Belarus

Hasta La Vista Ruslan Alehno

No country has contributed quite the same element of mystery to Eurovision in recent years as relative newcomers Belarus. Taking the will-they-or-won't-they aspect of Albania's makeovers that one step further, they constantly play with the audience in a guessing game where you can never even be sure that their song, once chosen, will actually make it to the contest. Since joining in 2004, two of their five selected entries have been dumped in favour of something regarded as more appropriate; one has been completely rearranged; and three have been significantly reworked. But apart from 2007's Work Your Magic, which came fully-formed (once it turned up at all) and delivered the country its first final berth and a top ten finish, pretty much all of these reinventions have been for nought - a trend they will be hoping to reverse in Belgrade with Hasta La Vista.

Perhaps deterred by the lack of success enjoyed by their neighbours Ukraine on their 2003 debut with a song of the same name in a similar style, the Belarusian team have ditched the disco ball beneath which Hasta La Vista claimed victory in the national final and given the song a shot of testosterone. The transformation could hardly be more complete. As with the changes made to the Albanian entry, which were more in keeping with what the song was saying, Belarus beefing up theirs has lent it the bite it was missing in its limp-wristed earlier incarnation, in which Ruslan's dissing of his former lover was as camp as a row of tents. With a pop rock backing of electric guitars and prominent percussion it is now delivered with more attitude and - despite the orchestration - less melodrama. In other words: more effectively.

Needless to say this is relative to the original. It is a perfectly workable piece of music with a perfectly workable tune, but there remains something uninspiring about Hasta La Vista. It does its best to challenge the theory that you can't make a silk purse out of sow's ear, but still shows up as fake and unoriginal, and could go either way in the second semi-final. With a coup de théâtre as clever as the one they put together last year it might do rather well, but Ruslan has never come across to me as someone who feels comfortable on the stage or, for that matter, with a microphone in his hand. I have yet to see or hear anything that suggests he will produce more than a merely passable performance on the night, and that may not be enough. Not when half of the points that might otherwise come the way of Belarus are stuck in the first semi-final.

Still, Hasta La Vista remains a bit of an unknown. In a couple of lines that reflect its metamorphosis, Ruslan sings "The story is close to the final cut / It won't be the end but a running start", and he could well be describing the song's chances of qualification. I suspect it may make it to the final, not entirely convincingly, and then do much better once it gets there, but it could just as easily fall flat on the Thursday night and go nowhere. It is inoffensive enough that I won't be bothered if it does qualify, damning it with faint praise though that may be. In any event, it is likely to do better in its current form than it would have had they left it untouched, so the electrotherapy and airbrushing will probably have been worth it either way.