The Cardigans Commercial success: 1995-2000 What was the height of their success from 95-00? Life became an international success, selling more than a million copies and achieving platinum status in Japan. What was a big hit off it? In 1996, Life was released under the label Minty Fresh in the US, but this release was essentially a compilation of tracks from Emmerdale and Life. Did they tour? I don't know. How did they handle their success? After their success with Life, The Cardigans signed with Mercury Records, under which they released First Band on the Moon worldwide in 1996. Did that do well? "Lovefool" was a hit worldwide, particularly in the US and Japan, where the album reached platinum status in three weeks. Were there other big hits on it? "Been It. Did they produce any other sussessful records in this time? The same year they also released a compilation album of rare B-sides, The Other Side of the Moon as a Japan-only release.
Did they appear on tv at all?
Did The Cardigans appear on tv at all?
The remainder of 1994 was spent touring Europe and recording Life, which was released worldwide in 1995. Life became an international success, selling more than a million copies and achieving platinum status in Japan. In 1996, Life was released under the label Minty Fresh in the US, but this release was essentially a compilation of tracks from Emmerdale and Life.  After their success with Life, The Cardigans signed with Mercury Records, under which they released First Band on the Moon worldwide in 1996. "Lovefool" was a hit worldwide, particularly in the US and Japan, where the album reached platinum status in three weeks. The album also achieved gold sales status in the US. "Lovefool" was shown on MTV in the late 1990s as a music video with clips from the 1996 hit film Romeo + Juliet starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. It also featured in the film Cruel Intentions (1999).  In 1997, the band played themselves on the graduation episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 as the featured entertainment at the fictional California High School's graduation party, hosted by Kelly Taylor's dad, Bill Taylor. The band performed "Lovefool" and "Been It."  1998's Gran Turismo was followed by a long hiatus during which the band members pursued solo side projects. The same year they also released a compilation album of rare B-sides, The Other Side of the Moon as a Japan-only release. The video of the song "My Favourite Game" was censored by MTV for showing reckless driving. Despite this, it went on to become their second global hit song. "My Favourite Game" was featured on the soundtrack of the PlayStation video game Gran Turismo 2 in the intro movie on CD1. That year also saw their song "Deuce" appearing on The X-Files: The Album. Their song "Erase/Rewind" was featured in the 1999 films Never Been Kissed and The Thirteenth Floor.  In 1999 the Cardigans recorded a duet cover of Talking Heads' "Burning Down the House" with Tom Jones for his album Reload. CANNOTANSWER
In 1997, the band played themselves on the graduation episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 as the featured entertainment
The Cardigans is a Swedish rock band formed in Jönköping, Sweden, in 1992 by guitarist Peter Svensson, bassist Magnus Sveningsson, drummer Bengt Lagerberg, keyboardist Lars-Olof Johansson and lead singer Nina Persson. Post-hiatus shows since 2012 have been with Oskar Humlebo on guitar instead of Svensson.

With their debut album Emmerdale (1994) they gained a solid base in their home country and enjoyed some success abroad, especially in Japan. Their second album Life (1995) secured them an international reputation. Their popularity rose when their single "Lovefool", from the album First Band on the Moon (1996), was included in the soundtrack to the 1996 film Romeo + Juliet. Other singles included "Erase/Rewind" and "My Favourite Game" from the album Gran Turismo (1998). After a two-year hiatus, the band returned recording and releasing their fifth album Long Gone Before Daylight (2003), a mellower country-flavoured record. Their last album Super Extra Gravity (2005) displays a continuation of the country influence, infused by pop sensibility and a further maturing of their sound. After a 2006 tour, the band embarked on a five-year break from musical activities before reuniting in 2012 to play several concerts. They have sold over 15 million albums worldwide.

History

First years: 1992–1994
Peter Svensson and Magnus Sveningsson, both heavy metal musicians, formed the group on 31 October 1992 in Jönköping, Sweden, with drummer Bengt Lagerberg, keyboardist Lars-Olof Johansson and lead singer Nina Persson. Persson did not want to be a musician growing up, having an interest in art instead, which resulted in her attending art school. "I never really strived to be a musician; I was just, sort of, recruited into this band. I was bored out of my mind in this small, safe place (Jönköping). I was like, 'Awesome, I get to hang with fun guys.'"

