With the Junior Eurovision Song Contest just six weeks away, many nations are already in the process of selecting their candidates to compete for the coveted crystal microphone in Nice, France.
Georgian public television, known as GPB, today released the video clip of “Over the Sky”, the song that will represent the country. The song performed by Anastasia Vasadze, Nikoloz Kharati and Oto Bazerashvili has been selected as the entry that will represent Georgia at this year’s prestigious Junior Eurovision Song Contest at the impressive Palais Nikaïa in Nice on Sunday 26 November. Georgian TV has also confirmed that the group participating in this edition will take the name of Georgia’s most famous music contest to the international stage, renaming themselves “Anastasia & Ranina”, thus giving an international packaging to the country’s competition which has served as the national final for the Eurovision Song Contest since 2016.
With this new track, Georgia hopes to continue their winning streak at this year’s festival and remain the country with the most victories.Do you want to listen to their proposal for this year? You can watch the video clip premiered on the official Junior Eurovision channel below:
Learn more about “Over the Sky”
The song to be performed by Anastasia Vasadze, Nikoloz Kharati and Oto Bazerashvili on stage in Nice was written by Betkho and Mebo Nutsubidze, while the production was done by Giorgi Asanishvilia. For the first time in three years, the production and authorship of the song has been outsourced and will no longer depend on the studio of Giga Kukhiadnidze, responsible for the Caucasian country’s three victories at the children’s festival. Giga’s last Eurovision senior result last May was the failure of “Echo”, a song performed by the former member of the group Candy, winners in 2011, but which in Liverpool did not go beyond 13th place in the second semi-final, failing to convince the televote, the only judge in the semi-final round since this year.
The music video was shot in three locations in Georgia under the direction of Zaza Orashvili. The art director was Shako Popiashvili with Iza Nadareishvili in charge of the costume design. As was the case with the artistic and composing section, the creative and costume directions have changed completely compared to last year.
More about Anastasia Vasadze, Nikoloz Kharati and Oto Bazerashvili
Anastasia Vasadze was originally appointed as the country’s representative after winning the Ranina 2023, Georgia’s consolidated national pre-selection. More than three months after the end of the marathon children’s talent show, we received the news that the 11-year-old will not be alone on the Junior Eurovision stage. Two of last year’s finalists, Nikoloz Kharati and Oto Bazerashvili, will also fly the colours of the Caucasian flag at the Palaia Nikaïa in November, marking the first time since 2015 that Georgia has chosen a diverse musical group to triumph at the European contest.
Before making the leap to screens across Europe, Georgia’s representatives in the competition have had the opportunity to showcase their vocal, musical and stage skills in front of audiences at recent editions of the Ranina. While the expert jury of Sopho Toroshelidze, Nato Metonidze and Dato Tsintsadze awarded the precious first place to Anastasia Vasadze in the last edition, her two other partners triumphed by reaching the grand final last season after weeks of hard work, excitement and surprises. Over the course of ten galas, the trio of artists have demonstrated their skills in a wide range of styles, successfully overcoming musical challenges such as the interpretation of traditional folk songs or regional music from different parts of the world.
Anastasia Vasadze is 11 years old and comes from the Georgian capital Tbilisi. The young artist has had a brilliant career in the competition, accumulating applause and praise with her interpretations of Chems Simgheras Vin Gaigebs, Lachini or Yerushalaim Shel Zahav, achieving in all the qualifying galas the maximum score of the jury in all the categories. A similar feat was achieved by his two partners Nikoloz Kharati and Oto Bazerashvili, reaching the final with a memorable record of great performances praised by jury and audience alike. The duo of male performers are 11 and 12 years old respectively.
Nikoloz, from his earliest years, showed innate talent. At the tender age of five, he was already excelling in major children’s competitions in his region. His country recognised his ability when he tried to represent his country at the 2022 Junior Eurovision Song Contest through his participation in Ranina, Georgia’s prestigious pre-competition selective and eagerly followed by critics and audiences alike. Nikoloz can also add to his CV a collaboration with the Georgian representative at the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, Anri Jokhazde. In addition, he has shone on prominent stages such as the Tumanishvili Theatre in Tblisi. When he is not conquering audiences, Nikoloz relaxes by playing the piano and enjoys hobbies such as horse riding and motorbikes.
Oto, the third member of this intriguing trio, hails from the peaceful village of Ikalto. His mother discovered his talent at an early age and encouraged him to take lessons and continue his training in this discipline. He loves singing in his mother tongue and has mentioned in interviews his desire to study Georgian philology. Oto balances his student life at school with music theory classes and excels at judo in his spare time, even competing at regional level. He confesses that judo serves as an escape from daily stresses, especially those related to school.
GEORGIA AT EUROVISION JUNIOR
Georgia made its debut at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2007, just a few months after making its debut in its adult counterpart. This first entry by Mari Romelashvili and her pop-folk song Odelia Ranuni, which took a fantastic fourth place, laid the foundation for what is probably one of the best performances of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest that continues to this day, with 3 wins and 2 second places.
The country’s first gold medal came just a year after they first stepped on the festival stage, with the musical trio Bzikebi and their song Bzz..., sung entirely in the imaginary language. Despite this victory and the one that would come a few years later with the group Candy and the song Candy Music, it would not be until 2017 and after Mariam Mamadashvilli ‘s triumph at the 2016 festival that Georgia would be in charge of organising an edition of Junior Eurovision.
This edition will mark the country’s seventeenth participation in the competition. Will they manage to beat the bronze medal won by Mariam Bigvava on the Yerevan stage?