Ell/Nikki from Azerbaijan received the highest number of points from televoters and juries from the 43 countries participating in this year's edition of Eurovision Song Contest.
credit photo:Alain Douit (EBU), www.eurovision.tv
Elnur and Samir performed "Day after day" in the 1st Semi Final and they were qualified for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 Final.
Azerbaijan was drawn 20th in the Final.
The representatives of nineteen countries have presented their songs tonight in the First Semi-Final of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest.
After all songs had been presented, televoting started in all the participating countries as well as in Spain and Germany, who are already qualified for the Final, but were drawn to vote in the First Semi-Final.
Nine of the qualifying countries were decided by televoting. Furthermore, the highest placed song in the result of the national backup juries which was not yet qualified through televoting got a place in the Final as well. However, the TV public will only find out which country it was after the Final of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday.
The following countries have qualified for the Final of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest (in order of announcement):
Greece - video
Romania - video
Bosnia and Herzegovina - video
Finland - video
Russia - video
Israel - video
Azerbaijan - video
Armenia - video
Poland - video
Norway - video
eurovision.tv has an exclusive video with the reactions af all semi finalists right after their performance in front of the Eurovision.tv camera crew.
Elnur and Samir were dressed as angel and devil, with Elnur and two backing dancers wearing big angel wings. While Elnur stands and shows his vast vocal range, Samir sits on a throne and performs some of his vocal parts in the typical national style of Mugham singing.
Their whole performance is very professional and elaborate. Towards the end of the song, people will see the climax of the whole stage act, with the throne falling apart and pyrotechnical effects illuminating the stage.
Day after day rehearsal
Press conference
Elnur and Samir were asked about the interest of their nation for the Contest, since it's the country's first participation in Eurovision. They replied that enthusiasm grows steadily in their country. As for themselves, they admitted that it took them two days to realise what had happened after they won in their national selection. The two contestants concluded the press conference inviting everyone to a live concert with them and other artists from their country on stage and they presented the press pack, which included a fine selection of gifts and gadgets from the Land of Fire.
sources:eurovision.tv;oikotimes.com;esckaz.com;
Kalomoira's promo tour in Azerbaijan and Romania from ET1 news.
Azeri Press Agentliyi reports:
Elnur Huseynov and Samir Javadzade, who will represent Azerbaijan in Eurovision Song Contest 2008, will leave for Georgia on April 3.
Head of Azerbaijani delegation in Eurovision-2008 song contest Adil Karimli told APA that they would stay in Georgia by April 5.“Our representatives will sing the song Day after day
Elnur and Samir will also visit TV channels of Tbilisi and give interview to local media representatives.
The clip of "Day after day" will be demonstrated on TV channels in Tbilisi”, he said.Karimli said Huseynov and Javadzadeh would go on a tour to Europe beginning from April 12.
Our representatives will sing "Day after day" in Malta, Romania, Andorra, Moldova and Slovenia.
Elnur Huseynov and Samir Javadzade will be representing Azerbaijan in its debut in the Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade.
On 8th March the Azerbaijani Eurovision Song Contest entry's promotional video was filmed at Kyiv’s Arsenal Centre.
The setting was transformed into a magic middle-age castle filled with flames, demons, statues, flying angels and mystic shadows – a perfect environment for Elnur and Samir to unleash their creativity and individuality in their first music video.
Day after day
I love this song!
source:esctoday.com
Despite earlier indications to the contrary, AzTV has in fact been denied active EBU membership at the EBU meeting on the 15th June 2007. This means that Azerbaijan cannot enter the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008 to be held in Belgrade, Serbia.
The EBU decided that AzTV was not separate enough from the Azeri state, which is one of the requirements for active membership. However, Arzu Abdullayev of AzTV has confirmed that AzTV will apply again for active membership in January 2008, and if that application is successful, then Azerbaijan may debut as early as 2009.
more on esctoday.com
As from today, the Azeri broadcaster AzTV is an active member of the EBU, and intends to apply for entering the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. Unless the EBU limits the number of new participants, Azerbaijan is set to be the 5th fully Asian country in the contest (after Israel, Cyprus, Armenia and Georgia). Shall this expansion continue, we would like to give you an overview of what to expect from the potential future participants.
Afghanistan is likely to remain the first country in the Eurovision alphabet forever, unless Aceh receives independence. Their singers will probably humbly dressed (as they did in the 2004 Olympics). Culturally related to Iran and Tajikistan, some point exchange is expected between the three. The Russians, however, can forget about any single points from the Afghans in the near future.
Azerbaijan will develop a Greece-Cyprus relationship with Turkey, and a Turkey-Cyprus (pre-2003) relationship with Armenia. There are millions of Azeris in Iran, and many thousands in Russia, Georgia and Germany, all likely to awards them points.
Bahrain, the smallest Arab nation, can be nicknamed 'Monaco of the Gulf'. Will they take advantage of the fact Michael Jackson now lives there? Then again, masks and plastic surgeries are sooo 2006.
Bangladesh, Pakistan and India will most likely exchange high points, despite cold diplomatic relations. Bad news for Ireland, as all three will take the bulk of the UK votes. India will also receive points from Singapore, Nepal and the United Arab Emirates, all have a large Indian population, and Sri Lanka, thanks to the Tamil population.
Bhutan is a mysterious mountain country that nobody understands with an animal on their flag - in other words, the Asian equivalent of Andorra. It will receive points from the Asian equivalent of Catalonia - Tibet (via China), and little else.
Brunei's sultan is rich enough to convince the greatest artists alive to sing in Eurovision - yes, even ABBA. More likely, though, he'll recruit six Eurovision hopefuls from six different nations under the leadership of Ralph Siegel.
Cambodia - The king of Cambodia, Norodom Sihamoni, is apparently fluent in the Czech language (due to his long stay in Czechoslovakia), and so the Czech score will double next year if Cambodia enter. Otherwise, this francophone country will be a blessing to Belgium, if RTBF ever decides to sing in French again.
Read full article HERE
source:escnation.com