Living together in a small apartment, The Cardigans recorded a demo tape with Persson providing lead vocals on only one of the songs towards the end of the track list. A&R man Ola Hermanson heard the demo and signed the band to his Trampolene imprint. They released their debut album Emmerdale in Sweden and Japan in 1994; it was re-released internationally in 1997. The album included the Swedish radio hit "Rise & Shine", which was later voted the best of 1994 in a poll in Slitz magazine.

Commercial success: 1995–2000
The remainder of 1994 was spent touring Europe and recording Life, which was released worldwide in 1995. Life became an international success, selling more than a million copies and achieving platinum status in Japan. In 1996, Life was released under the label Minty Fresh in the US, but this release was essentially a compilation of tracks from Emmerdale and Life.

After their success with Life, The Cardigans signed with Mercury Records, under which they released First Band on the Moon worldwide in 1996. "Lovefool" was a hit worldwide, particularly in the US and Japan, where the album reached platinum status in three weeks. The album also achieved gold sales status in the US. "Lovefool" was shown on MTV in the late 1990s as a music video with clips from the 1996 hit film Romeo + Juliet starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. It also featured in the film Cruel Intentions (1999).

In 1997, the band played themselves in an episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 as the featured entertainment at their college  graduation party, hosted by Kelly Taylor's dad. The band performed "Lovefool" and "Been It." The band was also asked to submit the theme song for the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies but rejected the request due to exhaustion that would be exacerbated by the potential added workload; Persson has called her decision to turn down the offer "one of my biggest mistakes."

1998's Gran Turismo was followed by a long hiatus during which the band members pursued solo side projects. The same year they also released a compilation album of rare B-sides, The Other Side of the Moon as a Japan-only release. The video of the song "My Favourite Game" was censored by MTV for showing reckless driving. Despite this, it went on to become their second global hit song. "My Favourite Game" was featured on the soundtrack of the PlayStation video game Gran Turismo 2 in the intro movie on CD1. That year also saw their song "Deuce" appearing on The X-Files: The Album. Their song "Erase/Rewind" was featured in the 1999 films Never Been Kissed and The Thirteenth Floor.

In 1999, the Cardigans recorded a duet cover of Talking Heads' "Burning Down the House" with Tom Jones for his album Reload.

Back to spotlight and hiatus: 2002–2006

The Cardigans returned in 2002 to record Long Gone Before Daylight (2003), a collection of songs mainly written by Persson and Svensson. Long Gone Before Daylight became one of the best selling albums in Sweden in 2003. After a two-year hiatus from their last album, it was released in Japan on 19 March 2003 and in Europe on 24 March 2003. Later it was also released in Canada (22 April 2003) and the United States (25 May 2004).

The album differs from the band's earlier works. Their familiar "happy" pop sound takes on a change to pop songs with more of an American country music  influence. It is a much darker album than their previous works, and quieter than Gran Turismo. Indeed, even lead singer Nina Persson dyed her once light blonde hair to jet black, reflecting the band's change of mood. The album was produced by Per Sunding after the group's regular producer Tore Johanssen stepped down, feeling himself unable to provide the country sound the group wanted.

Criticism was generally mixed. Some found the change of direction welcome, and felt the band had matured, making songs that were even better than other experienced country-pop styled artists. Others missed the old pop sound, and accused the band of possibly being ashamed of their former "happy" pop sound. The first single of the album, "For What It's Worth" was released on 17 February 2003. The second single was "You're the Storm" released on 2 June 2003. The third and final single was "Live and Learn" released on 3 December 2003. In the summer of 2004, The Cardigans toured with Liz Phair, Katy Rose and Charlotte Martin on the Chicks With Attitude tour.

On 28 April 2005, the band's iTunes Originals album was released through iTunes. On 19 October 2005, the band released their sixth album Super Extra Gravity to generally favourable reviews. Super Extra Gravity went straight to the #1 spot on the Swedish album chart and was certified gold (sales over 40,000). After the band finished promotional activities in Autumn 2006, the band entered an extended hiatus and devoted themselves to other projects.

