Eurovision Song Contest: Azerbaijan

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sábado, 12 de abril de 2014

Dilara's Europe in ten days

Baku, Azerbaijan - Time to travel from country to country and to sing for the fans is the most exciting time for every singer. Dilara’s promotional tour kicked off with the Eurovision in Concert in Amsterdam. During the next ten days, the Azerbaijani participant is going to visit five more countries.

Last Saturday, Dilara Kazimova, the Azerbaijani participant in the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest started her European promotional tour in Amsterdam where the singer performed her entry Start A Fire at the Eurovision in Concert. It was a great possibility to make friends with representatives from 25 countries who took the stage to entertain a full house in Amsterdam. You can have a look at some photos on Dilara's fan facebook profile.
"The event couldn’t be more fun! It was my pleasure to meet so many great people and fellow contestants. Not to mention beautiful Amsterdam. The best possible start for my Start A Fire promotional tour", Dilara said.
Lithuania is Dilara’s next stop, followed by Hungary, Russia, Georgia and Malta. The tour includes stops in five countries over just ten days. During the promotional tour, Dilara is set to perform on local TV and radio, meet with press for interviews, and to spend some time with fans.
Along the way, she’ll meet up with fellow contestants and rock the stage with popular local musicians. In Lithuania, Dilara will even perform a duet with this year’s Lithuanian entrant, Vilija Matačiūnaitė, on the hit TV show Two Stars.
Before her tour through Europe, Dilara recorded her live version of Start A Fire and answered some questions for eurovision.tv:

sábado, 29 de marzo de 2014

It is time to "Start A Fire" for Dilara Kazimova

Baku, Azerbaijan - Two weeks ago Dilara Kazimova got the trophy in the Azerbaijani national final Böyük Səhnə. Today, it is time to get to know her song. It is called Start A Fire and is composed by Stefan Örn, Johan Kronlund and Alessandra Günthardt. You can watch it on eurovision.tv!

Some months ago the participation in the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest felt so unreachable for Dilara Kazimova. Two weeks ago her dreams came true when she won Böyük Səhnə in Azerbaijan. And now, it's time to introduce her song Start A Fire.

About the song

In her ballad Start A Fire, Dilara perfectly shows her unique vocal style. The music and lyrics of her entry have been written by Stefan Örn, Alessandra Günthardt and Johan Kronlund. The song has been chosen internally by the Azerbaijani national jury.
The young, talented Dilara describes her entry song as "a confession of strong yet vulnerable women." "The song is not just about love, but also about kindness, humanity and respect for each other", Dilara said. "It’s also about being absolutely lonely in a world that can be so cruel."
Dilara wanted a very special song for the 2014 Eurovision Song Contets. "Start A Fire is the best choice for me", Dilara says. "The melody is kind of hypnotizing and the story is deep and touching. It’s a bit tragic but with hope. I’m very much into the song and want to make my audiences feel its deep meaning."

About the composers

Stefan Örn is the Swedish music composer, guitarist and sound-producer, the member of the band Apollo Drive. He was one of the composers of the songs which represented Azerbaijan at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2010 and 2011. The song Drip Drop, co-written with Sandra Bjurman and Anders Bagge perfomed by Safura came on fifth place. Running Scared perfomed by Ell/Nikki in Düsseldorf won the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest.
Alessa Noa is the alias of Stockholm-based artist and songwriter Alessandra Günthardt. Born in Zürich and raised in France and Sweden, Alessandra was early on drawn to different cultures and influences. Consequently, her music can be described as being very eclectic, drawing inspiration from a wide array of genres, although icons such as Kate Bush and David Bowie are often cited as her main influences. Apart from making a name for herself as an artist, Alessandra has built up a steady career in songwriting and recently co-wrote the 2013 Swedish Idol song Belong.
Johan Kronlund is a composer/producer and also an engineer. He has worked with such international pop and dance artists and bands as PLAY, Danny Saucedo, Montt mardié, Darin, September, Medina, Lucky Soul etc.
In our previous issues you can recollect the last shows of Böyük Səhnə and Dilara's long way to the victory.

sábado, 8 de marzo de 2014

Tonight: The final of Böyük Səhnə

Baku, Azerbaijan - The final of the Azerbaijani Eurovision format Böyük Səhnə is taking place tonight in Baku. Khana, Dilara and Erkin will fight for the honour to represent their country in Copenhagen. Their song for Copenhagen will be chosen later. Join us to watch this exciting show on Eurovision.tv at 19:00 CET.

