Epress.am News from Armenia
Sabina Babayeva was selected Sunday evening to represent Azerbaijan in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Baku, ESC Today reports.
Five singers competed in the final televised show. All participants sang a number of cover versions including Eurovision songs and in their native language. The show was hosted by Azerbaijani president’s daughter Leila Aliyeva. Last year’s Eurovision winner Ell & Nikki and Azerbaijani’s 2010 Eurovision contestant Safura were guests of the show.
The process of selecting Azerbaijan’s contestant lasted 3 months with 119 performers applying to participate in the national qualifying contest. Of these, 72 were approved for the competition.
Recall, 43 countries — including Armenia — applied to take part in the 57th Eurovision Song Contest, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced last month. However, as told to Epress.am by the head of Armenia’s Eurovision delegation Gohar Gasparyan, this matter is still being discussed.
“We applied to Eurovision because we are a member of the European Broadcasting Union. But we’re still discussing how safe the participation of our delegation will be in Baku, as well as other matters. We’ll announce whether we’ll participate in the contest or not at a later date,” she said.
Note, the semi-finals of the 57th Eurovision Song Contest will take place on May 22 and 24, with the finals being held on May 26. This year’s theme is “Light your fire.”