Reunion, tour and future: 2012–present
In 2012, the Cardigans received a lucrative offer from Hultsfred Festival to perform the album Gran Turismo in full. After initial hesitation, the band decided to accept the offer "as it felt like a good way of tearing us out of our strange new everyday life," according to Persson. Peter Svensson declined to participate, although he had no objection to the band touring without him. They recruited singer-songwriter Oskar Humlebo to fill in for Svensson, and asked their agent to seek more shows for them to play. Ultimately, the band made their live comeback with shows in Lund and Copenhagen ahead of Hultsfred, before playing in Poland, Finland, Russia, Indonesia, Taiwan and Japan, with a scheduled concert in Israel cancelled by the promoter. Most of these shows involved performing Gran Turismo in full, followed by an assortment of hits from their other albums.

Still with Humlebo in place of Svensson, the band played career-spanning sets when touring resumed during late 2013 with shows in Japan, China and Russia, followed by more dates in 2015 which took them to South Korea, Europe and South America. In interviews promoting her 2014 solo album Animal Heart, Persson suggested that the success of their most recent live dates opened the possibility for future Cardigans recordings, though there were no firm plans. "It's really fun to do greatest hits things, since there's nothing else, but I think if we continue having this much fun we would like to make another record, because we like to create new things," said Persson. The band's only scheduled show for 2016 was at Qstock (Oulu, Finland) on 29 July. In 2017, they performed in Stockholm in Turku, Finland and in Yammatovo 3 festival in Croatia.

In June 2018, the band announced their only live shows of the year: a four-date UK tour in December to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Gran Turismo in which they would perform the album in full again. In an interview to promote the tour, Persson stated, "There won’t be any more Cardigans records, I’m pretty sure. But we’ll keep doing little tours and shows as long as it’s fun, as long as we can do it well and feel that it’s something that’s current to us."

Solo projects
During the band's first break Nina Persson released an album as A Camp, and Peter Svensson and Bengt Lagerberg worked on the project Paus with help from Joakim Berg from Kent, and Magnus Sveningsson recorded as Righteous Boy.

In 2006, Sveningsson restarted their old label Trampolene and became an A&R for it. The first signing was the Swedish popband The Animal Five, which was a minor success in Sweden and Germany.

Lagerberg and Johansson formed the group Brothers Of End, releasing a debut album The End in 2009, and a second album Mount Inside in 2011. A third album, Shakers Love, was released in 2014, and Nina Persson appeared on the track "Heat".

In November 2006, Persson featured on The Cake Sale, an album set up by Oxfam Ireland. It contained nine tracks from some of Ireland's leading artists. Proceeds from the album went to the fair trade campaign.

Persson also appeared on the Manic Street Preachers' album Send Away the Tigers (May 2007), providing guest vocals on the UK Chart #2 single "Your Love Alone Is Not Enough". She shared vocals with Manics frontman James Dean Bradfield, who also appeared on stage with the band at the Glastonbury Festival 2007, and who has rated Peter Svensson as his second favourite guitarist.

In the band's break of 2007, Persson recorded the second A Camp album Colonia, which was released in early 2009.  A Camp supported the US release of Colonia with a tour, which began in New York City on 26 May and completed on 15 June in Los Angeles.

In 2010, Persson appeared on Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse's collaboration (Dark Night of the Soul) singing "Daddy's Gone" (with Mark Linkous).

Persson released the album Animal Heart under her own name in 2014.

Band members
 Lars-Olof Johansson – keyboards, piano, guitar
 Bengt Lagerberg – drums, percussion
 Nina Persson – lead vocals, keyboards
 Magnus Sveningsson – bass, vocals
 Peter Svensson – guitar, vocals

Discography

Albums
 Emmerdale (1994)
 Life (1995)
 First Band on the Moon (1996)
 Gran Turismo (1998)
 Long Gone Before Daylight (2003)
 Super Extra Gravity (2005)

