Armenia have chosen Sirusho to represent them in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest this year. Following the example of other countries, Armenia will be holding a national final with a selection of four and possibly five songs for the public to choose from.
According to Diana Mnatsakanyan, Head of International Relations Department Public TV Company of Armenia, confirmed to esctoday.com the details of the country’s national final which is scheduled for 8th March, 2008 at 21:30 local time, (18:30 CET). The show will be hosted by Gohar Gasparyan and Felix Khachatryan with Andre and Hayko, the 2006 and 2007 Armenian representatives will be performing as guest stars.
Originally, there are four songs competing for the Armenian ticket to Belgrade but if Sirusho would like to sing a 5th one, written by herself, she will be allowed to do so. ARMTV intends to air footage from the Ukrainian final but that depends on technical issues.
The songs Sirusho will be performing will not be released before the night of the final as Armenian Television wants the public to vote the same way the Europeans vote during the actual contest, the “first impression votes” as she calls them: “It is important to choose the best song taking into consideration that people in Europe also vote according to their first impression. When the song is not good for the first time when people hear it, but it is "not bad" for the second time we have a completely different picture. So I trust that this selection will be interestingnot only because of new songs, but the votes will draw the most realistic picture we want to have. Let's see what happens.” states Ms Mnatsakanyan.
A very special thank you to Zavo Shegrikyan for his contribution to the article
