Armenia's Mher takes the 5th place in "New Wave 2008" international music contest

Watching the “New Wave” (Новая волна) music contest on Armenian Public TV yesterday got me swearing like a taxi driver – the whole contest seemed to be pre-decided! With two Georgians in the jury – the Meladze brothers, it’s no wonder the “Georgia” duet got the first place.
Clearly, it was a Russian show-biz gig. That means really a cool show – but a show where nothing remotely resembling fair voting or considering the opinion of audience can be expected. Still, I don’t think I’ve ever seen UK or US show-biz producing anything remotely as cool and enjoyable. The contest part of the show took three days, with contestants performing three different songs on the first, second and third days, and evaluated by a jury, composed of Russian show-biz stars.
The “New Wave” international contest for young performers held in Latvia, has become highly popular in the recent years, and has started attracting contestants not only in the countries of former USSR, but also from Germany,Italy, Canada, Finland, Israel. The show lasted 2-3 days and was broadcast on the Public TV of Armenia. And although on the final day Andre kept making all kinds of irritating comments, I must admit the show was excellent.
Armenia was represented by Mher – 26, started singing since he was 4, studied in Russia. Excellent musician I daresay – clearly much better than anyone we have on the Armenian music scene today.
Ukrainian entry, the ‘anti-glamor’ group “Zaklyopki” was also something to be heard, while the “China Town” of Kazakstan was something to be seen – hot!!!
Our Mher was by far the best singer on the stage, but he only got the 5th place. So there I was – a totally frustrated Observer, swearing like a taxi driver, although I generally really enjoyed the show.