Awards and nominations
BMI Pop Awards

|-
| 1999
| "Lovefool"
| Award-Winning Song
| 

Billboard Music Awards

|-
| 1997
| "Lovefool"
| Top Hot 100 Airplay Track
| 

Billboard Music Video Awards

|-
| 1997
| "Lovefool"
| Pop/Rock Clip of the Year 
| 

Brit Awards

|-
| 2000
| Themselves 
| Best International Group
| 

Danish Music Awards

|-
| 2000
| Gran Turismo
| Foreign Album of the Year
| 

Denmark GAFFA Awards

!Ref.
|-
| rowspan=2|1998
| rowspan=2|"My Favorite Game"
| Best Foreign Video
| 
| rowspan=4|
|-
| rowspan=2|Best Foreign Hit
| 
|-
| 1999
| "Burning Down the House" (with Tom Jones)
| 
|-
| 2005
| Nina Persson
| Best Foreign Female Act
| 

Grammis

|-
| 1995
| rowspan=3|Themselves
| rowspan=2|Best Pop Group
| 
|-
| rowspan=4|1997
| 
|-
| Best Artist 
| rowspan=3 
|-
| First Band on the Moon
| Best Album
|-
| "Lovefool"
| Best Song
|-
| rowspan=5|1999
| rowspan=2|Themselves
| Best Pop Group
| 
|-
| Best Artist 
| 
|-
| Gran Turismo
| Best Album
| 
|-
| rowspan=2|"My Favorite Game"
| Best Song
| rowspan=2 
|-
| Best Music Video
|-
| rowspan=2|2004
| Long Gone Before Daylight
| Best Album
| rowspan=2 
|-
| rowspan=2|Themselves
| rowspan=2|Best Rock Group
|-
| 2006
| 

MTV Europe Music Awards

|-
| 1996
| Themselves 
| Best New Act
| rowspan=6 
|-
| 1997
| "Lovefool"
| Best Song 
|-
| rowspan=3|1999
| rowspan=4|Themselves
| Best Group
|-
| Best Rock 
|-
| rowspan=2|Best Nordic Act
|-
| 2003

Rockbjornen

|-
| 1998
| Themselves 
| Best Swedish Band
|  

Smash Hits Poll Winners Party

!Ref.
|-
| 1996
| Themselves
| Best International Band
| 
|

TMF Awards

|-
| 1999
| "My Favorite Game"
| Best Video International
| 

Žebřík Music Awards

!Ref.
|-
| 1998
| "My Favorite Game"
| Best International Video
| 
|

See also
 Swedish music abroad
 List of HFStival acts
 Swedish indie pop
 Swedish rock

References

External links

 Official website

Musical groups established in 1992
Musical groups disestablished in 1999
Musical groups reestablished in 2003
Musical groups disestablished in 2006
Swedish musical groups
Swedish rock music groups
MNRK Music Group artists
English-language singers from Sweden
1992 establishments in Sweden
Female-fronted musical groups
is a Japanese comedy duo (kombi) formed in 1992, consisting of  and . They are best known for making up the cast of the popular and long-running variety show, Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!!.

Members

 Shōzō Endō (born July, 13, 1971), the tsukkomi.
 Naoki Tanaka (born April, 26, 1971), the boke and leader of the duo who writes all of their material.

History
Both were born and raised in Toyonaka, Osaka. They were classmates during elementary and middle school and were members of their school's baseball club, with Endo a pitcher and Tanaka a catcher.

After their graduation, Endō was a salesman of office equipment in Takamatsu, Kagawa until he resigned. Aspiring to become a comedian, he moved to Tokyo and invited Tanaka, who was a design student in Osaka, to form a comedy duo.

Different from most Japanese comedians, who studied at comedy schools before debuting, Endō and Tanaka had not had any mentoring and were looking for another way to debut. Watching an announcement on TV, they auditioned for Yoshimoto Kōgyō Batamon Club and passed on their first attempt. Originally known as Cocorico Bombers, they were later advised by Kōji Kato (Gokuraku Tonbo) to shorten their name to their current one.

In 1994 Cocorico had their first movie appearance as the main characters of Yankee Gurentai Nanbo no Monjai! 2 and started to appear on such popular variety shows as Waratte Itomo!! and Vocabula Tengoku. Cocorico also worked many times since their early days with the veteran comedy duo Utchan Nanchan.

In 1995 Cocorico appeared for the first time on Gaki no Tsukai as contestants on a comedy competition. The duo would further appear on the show and open for the manzai shows of Downtown until February 9, 1997, when Endō and Tanaka became part of the regular cast.

