. In our capital Tbilisi, we have 104 nationalities. Of course we've always had Western influences, even in Soviet times we were listening to the Beatles, to jazz. Since we are in Germany, we have of course been working with other musicians - with jazz musicians, even with an Indian band, and we noticed that we even share some rhythms with Indian music! The Shin is open to all kinds of music."