Epress.am News from Armenia
Azeri press have accused Armenia’s contestant in the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest, Emmy, of “stealing” the Kochari dance (seen in the first rehearsal video just after the 3rd minute) from Azerbaijan.
“Since when has Kochari become an Armenian national dance?” asks Trend news agency analyst Vugar Imanov, arguing that this style of dance is specific to Azerbaijan. “It is one of the styles of Yalli dance of the nomads of Eastern Anatolia and Azerbaijan. The name comes from the Turkic word meaning nomad,” he said.
The zealous attitude by Armenia’s neighboring country to Armenian Eurovision participants is nothing new. Two years ago, Baku press were reporting that the melody in the song “Jan Jan” performed by Armenian contestants Inga and Anush is a remake of the song “Nakhchivan” by Azerbaijani composer Tofig Guliyev.
Furthermore, during the competition, Azerbaijani TV concealed the telephone number through which the public could send sms votes in Armenia’s favor. But this didn’t stop several dozen Azerbaijan residents to vote for “Jan Jan,” which turned into a scandal. Voters were summoned for questioning by the country’s National Security Service.
The video opening the Armenian performers’ show was also a cause for scandal in the 2009 Eurovision contest. In the video, among the sights of Armenia was the monument “We are our Mountains” (pictured above), better known as “Grandma and Grandpa,” widely regarded as a symbol of the de-facto Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.
Azerbaijan filed a complaint and the clip with the “We are our Mountains” was removed from the video in the finals. However, Armenia found a way out: Sirusho (4th place in the 2008 Eurovision contest), while the voting results from Armenia were being announced, had a folder in her hand which she periodically raised so the image on the back of the folder — the “We are our Mountains” monument — was prominently displayed to TV viewers.