OMSC 3

Online Music Song Contest 3, often referred to as OMSC 3, was the third edition of Online Music Song Contest, held again in Bishkek after Kyrgyzstan won for the second time in a row.

The Final of OMSC 3 occured on the 10ᵗʰ October 2020. Seven* countries participated in the third contest, under the slogan “Rise!”.

Location
The broadcaster KTRK chose to host the contest again in the capital and largest city of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek. Bishkek is the most populated city in Kyrgyzstan having a population of 1,012,500. It situated at an altitude of about 800 meters, just off the northern fringe of the Kyrgyz Ala-Too range, an extension of the Tian Shan mountain range, which rises to a height of 4,895 meters. North of the city, a fertile and gently undulating steppe extends far north into neighboring Kazakhstan and the Chui River drains most of the area.

In 1825, the Khanate of Kokand established the fortress of "Pishpek" to control local caravan routes and to collect tribute from Kyrgyz tribes. On the 4ᵗʰ September 1860, with the approval of the Kyrgyz, Russian forces led by Colonel Apollon Zimmermann destroyed the fortress. In 1868, a Russian settlement was established on the site of the fortress under its original name, "Pishpek". It lay within the General Governorship of Russian Turkestan and its Semirechye Oblast.

In 1925, the Kara-Kirghiz Autonomous Oblast was established in Russian Turkestan, promoting Pishpek to its capital. In 1926, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union renamed the city as Frunze, after the Bolshevik military leader Mikhail Frunze, who was born there. In 1936, the city of Frunze became the capital of the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic, during the final stages of the national delimitation in the Soviet Union. In 1991, the Kyrgyz parliament changed the capital's name to "Bishkek".

Nowadays Bishkek is a city of wide boulevards and marble-faced public buildings combined with numerous Soviet-style apartment blocks surrounding interior courtyards. There are also thousands of smaller privately built houses, mostly outside the city centre. Streets follow a grid pattern, with most flanked on both sides by narrow irrigation channels, watering innumerable trees to provide shade in the hot summers.

Participants
Six* countries participated in the second edition of the contest: two European countries (Poland, Portugal), two Asian countries (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan), one American countries (Canada) and one African countries (Morocco). Also in this edition not even an Oceanian country participated.

It's the smallest number of participants since the start of the contest, with Portugal and Romania participating for the first time.

Returning Artists
This edition featured one representative who had performed previously as lead vocalists for the same country. Manizha represented Tajikistan in the second edition of the contest with her song "Nedoslavyanka (Недославянка)" sung in Russian, which placed 9ᵗʰ out of 14 participating countries with 54 points. In this occasion, Manizha performed her song "Izumrud (Изумруд)", again in Russian, trying to score a better result for her country!

Withdrawing Countries
These countries confirmed their non-participation in the second edition of the contest:

• Algeria – Despite scoring an excellent result in the previous edition, Établissement Public de Télévision (EPTV) announced on the 25ᵗʰ September 2020, that Algeria would not take part in the third edition of the contest.

• United States of – American Broadcasting Company (ABC) confirmed the country's withdrawal immediately after the submission period started, on the 25ᵗʰ September 2020, for unknown reasons.

Other Countries
These countries haven't still confirmed their participation in the second edition of the contest:

• Åland Islands

• Brazil

• Faroe Islands

• Kazakhstan

• Netherlands

• Sweden

• Switzerland

• Ukraine