From the very beginning, the 14 contestants of Böyük Səhnə stayed in a special training camp where they prepared their entries, got vocal trainings, developed their music talents, had fun and made new friends. Now, the journey almost came to the end. The decision, who will represent Azerbaijan in the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest, will be taken tonight. Three finalists will enter the stage to give their best and get the ticket to Denmark:

Khana Hasanova
Dilara Kazimova
Erkin Osmanli

About Böyük Səhnə

After a big success last year, the Azerbaijani talent show Böyük Səhnə became the national format for the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest. A lot of work and preparations have been done on this long way to the night’s final. The auditions for the show stared last year and took place in eight different cities of Azerbaijan. İTV, the official Azerbaijani broadcaster, got over 250 applications. And now only three strongest singers will compete in tonight’s final of Böyük Səhnə. All this time, the popular Azerbaijani TV presenters, Husniye Magerramova and Tural Assadov, accompanied the contestants on their way to the final.

Khana Hasanova

Khana Hasanova represented Azerbaijan at The Delphic Games 2013 in Novosibirsk where she took 4th place. She participated in the Azerbaijani national selection in 2011 and 2013. Khana has been practicing sport dancing, R'n'B and Hip-Hop for five years. She was a soloist in a choir. Now, she is a student at the Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts, Faculty of Pop Vocal. Recently, she has released her first album.

Dilara Kazimova

Erkin Osmanli

sábado, 1 de marzo de 2014

What's on this weekend?

Europe - Another busy national final weekend is straight ahead - until Sunday evening, we will get to know the Eurovision Song Contest entries of Ireland, Romania, Lithuania, Estonia, and Azerbaijan. Check out our full schedule and the webcast options so that you don't miss anything important!

It's not quite Super Saturday, but still you will have many options to watch Eurovision Song Contest selection shows this weekend. As we wouldn't want you to miss anything important, we listed an overview of all the webcast options below.
As soon as we know the results of each respective show, we will announce them on Eurovision.tv as well as on the official Eurovision pages on Facebook, Google+, VK and Twitter.

Friday

22:35 CET: Ireland will select their entry for Copenhagen - five candidates are competing. Watch the show live on Eurovision.tv!

Saturday

19:30 CET: Decision time in Romania! Live from the beautiful city of Brașov, you can watch the final right here on Eurovision.tv and find out who of the twelve acts will carry the Romanian flag in May.
20:00 CET: Last weekend Lithuania already chose their song for Copenhagen, now it's time to find the right singer for it. Watch the show live on Eurovision.tv!
20:35 CET: Eesti Laul is also approaching its final show - tune in live on Eurovision.tv when the Estonian Eurovision entry is being chosen out of the ten acts who qualified from the national semi-finals.
20:00 CET: It's Melodifestivalen time again too - in the popular Andra Chansen show, eight acts who narrowly missed out in the four semi-finals will get another chance to proceed to the Swedish final. Watch it live on the SVT website!

Sunday

19:00 CET: Azerbaijan is ready to pick their Eurovision entry too, three singers are still in the competition. Watch the final of Böyük Səhnə live on Eurovision.tv!
20:30 CET: The second semi-final will take place in Belgium - watch it live on the een website.

Lithuania: Mia, Vilija or Vaidas?

Check out the Full gallery

Azerbaijan: Three tickets to the final

Baku, Azerbaijan - The third heat of the Azerbaijani Böyük Səhnə took place in Baku tonight. It was the last heat before the national final to be held on March 2nd. The expert jury sent three candidates, whose performance they considered vocally and visually the strongest, to the final.

It was a real vocal "fight" in tonight's semi-final of Böyük Səhnə. Six candidates gave their best to reach the Azerbaijani national final. Like in the last two shows, they performed the cover versions of popular music.
Here is the order of appearence on stage (finalists in bold):

Khana Hasanova - At Last
Elton Ibrahimov - Ready For Love
Samira Efendiyeva - I Have Nothing
Azad Shabanov - Whatever Happens
Dilara Kazimova - Hometown Glory
Erkin Osmanli - I You Were A Sailboat

A guest from Greece, Dimitris Kontopoulos, was one of the juries. He is one of the most famous Greek music composers known for his dance-pop music. Among tonight's juries were experts from the show business and the Azerbaijani arts scene: Fuad Aliev, Tünzale Qehreman, Sarah Bodalbhai and Murad Dadashov.
The show was presented by Husniye Maharramova and Tural Asadov. Sofia Tarasova, the Ukrainian representative in the 2013 Junior Eurovision Song, was a guest in tonight's show.
At the end, when all the songs have been performed, the contestants delivered a fairy-tale like concert, with the hosts playing the queen and the king, and the semi-finalists appearing on stage in the vivid colourful costumes. Alltogether, they delivered a brilliant show.
During the allocation of points, Khana Hasanova and Dilara Kazimova proceeded directly in the final. The third finalist should have been chosen by the jury. They spoke once more their pros and cons and their opinions, and gave Erkin Osmanli the third ticket to the Azerbaijani final.
Here is the screenshot with the points:

The final of Böyük Səhnə will take place next Sunday on March 2nd.

sábado, 22 de febrero de 2014

Are you ready for Super Saturday?