In 1996 the duo started to work on a radio program, Cocorico no Kairaku Shawā Okoku, which aired on CBC Radio until 1999 and was revived on September 2, 2021 as a special program to celebrate CBC Radio's 70th anniversary.

In 1998 they started to break. Their TV appearances started to increase considerably and Cocorico would also appear on entertainment magazine covers and make commercials for famous brands like Glico, Hitachi and Coco Store. This year also saw the premiere of their own highly-rated show, Cocorico Ogon Densetsu, broadcast by TV Asahi and successfully airing until 2016.

Cocorico started to do solo activities from around 2000 and from 2005 it has begun to increase. They also started to appear in dramas and get major roles at movies.

At 2000's Cocorico's shows like Cocorico Miracle Type and Cocorico Million Kazoku was starting to increase, most of those was broadcast by Fuji TV.

The duo won their first prize at 2001, that was the Entertainment Award from the 39th Golden Arrow. At the same year, Cocorico appeared for the first and only time on a drama called Ashita ga Arusa, along many other popular rookie comedians at that time. Ashita Ga Arusa made Tanaka win his first prize at acting, 29th The Television Drama Academy Awards. He won the New Actor Award. At 2002, Tanaka, for his acting in Minna no Ie, won the 25th Japan Academy Awards as Newcomer of the Year and the Popularity prize, the only category in Japan Academy Awards chosen by popular voting.

In the 2000's Endō's popular gag "Ho-ho-hoi" became a real trend. He won the 1st place on a High Tension Series from Gaki no Tsukai with this gag. Endō was also caughting many attention for be a good looking comedian, and frequently he has ranked in high positions at the Yoshimoto Kōgyō's most handsome entertainers rankings.

In 2019 Cocorico was invited to be the hosts of the Tokyo Olympics countdown events.

On November 26, 2021, the duo opened their YouTube channel, called "Cocorico Channel", focused on conte. The debut video, "Panda No Shazai Kaiken" (パンダの謝罪会見 "Panda's Apology Press Conference"), surpassed 10,000 views in less than 48 hours.

Personal life
Although Endo and Tanaka were childhood friends, at their early days as a comedy duo their relationship wasn't good. Hosei Tsukitei related that at those times at Gaki no Tsukai backstage had difficulties to talk with Cocorico members when the three were together. Endo and Tanaka didn't liked when Housei talked only to one of them. Their friendship was recovered with the time passing.

Endo married Japanese tarento Chiaki Fujimoto in July 2002. 6 years later, they divorced in December 2007. They have a daughter, Iroha, born in May 2003. In 2015, he later remarried a woman who was an ex-manager of Tsutomu Sekine. Their first son was born in the summer of 2016.

Tanaka married japanese model Shie Kohinata in 2003 and had two sons, born in 2004 and 2008. According to Kohinata in Waratte Iitomo! they hadn't a dating period before marrying. They later divorced in May 2017 and Tanaka got the custody of the children.

Both Cocorico members were awarded at the Best Father Yellow Ribbon Awards, Tanaka in 2013 and Endo in 2018.

In 2021, Endo adopted two dogs and named them "Coco" and "Rico", inspired by the duo's name.

Works

TV shows

Present 
Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!! (ダウンタウンのガキの使いやあらへんで!!) (Nippon TV, since 1989)

