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Buranovo Grannies performance at Eurovision contest to be shown on outdoor screens

Prior to the broadcast from Baku, a gala concert program will be held on the Central Square

IZHEVSK, April 28 (Itar-Tass) — Performance of the Buranovo Grannies folk group at the Eurovision'2012 Song Contest, due at the end of May in the Azerbaijani capital Baku, will be shown live on the Central Square of Izhevsk, the capital city of Russia's constituent region of Udmurtia where the village of Buranovo is located.

Buranovo Grannies /Buranovskiye Babushki in Russian/, a group consisting of eight ordinary rural women aged 45 to 73 years old, perform rock and pop hits, as well as the songs written especially for them in their native Udmurt language, which is related to Finnish, Estonian, and Hungarian. In March, they won a national televised contest to represent Russia at the Eurovision’2012 competition.

Alexander Starkov, the CEO of KultProSvet promotion company, said the Grannies’ performance on the last day of the competition will be broadcast live from Baku on a big outdoor screen in Izhevsk.

“We expect people will get together as an expression of support for the babushkas, who will represent our republic,” he said.

Prior to the broadcast from Baku, a gala concert program will be held on the Central Square. The list of performers includes the Izhevsk-based group Snappy that has shot a clip together with the Grannies, and the Silent Woo Goore group that performs in the Udmurt language.

According to Starkov, the choice of the Central Square for the big-screen show was not haphazard, since KultProSvet has set for itself a task of turning the square into a pedestrian area filled with street painters, a place where local people and guests of the city could spend their free time “for the own spiritual benefit.”