Europe - This weekend, national selection shows will take place in no less than nine countries, and on Saturday evening, we will know the Eurovision entries from F.Y.R. Macedonia, Hungary, Latvia, and Spain. Find out when and how to watch the shows live!

The busiest weekend of this year's Eurovision season is approaching fast! We'll have no less than nine shows for you to watch, starting already tonight.
Of course we don't want you to miss anything important, so we compiled an overview of all the webcast options below. As soon as we know the results of each respective show, we will announce them on Eurovision.tv as well as on the official Eurovision pages on Facebook, VK, and Twitter.

Friday

20:45 CET: Estonia will have their second semi-final. Out of ten songs, five will qualify for the final. You can watch the show live on the ETV website.

Saturday

20:25 CET: It's time for the Dziesma final in Latvia! 12 songs are still in the running. We will broadcast the show live on Eurovision.tv.
20:25 CET: We will get to know who'll represent Hungary. A Dal started with 30 acts, and now the winner will be chosen out of the eight remaining finalists. Watch it live on Eurovision.tv!
22:00 CET: Decision time in Spain! Five acts are fighting for the ticket to Copenhagen. Watch it live on Eurovision.tv!
21:30 CET: F.Y.R. Macedonia will present the song that Tijana Dapčević will sing on the Eurovision Song Contest stage. You can watch the show live on the MRT website. We will present the clip on Eurovision.tv as soon as it's shown on TV!
20:00 CET: Lithuania will get yet another step closer to picking their Eurovision entry. Watch the show live on the LRT website.
20:00 CET: Let's not forget Sweden, of course! In the fourth semi-final, two acts will directly qualify for the final, and two more will go to the "second chance" round. Webcast here on the SVT page.

Sunday

20:00 CET: It's getting exciting in Azerbaijan! Only six contestants remain in Böyük Səhnə, out of which three will make it to the final.
20:30 CET: The first semi-final will take place in Belgium - watch it live on the een website.

Who qualified in the second heat in Azerbaijan?

Baku, Azerbaijan - Tonight it was time for the second show of Böyük Səhnə, the national selection for the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest in Azerbaijan. The show was presented by Husniye Maharramova and Tural Asadov - find out who qualified for the next round, to be broadcast on Sunday February 23rd!

In tonight's show of Böyük Səhnə, the following candidates qualified for the next round:

Azad Shabanov
Erkin Osmanli
Samira Efendiyeva
Dilara Kazimova
Khana Hasanova
Elton Ibrahimov

All participants had performed cover versions of popular hits, with the jury voting on them right after the performances. Dilara Kazimova entertained the public with a very original version of Propellerheads' History Repeating - sang in the surroundings of a kitchen!
Most notably for Eurovision fans, Samira Efendiyeva sang the Albanian entry in the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest, It's All About You by Juliana Pasha, while Rilaya treated the public with her version of Drip Drop, the Azerbaijani entry in the same year.
The jury comprised five experts from the show business and arts scene in Azerbaijan: Sabina Babayeva (Eurovision representative of Azerbaijan in 2012), Eldar Gasimov (winner of the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest), Tunzala Agayeva (composer and singer), Faiq Suceddinov (popular singer), and Zumruz Dadashzade (professor of the Baku Music Academy).
Here are the complete results of jury voting (in order of appearance, qualifiers in bold):

Hülya Ibadova (43 points)
Erkin Osmanli (49 points)
Valeria Huseynzadeh (Rilaya) (42 points)
Azad Shabanov (49 points)
Samira Efendiyeva (48 points)
Aydin Eyvazzade (39 points)
Khana Hasanova (46 points)
Fuad Asadov (39 points)
Dilara Kazimova (48 points)
Elton Ibrahimov (45 points)

In the interval, the female contestants joined force an presented their version of Jamala's song Smile, with which she participated in the Ukrainian national selection for the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest. Don't remember it? Then check it out on youtube!
The third show of Böyük Səhnə will take place next Sunday, February 23rd.

sábado, 15 de febrero de 2014

14 semi-finalists in the Böyük Səhnə Show

Baku, Azerbaijan - This year’s Azerbaijani format for the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest is Böyük Səhnə that means The Big Stage. The first pre-rounds have already been completed and tonight, the first Azerbaijani semi-final will take place in Baku, with 14 contestants. The show will be broadcast on the İctimai Television starting at 19:00 CET. The second and the third semi-finals are scheduled for February 16th and 23rd. The final of Böyük Səhnə is on March 2nd.

