As more countries across Europe announce their intentions for participation regarding Junior Eurovision, it has been announced that Kazakhstan will not be participating in the Contest this year. This will be the first year since 2017 that Kazakhstan has not been present at the Contest.
Hoping for Kazakhstan to return
Speaking to Eurofestivales, the Director of International Cooperation at Kazakhstan’s broadcaster – the Khabar Agency, Daniyar Tussupbekov confirmed the non-participation. He outlined the station’s position:
I am sorry to inform that this year the Khabar Agency will not participate. Therefore, Kazakhstan will not appear on the list of participants, in fact, it is very sad to inform about this decision.
Daniyar Tussupbekov, Director of International Cooperation at Khabar Agency
Despite this, the Khabar Agency is still looking to broadcast the competition live in November. Mr Tussupbekov said that he would like to provide “the opportunity to witness the show live”. He also added that he is hoping that Kazakhstan will appear on the list of competing nations for the edition next year.
As a result, Kazakhstan now joins the countries that have announced their intention to miss out on the upcoming edition in Nice in November. These include Finland, Czechia and Lithuania, among other nations.
Kazakhstan is not a fully-fledged EBU member state, and its broadcaster Khabar Agency is an Associate Member of the Union. Due to this, Kazakhstan requires to be invited individually to compete at each Contest. Kazakhstan is also unable to become a full member of the EBU due to its location outside the European Broadcasting Area, with the easternmost point being in Azerbaijan.
About Junior Eurovision 2023
Junior Eurovision 2023 landed in ‘Nice’ after France won the competition for a second time in Yerevan, where its 2022 representative Lissandro won the competition with “Oh Maman”. This year’s competition will take place on the 26th of November at 16:00CET in Nice, at the Palais Nikaïa in Nice, which can accomodate up to 9,000 spectators.
At the time of writing the following countries have been confirmed for this year’s contest:
- 🇫🇷 France (Host Country)
- 🇬🇪 Georgia
- 🇩🇪 Germany
- 🇮🇪 Ireland
- 🇮🇹 Italy
- 🇲🇹 Malta
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands
- 🇲🇰 North Macedonia
- 🇵🇱 Poland
- 🇪🇸 Spain
- 🇺🇦 Ukraine
Kazakhstan’s Junior Eurovision Journey
Kazakhstan is one of the most recent debutants in Junior Eurovision, making their first appearance in 2018, with Daneliya Tuleshova’s “Ozine Sen”. Achieving 171 points, Kazkahstan finished in 6th place. Since then, Kazakhstan has participated five times. Their best result came in both 2019 and 2020, when Yerzhan Maksim and Karakat Bashanova finished in second place, only behind respective winners Poland and France.
Kazakhstan’s most recent participation in 2022 saw them being represented by David Charlin, singing his song “Jer-Ana (Mother Earth)”. At the close of voting, Kazakhstan finished in 15th place, receiving 47 points. Of these, 42 points came from the online vote – whilst the remaining 5 points were given by the professional juries.
Do you think Kazakhstan should participate at Junior Eurovision? Are you excited for Junior Eurovision 2023? Are you hoping to attend the contest in Nice? Let us know in the comments or on social media. Be sure to follow That Eurovision Site on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
News Source: Khabar Agency / Eurofestivales
Photo Credit: Corinne Cumming / EBU
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