GPB has confirmed that Georgia will be represented by a song in Georgian at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019.
Tinatin Berdzenishvili who is the Deputy General Director of the First Channel of GPB, and jury member of Georgian Idol, has confirmed that the nations song for Eurovision 2019 will be in Georgian. She told viewers on Georgian Idol last night that:
Eurovision is trying to make as many songs as possible in their native language. That is why I can tell you that Georgia will present a contest for the current year with Georgian song
This will be the second year in a row that Georgia has been represented by a song in the Georgian language. The nation has only been represented by songs fully or partially in Georgian in 2012 and 2018.
A jury of seven people is currently assessing the final twelve songs that were shortlisted from the submissions process. They are working to select a final line up of songs for the finalists of Georgian Idol. On the jury are:
- Davit Evgenidze
- Nodiko Tatishvili
- Zura Ramishvili
- Giorgi Asanishvili
- Manana Morchiladze
- Lana Kutateladze
- Khatuna Koberidze
The jury will not know who has written the songs and will be judging each song on a 10 point system. The songs that score the highest number of points will be performed by the four finalists of Georgian Idol.
Source: GPB
Georgia debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2007, they were represented by Sopho Khalvashi and the song “Visionary Dream”. Sopho finished 12th in the final scoring 97 points, the song received 12 points from the televoters in Lithuania. Georgia has only ever missed one contest since their debut, this was in 2009 when Georgia had selected Stephane & 3G with “We Don’t Wanna Put In”. The EBU asked for Georgia to rewrite the lyrics of the song or change the song completely.