During the last months, the auditions for the Azerbaijani talent show Böyük Səhnə (The Big Stage) have been hold in eight different cities of Azerbaijan: Sumqayit, Lankaran, Shirvan, Quba, Ganja, Shaki, Yevlakh. The tough work, with eight auditions and 250 candidats for the show, had been already done from the side of İTV, the official Azerbaijani broadcaster.
14 artists have been chosen for the next three semi-finals, to be held on February 9th, 16th and 23d. The Azerbaijani final will take place on March 2nd.
Here is the list of the Azerbaijani hopefuls:

Fuad Asadov
Safa Eldar
Band Wave
Dilara Kazimova
Khana Hasanova
Valeria Huseynzadeh (Rilaya)
Elton Ibrahimov
Samira Efendiyeva
Aydin Eyvazzade
Ayshebeyim Nagieva
Lala Sultan
Erkin Osmanli
Hülya Ibadova
Azad Shabanov

The names of the juries will be revealed during the first show. Popular TV presenters Husniye Magerramova and Tural Assadov will host The Big Stage Project.

Meet the Azerbaijani semi-finalists

Check out the Full gallery

About the contestants

Fuad Asadov was a participant in the Ukrainian version of the international vocal project X Factor (season 4). He is a chef by profession. Fuad also worked as a teacher of English. He loves to sing karaoke, play the guitar and chat with his friends. Currently he is taking singing lessons. Fuad’s dream is to win the project of Böyük Səhnə.
Safa Eldar is a first-year student of the Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts. He is good at dance and acrobatics. For Safa there is no idol but himself. The singer has a dream to become a king of pop music.
The Band Wave has been founded by three friends, Humar, Nigar and Diana. All the band participants are students of A. Zeynalli College of Music. Girls love to create covers for pop songs. They admire Michael Jackson and want to show their talent to the whole world.
Dilara Kazimova studies opera singing at the Hajibeyov Baku Academy of Music. Her second education is in the aerobics. She participated in the Azerbaijani national selections in 2008 and 2010. Dilara was a prizewinner of the New Wave Contest in 2010. She loves animals and does not wear any fur.
Khana Hasanova represented Azerbaijan at The Delphic Games 2013 in Novosibirsk where she took 4th place. She participated in the Azerbaijani national selection in 2011 and 2013. Khana has been practicing sport dancing, R'n'B and Hip-Hop for five years. She was a soloist in a choir. Now, she is a student at the Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts, Faculty of Pop Vocal. Recently, she has released her first album.
Valeria Huseynzadeh (Rilaya) is a graduate from the Baku State University, Department of Law. She studied violin and piano at the School of Music. Valeria was professionally engaged in modern rhythm gymnastics. In 2013, she participated in the Azerbaijani national selection.
Elton Ibrahimov graduated from the School of Music where he studied singing. The artist participated in The Light Your Star Contest in Moscow in 2011 where he took 2nd place. Elton also took part in the Azerbaijani national selection in 2011. He is currently a member of NERO show ballet.
Samira Efendiyeva studied pop vocal at the A. Zeynalli College of Music. The Big Stage is the second big competition in her life and of course she wants to win it.
Aydin Eyvazzade graduated from The Baku State University, Department of Regional Studies of America. He loves football and is interested in telecommunications. Aydin participated in the European Youth Parliament debate. Currently he is working in the field of telecommunications. He plays the guitar and creates covers in pop and indie rock styles.
Lala Sultan participated in the Yeni Ulduz Contest and Young Singers, the International Contest in St. Petersburg. She studies music theory at the A. Zeynalli College of Music. Currently she is practicing dance and acrobatics.
Erkin Osmanli participated in the Azerbaijani national selection in 2011. He also takes part in some dance projects, writes songs and poems. His musical idols are John Lennon, The Beatles, Madonna and Mick Jagger.
Hülya Ibadovav studied violin at the U.Hajibeyov Baku Academy of Music. She has founded her music band. Hülya loves extremes. She works as a representative of the medical company. Her dream is to become famous.
Azad Shabanov graduated from V.Mustafazade School of Music, where he studies singing. He is also the Master of the Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts. Azad participated in Yeni Ulduz 2008 Contest (2nd place). He took part in the Azerbaijani national selections in 2011 and 2013. He enjoys swimming and dancing.