Past
DABO Gin (1995/4/3 - 1996/3/25, TV Asahi)
Yoshimoto Tōkyō Shin Hatsubai (TBS)
UN FACTORY Kabosuke (1995/4 - 1995/9, Fuji TV)
Suppadaka Bokujō (1996 - 1998 TV Saitama)
Morita Kazuyoshi Awā Waratte Iitomo! (1997/4 - 2006/9, Fuji TV)
Nakai Masahiro no Bokura Wa Minna Ikite Iru (1997/10/29 - 1998/9/16, Fuji TV)
Shonen Satoru → Chojin Satoru (1997/10 - 1998/3, Fuji TV)
Habatake! Penguin (1998/4/15 - 1998/8/26, TBS)
Cocorico Oogon Densetsu → Cocorico A-kyu Densetsu → Ikinari! Kogane Densetsu (1998/10/6 - 2016/12/18, TV Asahi)
Sata☆Suma (1998/10/31 - 2002/3/23, Fuji TV) - irregular appearance
Cocorico Kaijokasai (1998/11 - 1999/10, MBS)
Ginga Pikaichi Terebi (1998, MBS)
Fujiriko (1999/10/1 - 2002/3/13, Yomiuri TV)
Akashiya Mansion Monogatari (1999/10/13 - 2001/9/26, Fuji TV)
Cocorico Miracle Type (2001/4/11 - 2007/9/5, Fuji TV)
Shijo Saikyo no Mega Hit Karaoke Best 100 Kanpeki ni Utatte 1000-man'en (2000 - 2004, TV Asahi)
Taikutsu Kizoku (2003/10 - 2004/3, Fuji TV)
Waraido (2005/3/21 - 2007/7/7, MBS)
Puroyagu All Star Super Battle (2005 - 2006, Tokai TV)
Buchi Nuki (2005/4/4 - 2006/3/24, TV Tokyo)
Cocorico Milion Kazoku (2006/4/4 - 2008/12/9, TV Tokyo)
Cocorico Gout Temps Miracle Nouveau Type (2006/9/13 - 2007/3/28, Fuji TV)
Oto Rico (2007/10/4 - 2008/3/27, Nippon TV)
MMM (2008/4 - 2009/3, Yomiuri TV)
Shinshun Tsurube Daishin'nen Kai (2009-2011, Fuji TV)
Japan International Birdman Rally (2010, Yomiuri TV) - 33rd male moderator
Nara≒Deki ~○○Nara××Dekiru Wa Zu~ → Tensai Kids Zeinshuugou Kiminara Dekiru (2017/10/16 - 2018/2/5, TV Asahi)
Unmei no Hito Oshi ~Koko de Inkan O Oshimasu Ka?~ (2018/4/12 - 2018/9/27, TV Asahi)
Kami Hitoe (2019/4 - 2020/9/21, TV Asahi)

Drama 

 Hamada Masatoshi no Jikken Dorama Heisei Mystery Jiken-bo (1999/03/18, TV Asahi)
 Ashita ga Arusa (2001/4/21 - 6/30, Nippon TV)
 Kikiippatsu Dorama Special: Flying Boys (2002/10/0, Fuji TV)

Radio shows

Past 

 Cocorico no Kairaku Shawā Okoku (1996/10 - 1999/3, revived in 2021/9/2, CBC Radio)
 Cocorico no @llnightnippon.com (1999/4 - 2001/3, Nippon Broadcasting System)
 Cocorico no All Night Nippon Premium (2017/10 - 2017/12, 2018/10 - 2019/3, Nippon Broadcasting System)

Movies 

 Yankee Gurentai Nanbo no Monjai! 2 (1994) - starring, under the name of "Cocorico Bombers"
 Kishiwada Shōnen Gurentai Yakyū-dan〈Kishiwada Shōnen Yakyū-dan〉(2000) - starring
 Kishiwada Shōnen Gurentai Chō Tokubetsu-hen I had a dream (2000) - starring
 Ashita Ga Arusa THE MOVIE (2002)

Dubbing 

 Son of the Mask (2005)

Advertising 

 Pretz (Ezaki Glico)
 Cocostore
 POP CHIP (House Shokuhin)
 Georgia (Coca Cola Japan)
 Promise (SMBC Consumer Finance)

Music 

 Kanashimi No Yokae (2001/5/23, East West Japan) - under the name of "Endo Shozo to Tanaka-san"

Book 

 Cocorico Miracle Type (2003/3/27, Kadokawa Shoten, )

Awards
39th Golden Arrow Award: Performing Arts Award

References

External links
Cocorico Channel - YouTube
Cocorico Staff - Instagram
 Official Profile in Yoshimoto Kogyo official website

Japanese comedy duos
People from Toyonaka, Osaka Bala Turkvision Song Contest 2015 was the first (and to date, only) edition of the Bala Turkvision Song Contest. It was initially scheduled to take place in Mary, Turkmenistan, however, it was moved to Istanbul, Turkey. The contest is the junior equivalent of the Turkvision Song Contest; similar to the Junior Eurovision Song Contest being the younger equivalent of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Thirteen countries and regions competed. Eligible to participate are Turkic regions, which have either a large Turkic population or a widely spoken Turkic language. The final took place on the 15 December 2015. Contestants must be aged between 8 and 15 and must perform in a Turkic language.

