Live: Semi final in Azerbaijan

by Marcus Klier 145 views

The semi final of the Azerbaijani national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest is about to be held. Six acts will compete for three spots in the national final.

How to watch?

A webcast will be made available here and here.

ITV is availbale on satellite at Hotbird (Frequency: 10971 (H), SR: 27500, FEC: 3/4).

Participants

The songs are preliminary and the song of the winning artist may be replaced after the national final.

Composer/Lyricist in brackets.

  1. Milk & Kisses I am on fire
    (Dilara Kazimova, Farida Nelson, D.J. LOOPer)
  2. Elli MishiyevaUp, up
    (Isa Malikov, Paulina Malikova, Elli Mishiyeva)
  3. Azad ShabanovSmile
    (Zahra Badalbeyli, Vusal Garayev)
  4. Ulviyya Rahimova In love
    (Ulviyya Rahimova, Sergey Guliyev)
  5. Safura Alizadeh Soz ver
    (Gunel Musayeva, Zahra Badalbeyli, Elvin Musayev)
  6. Maryam Shabanova I've had enough
    (Maryam Shabanova)

LIVE

The show has started!

The opening acts is bringing us closer to the Land of fire in a visual way. We can hear a slightly folkloristic version of Te deum, the Eurovision hymn.

2009 Eurovision Song Contest representative is now on stage performing the duet Always in a solo version. With Arash, she finished third in the final in Moscow having already got scond place in the second semi final. The song was also a commercial success and reached the charts in many European countries.

The hosts are now welcoming the audience. They now talk to Aysel about her Moscow experience, before the performs another song. We are now in the green room, where we can see tonight's contestants in their stage outfits.

Another familiar face is on stage now. 2004 Eurovision Song Contest winner for Ukraine, Ruslana, performs her hit song Dance with the wolves. It is one of the songs on her 2004 album Wild dances, which also included her eponymous winning song. The next song she perfoms is the song Wild energy, which apeared on her eponymous second English studio album in 2008. It is the English version of the song Dyka enerhija, which had appeared on her album Amazonka. Another song from follows: Wild dancesThe same star, which she dedicated to her husband. The song was also part of the opening act of the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv. The next song is called Back in USSR. A Ukrainian-English remix of her 2004 winning song follows. The mini concert continues with the Eurovision version of Wild dances and it is introduced by an oriental belly dance performance.

This concludes Ruslana's series of performances besides a short a capella encore of Wild dances.

The jury is now introduced. The judges alone will choose the three qualifiers tonight.

Now it is time for the contestants.

1. Milk & Kisses I am on fire

Milk & Kissesdo something that has been very popular in the Eurovision Song Contest in recent years: Thexy mix ehtnic elements with moreinternational ones in both song and performance. The vocals are very strong. The song is catchy has some potential but might need more work in case it is not replaced if the duo wins the national selection.

2. Elli MishiyevaUp, up

Elli was a member of the German girl group Bisou, which consisted of non-winning contestants of the fifth season of the talent search Popstars. Tonight, Elli performs a Europop song, which features some minor ethnic elements. Altough the performance is energetic, the singer does not seem 100% comfortable on stage. The voice is rather shaky at some places and often overshadowed by the more energetic backing vocals.

3. Azad ShabanovSmile

Another energetic song and performance. Azad is the only male performer in the line-up and he seems to enjoy his time on stage. The song is a classic pop/dance song with a rather simple structure but still a catchy melody. The stage performance suits the song very well.

4. Ulviyya Rahimova In love

Same genre, different cast. Ulviyya Rahimova got all dressed up for the night and although she seems not to be overly happy or enthusiastic, she delivers a confindent and professional performance despite some shaky vocals at some points. The song is another one in the pop/dance genre, but this one is a bit more relaxed and not as hectic as the previous efforts tonight.

5. Safura Alizadeh Soz ver

broadcast problems

6. Maryam Shabanova I've had enough

broadcast problems

The jury will announce the three qualifiers after a series of interval acts. Alexander Rybak, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 now performs some of his hits. After a cover version of the classic Can't take my eyes off you, his winning song Fairytale follows in the Russian-English version.

This concludes Alexander Rybak's mini concert. The results are about to come in.

Milk & Kisses go to the final.

Safura Alizideh goes to the final.

Maryam Shabanova goes to the final.