The Kazakh broadcaster Khabar is urging the public to vote Kazakhstan to ensure a strong result for the nation on Sunday evening.
The Chairman of Khabar is among the persons calling for the Kazakh public to vote for Karakat Bashanova in the online vote for Junior Eurovision 2020. Khabar is confident of a strong result but only if the public vote in larger numbers than 2019, Yerlan Bekkhozhin explained:
I remember the case with Yerzhan Maxim, when he took second place. Interestingly, the jury put first place. We, the people of Kazakhstan, dropped it to second place. There were simply not enough votes. So it’s a shame. And, unfortunately, it often happens with us when a talented child appears, we are proud and admire him. But when he needs concrete help, we all rely on each other, but, unfortunately, this does not work. Therefore, we again call and ask to support our girl.
Kazakhstan is one of a number of countries that are encouraging their citizens to vote for their entry in JESC 2020. Broadcasters in Belarus, Malta and Ukraine are among those that have linked directly to the voting portal on their websites.
Following the reveal of the 15 second snippets of the performances yesterday evening, Kazakhstan has quickly become a favourite to take victory tomorrow in Warsaw. Karakat Bashanova will be performing “Forever”.
At the Khabar press conference it was confirmed that Makhabbat Yessen and Kaldybek Zhaisanbai will be providing commentary for Junior Eurovision 2020 on Khabar.
Who is Karakat Bashanova?
Kazakhstan’s third entrant in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest is twelve-year-old Karakat Bashanova from Ryskulov. Karakat began singing at just five-years-old and went on to take vocal lessons from the age of nine.
The singer is no stranger to competitions, having participated in the final of The Voice of Children 2018, and finishing in 3rd place at the Happy Child 2019 festival. Alongside singing, she also plays the piano and violin.
Her competing song “Forever” is dedicated to her late father, and was written by Khamit Shangaliyev, who also composed Kazakhstan’s 2019 entry.
Image Source: EBU/Khabar / Source: 24.kz
Kazakhstan first participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2018, with Daneliya Tuleshova and her song “Ozine sen”. She went on to finish in 6th place. The following year, the country was represented by Yerzhan Maksim with the song “Armanyńnan qalma”, which scored a total of 227 points. Kazakhstan won the jury vote scoring 148 points, but was 5th with the online vote scoring 79 points, and finished in 2nd place overall.
