Анастасія Віннікава

Anastasiya Vinnikava (Belarusian: Анастасія Віннікава) is a Belarusian singer born in Dzyarzhynsk, Belarus. She represented her motherland with the song «I Love Belarus», which was written by Yauhen Alejnik and Svyatlana Heraskava, at the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf. Anastasiya failed to qualify for the final as she only placed 14th and received a total of 45 points in the second semi-final. She was brought to fame by Vasil Rainchyk, a well-known musician and composer from Belarus. He discovered her through several castings Anastasiya took part in. In the end of 2010 she participated at the "Musical Court", a Belarusian TV-program, with the song «Born in Byelorussia», which was composed by Yauhen Alejnik and Viktar Rudenka, but failed to qualify for the final. In 2011, the composers sent it to the broadcasting station BTRC, who is the national member of the EBU and responsible for the entries of Belarus. On February 28, it was announced that Anastasiya Vinnikava would represent Belarus with the song «Born in Byelorussia» at the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. Nevertheless, the entry had to be changed because of its lyrics. Not only the lyrics were changed, but also the arrangement of the song went under the knife - away from the disco tune to a pop-rock sounding track. Also the name of the song was changed from «Born in Byelorussia» over «I Am Belarusian» and finally into «I Love Belarus». On March 14, the song and the official video of it were presented. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.