To participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, the Buranovsky Grandmothers folk group was chosen as the representative of Russia. Despite the fact that the ensemble from the village of Buranovo in the Malopurginsky district of the Udmurt Republic is already more than 40 years old, fame came to grandmothers quite recently.
The history of “Buranovsky grandmothers” began in the 70s of the last century, when kindergarten teacher Galina Koneva created an ensemble that performed in a village club with Russian folk songs. However, there was not much success, so the repertoire included songs in the Udmurt language, which fell to the liking of the villagers.
Today, the group includes 12 people, but due to age and state of health, only 8 members go on tour: Grania Ivanovna Baysarova, Alevtina Gennadevna Begisheva, Zoya Sergeevna Dorodova, Galina Nikolaevna Koneva, Natalya Yakovlevna Pugacheva, Valentina Semenovna Pyatchenko, Ekaterina Semenovna Shklyaeva, as well as the artistic director - the director of the village club Olga Nikolaevna Tuktareva. The average age of grandmothers is 68 years old, with the oldest of them 86 years old, and the youngest participant 43 years old.
"Buranovskie grandmothers" perform in national Udmurt costumes: dresses made of self-woven material, many of which were passed to the performers by inheritance, removable bibs, belts, knitted stockings and bast shoes. A mandatory attribute of the outfit is monisto - a necklace of silver coins, among which there are specimens of the Catherine era.
The ensemble became widely known after participating in the festival “New Song of the Ancient Land” and the Day of the Mother Tongue, which took place in Izhevsk in 2008. "Buranovsky grandmothers" sang in the Udmurt language the songs of Boris Grebenshchikov "City of Gold" and Viktor Tsoi "Star named Sun". Someone from the audience filmed a speech on a mobile phone and put it on the Internet, after which grandmothers gained popularity. Then the Beatles songs were translated and recorded, including Yesterday and Let It be.
In 2009, “Buranovskie Granny” performed at the anniversary of Lyudmila Zykina, and then signed a contract with the director of the House of Lyudmila Zykina, Ksenia Rubtsova, who began to promote them on television to participate in various shows, anniversary and national concerts, and today she is the producer of the group.
In 2010, the ensemble took part in the Russian qualifying round of the Eurovision song contest with the song “Long-long birch bark and how to make an aishon out of it”, where they took 3rd place. In 2012, their song Party for Everybody brought them victory in the national selection of Eurovision 2012.
Almost all grandmothers, with the exception of Olga Tuktareva, are retired. They are engaged in farming, working in the garden, caring for livestock. "Buranovskie grandmothers" honor and preserve the traditions and customs of their people. Their forces opened a museum of national culture in the village of Buranovo, exhibits of which were items of clothing and household goods, whose age is up to 200 years.
In addition, "Buranovskie grandmothers" organized the construction of a temple in the village on the site of the destruction in Soviet times. This is precisely a powerful incentive for the team, and all the proceeds from concerts, tours and various television shows, the members of the ensemble are sent to restore the church.
