Russian babushki continue their party in Baku

What is it like to work with the grannies?

Eurovision.tv spoke with the Russian Head of Delegation, Ekaterina Orlova backstage prior to the second rehearsal and asked firstly how it has been to work with the grannies. She answered "They are so nice, just like my granny. I love working with them, they are very easy to deal with, they have no demands, they don't need anything. I think a lot of Heads of Delegations are quite envious of me for that!." 

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Ekaterina also went on to talk a little more about the stage act saying "The white object you see is a Russian furnace, this is a very traditional thing particularly in the villages in rural Russia. People bake bread and different things in them. As the grannies are from a village, it fits with the act nicely." We can also expect to see something on the trays that the grannies carry out of the furnace during the performance.

Cookies baked on stage

The performance begins with one of the grannies putting some unready cookies in to the furnace on stage. There is a spinning globe on the LED backdrop, indicating that the whole world is invited to party along with Russia!. 

The grannies dance with each other during the song, and towards the end of the performance, as if by magic, some baked cookies appear from the other end of the furnace.

The rehearsal had the press and fans on their feet and was certainly a lively start to proceedings on the sixth day in Baku.

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Crowded press conference

The second Russian press conference was as full of reporters and film crews as any previous one held. All eight ladies were present, but as the rules of the Eurovision Song Contest only permit six people to be on stage for the performance.

A journalist asked about how the song was born, and Babushki answered "We have our own producer, and we worked with her for three years, and she made a suggestion of another songwriter and that's how it started."

Another question asked was whether less well known dialect language songs were popular in general in Russia. "Yes, I think so, and I think after we are doing this, other people will follow and we maybe will set a trend."

To take part is the most important thing

The babushki were also asked If they think that Russia could win the Eurovision Song Contest this year, but they said "To win is not the most important thing to us, it's the participation."

When asked about what they were missing most about home, the overall answer was their farm.

Buranovskiye Babushki were asked if the Russian grandfathers allowed a party at home while they are here in Baku. They replied "Yes, we think they will have a party there too, there's no time to miss them though, we have so much work to do here."

At the end of the press conference, the ladies announced that they had been cooking all day yesterday and there was a treat waiting for the press in the catering area of the press centre.

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