The Land of Fire aka Azerbaijan is gearing up for the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv. The Azerbaijani has opted for an internal selection in order to select the 2019 Azerbaijani Eurovision act and entry. The Azerbaijani Head of Delegation Husniye Maharramova has shed more light on the 2019 Eurovision project in a recent interview.

Azerbaijani Eurovision fans will be thrilled to know that Ms. Husniye Maharramova has been appointed by Ictmai as the Azerbaijani Head of Delegation. She will be resuming the post of presiding the Azerbaijani delegation at the Eurovision Song Contest after a short hiatus. She has both the experience and knowledge of the Eurovision Song Contest having presided her country’s Eurovision delegation on numerous ocassions.

Yes Husniye is back in the game! She is all set to bring Azerbaijan back on the Eurovision map. In a recent interview Ms. Maharramova threw some light on the 2019 Azerbaijan Eurovision project:

Ictimai TV held a closed performers’ casting with over invited 40 artists  and selected 4 finalists . Honestly, those four were determined almost immediately. So, our country’s representative will be one of the following artists:

• Tofiq Haciyev,
• Chingiz Mustafayev
• Leman Dadasheva 
• Samira Efendi.

Husniye went on to comment about the song selection procedure:

On January 24th, we opened a casting for composers, both Azerbaijani and international authors were invited to take part. This year we got great feedback and a large number of applications were submitted. We received over 350 songs. Most notably, we received songs from  Azerbaijani and European composers, and some from America, Brazil and Australia. Songwriters can still submit their song today, on February 7th, till the end of the day in Baku via the following email address:  [email protected]

Ms. Maharramova revealed further details on the way the singer and song will be chosen:

Ictimai TV Channel and the national jury continues to work on the 2019 Azerbaijani Eurovision artist and song selection.

We are waiting for the composers’ competition to conclude and are planning to record the best demos with the finalists. The best performer and the best song will then be chosen to represent our country at Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv.

The name of the 2019 Azerbaijani hopeful will be unveiled in March:

We will announce Azerbaijan’s representative officially not earlier than March after the national jury’s decision. Follow the official Ictimai TV Channel news, the winner’s name will be announced there.

Azerbaijan intends to bring an innovative entry to Tel Aviv. Husniye adds:

It is still very early to talk about it because the main parts are still missing: the artist and the entry. But we intend to show on the Eurovision 2019’s stage something new, trending, so to speak. Our main goal is for the audience to remember it, fall in love and give their votes to Azerbaijan.

Applicants wishing to submit a song for Azerbaijan can do so until today 7 February 2019.

Azerbaijan in Eurovision

Azerbaijan aka The Land of Fire joined the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008 and has won the competition once, namely in 2011 with Eldar & Nikki‘s Running scared. The following year the country welcomed the Eurovision bandwagon for the very first time in its majestic capital Baku.

The Caucasian nation has partaken in Europe’s favorite television show 11 times, having competed in the event every year since its debut in 2008.

In 2018 Azerbaijan went internal and selected Aisel to fly the Azerbaijani flag at the Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon with her entry X my heart, despite an extraordinary performance she failed to qualify to the Grand Final.