Saturday was really a special day for Lithuanians – they not only celebrated their Independence Day, but also their country chose their participant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017.
Lithuania first entered the competition in 1994, and has participated 17 times so far. The country’s best placing was 6th in 2006 with LT United‘s “We Are The Winners”.
The national selection process lasted more than ten weeks, with Fusedmarc winning the final with “Rain of Revolution” out of six other acts last night. The voting system featured a combination of a Lithuanian expert jury, an international jury, and televoting.
Fusedmarc is a duo consisting of Cilia and Vakx. In 2005, Fusedmarc were called the breakthrough of the Lithuanian alternative scene. Two years later they were acclaimed the best experimental music band in Lithuania; and in 2008, they won an award in the Best Lithuanian Electronic Band category.
“Rain of Revolution” is a unique song with a strong energy, and according to the artists, it reflects on what is going on in many people’s lives and souls.
Watch Fusedmarc’s performance on the final here:
The show opened with Lithuania’s national anthem, then Donny Montell, who represented the country last year, performed his new single “Screw Me Up”. Montell was also a part of the jury.
Other international jury members were the British music producer Dennis Ingoldsby, Peter Freudenthaller from the German band Fool’s Garden and Latvian pop singer and composer Lauris Reiniks.
On this special day, Jamala, last year’s Eurovision Song Contest winner and the president of Lithuania surprised the audience with their appearance. Guest acts last night were Chloe Maggs, who made an impressive performance, and the Moldovan Eurovision act SunStroke Project with “Hey Mamma”.
If Fusedmarc wants to win they’ll have to beat the following acts: Cyprus’ Hovig, The Netherlands’ O’G3NE, Belgium’s Blanche, Macedonia’s Jana Burceska, Azerbaijan’s DiHaj, Ireland’s Brendan Murray, Austria’s Nathan Trent, Albania’s Lindita, Armenia’s Artsvik, Montenegro’s Slavko Kalezic, Greece’s Demy, Georgia’s Tako Gachechiladze, Belarus’ Navi, The United Kingdom’s Lucie Jones, Finland’s Norma John, Switzerland’s Timebelle, Germany’s Levina, France’s Alma, Spain’s Manel Navarro, Italy’s Francesco Gabbani, Israel’s Imri Ziv, Czech Republic’s Martina Bárta, Croatia’s Jacques Houdek, Malta’s Claudia Faniello, Poland’s Kasia Mos, Hungary’s Joci Pápai, Slovenia’s Omar Naber, Denmark’s Anja Nissen, Moldova’s SunStroke Project, Ukraine’s O.Torvald, Latvia’s Triana Park, Serbia’s Tijana Bogicevic, Estonia’s Koit Toome & Laura, Romania’s Ilinca feat. Alex Florea, Portugal’s Salvador Sobral, and Australia’s Isaiah.