Origins

Bala Turkvision was an annual song contest. Based on the similar format of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, Bala Turkvision focused primarily on participating Turkic countries and regions. A juror from each nation awarded between 1 and 10 points for every entry, except their own. In the Grand Final the jury determined the winner.  Unlike the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in which the winning country proceeds to host the following year's event, hosting of the Bala Turkvision Song Contest took place in the country or region that is also hosting the Turkish Capital of Culture.

Location
It was announced on 7 June 2015, that the inaugural Bala Turkvision Song Contest will be held in Mary, Turkmenistan. However, it was later confirmed that the competition had been moved to Istanbul, Turkey. The final took place on 15 December 2015.

Participating countries and regions
The following Turkic regions and ethnic groups competed in the inaugural contest that took place in December 2015.

Scoreboard
Nuray Rahman and Ahmed Amirli who represented Azerbaijan with the song "Cocukluk Yillari", was declared the winner after all the votes had been cast from all of the thirteen participating countries and regions.

10 points

International broadcasts and voting

Commentators
None of the participating broadcasters did broadcast the contest live. However some broadcasters have announced their plans for the broadcasting:  

  – ATV - 5 January 2016 at 21:40 (CET 18:40)
  – GRT Television
  – Marmueli Television
  – Khabar TV – 18 December at 16:15 (10:15 CET)
  – KTRK
  – MRT 2
  – TMB TV - 20 December at 18:00 (17:00 CET)
  - Yuzhnaya Volna TV

Other regions
  —  On 30 November it was announced that Bashkortostan would not debut at the contest due to the current state of international relations between the Russian Federation and Turkey. Despite this Bashkortostan did select Galisar Baiguskarova to represent them in 2015.
  —  On 7 December it was announced that Crimea would not debut at the contest due to the current state of international relations between the Russian Federation and Turkey. Despite this Crimea did select Aliie Bekirova with the song "Amanim yarim" (On my half) to represent them in 2015.
   &   —  On 7 December it was announced that Kabardino-Balkaria & Karachay-Cherkessia would not debut at the contest due to the current state of international relations between the Russian Federation and Turkey.
   —  On 30 November it was announced that Khakassia would not debut at the contest due to the current state of international relations between the Russian Federation and Turkey. Despite this Khakassia did select Katya Kyzlasova to represent them in 2015.
   —  On 7 December it was announced that Kumyk would not debut at the contest due to the current state of international relations between the Russian Federation and Turkey.  Despite this Kumyk did select Karim Salavatov to represent them in 2015.
   —  On 7 December it was announced that Moscow would not debut at the contest due to the current state of international relations between the Russian Federation and Turkey. Despite this Moscow did select Angeline Gafarovoy to represent them in 2015.
   —  On 3 December it was announced that Stavropol Krai would not debut at the contest due to the current state of international relations between the Russian Federation and Turkey. Despite this Stavropol Krai did select Madina Kartakeyva with the song "Altin Ordam" (My golden horde) to represent them in 2015.
  —  On 7 December it was announced that Tatarstan would not debut at the contest due to the current state of international relations between the Russian Federation and Turkey. Despite this Tatarstan did select Saida Mukhametzyanova to represent them in 2015.
  —  On 30 November it was announced that Tuva would not debut at the contest due to the current state of international relations between the Russian Federation and Turkey. Despite this Tuva did select Aykis to represent them in 2015.
  —  On 15 December it was announced that Uzbekistan would not debut at the contest for unknown reasons. Despite this Uzbekistan did select Yasmina Garibova to represent them in 2015.

The following list of countries were announced as competing at the contest and appeared on a provisional participation list on 23 September 2015. However, they did not appear on the finalised list in December 2015.

See also
ABU Radio Song Festival 2015
ABU TV Song Festival 2015
Eurovision Song Contest 2015
Eurovision Young Dancers 2015
Intervision Song Contest 2015
Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015
Turkvision Song Contest 2015

References

2015 in Turkey
2015
2015 song contests
December 2015 events in Turkey