The motto for the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest is “Light your fire!”  On Tuesday night, Buranovo Grannies, who represent Russia at the song contest in the Azeri capital of Baku, managed to turn this motto into reality on stage of the Cristall Hall.  The six “Russian ladies”, this is how foreign reporters dubbed the grannies, made it to the final round of the main song contest of Europe. More than 100 million people in different countries watched the first semifinals on TV.

Already before the start of the 1st semifinal Buranovo Grannies were undisputed favorites. People sang their contest song “Party for everybody” in the streets, the contest’s organizers and reporters confessed their love to them. During the performance many reporters were dancing and waving Russian flags and Russian fans were even dancing on the chairs

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It was even more exciting to watch the count of votes as the contest’ hosts announced the winners one after another but the grannies were not among them. Finally Russia was announced and the Russian press center was in raptures.  In an interview with the “Voice of Russia” the group’s manager Maria Tolstukhina said she had felt so nervous before.

"My heart was beating very fast, it was very exciting. I had no doubts about the grannies at all. For some reason, I thought that they would take the tenth place. I knew that if the grannies came to Europe the people would love them but I did not think that this love would be so strong. That kind of atmosphere makes the grannies’ sing even ore soulfully. They are not only singing but they are really rocking. They feel that the audience loves them."

During their performance the Russian ladies rocked the house as much as their younger competitors. After the show one of the grannies – Galina Nikolayevna Koneva represented Russia at a press conference that ended only early in the morning. She said that they could feel the support of the viewers when they were performing.

"Thank you everyone who voted for us, to all our fans, our relatives and all of you. We are very delighted that in the concert hall and backstage people welcomed us and reporters wanted to interview us. The storm of applause was louder than the music."

Shortly before the start of the semifinals the members of the group showed up at the press conference creating a real boom. Many reporters even climbed the walls to take photos of the grannies. Ado Mircoshevic, a reporter who regularly comes to the Eurovision said he had not seen such a boom in a long time.

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Georgia’s representative at this contest Henri Dzhohadze, who is to participate in the second semifinal, also supported the grannies.

"These babushkas they are so nice. I can’t judge about the song but how they sing it. I like them very much I really honestly wish them success because they are sincere and they are just fantastic!"

On May 26, Buranovo Grannies will enter the stage of the Cristal hall under number 6, received on the results of the draw.

First place went to the  representatives of Sweden. Singer Loreen sang the song Euphoria and scored 372 points.

Baku was hosting the final of the Eurovision Song Contest in which artists from 26 countries were competing. 

The final of the Eurovision Song Contest was being broadcasted in 46 countries and was being watched live by nearly 150 million viewers.

The first participant was Engelbert Humperdinck from United Kingdom. 

2nd was band Compact Disco from Hungary

3rd was Rona Nishliu, singer from Albania

4th was Donny Montell from Lithuania

5th was Maya Sar from Bosnia&Herzegovina

6th were Russian ‘Buranovskiye Babushki’ who performed with their hit ‘A Party for Everybody’

7th were Greta Salóme & Jónsi from Iceland

8th was Ivi Adamou from Cyprus

9th was singer Anggun from France

10th was Nina Zilli from Italy

11th was Ott Lepland from Estonia

12th was Tooji from Norway

13th was Sabina Babayeva from Azerbaijan

14th was Mandinga from Romania 

15th was Soluna Samay from Denmark

16th was Eleftheria Eleftheriou from Greece

17th on stage was contest favourite Loreen of Sweden with 'Euphoria'

18th was Can Bonomo from Turkey

19th was Pastora Soler from Spain

20th was Roman Lob from Germany

21th was Kurt Calleja from Malta

22th was Kaliopi from F.Y.R. Macedonia

23th was duo Jedward from Ireland

24th was Željko Joksimović from Serbia

25th was Gaitana from Ukraine

And the last singer was Pasha Parfeny from Moldova

TASS, RIA