Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest
| Azerbaijan | |
|---|---|
| |
| Participating broadcaster | İTV |
| Participation summary | |
| Appearances | 10 (10 finals) |
| First appearance | 2008 |
| Highest placement | 1st: 2011 |
| External links | |
| Eurovision Azerbaijan | |
 For the most recent participation seeAzerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 | |
Azerbaijan made its debut at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008, after İctimai Televiziya (İTV) became an active member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). İTV had broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest in previous years, purchasing broadcasting rights from the EBU. Azerbaijan is the last country in the Caucasus to participate: Armenia was the first one, in 2006, followed by Georgia in 2007.
Azerbaijan since their debut in 2008 has never missed the final. Four years after the country debuted at Eurovision, Azerbaijan won the contest in 2011, setting the record of the lowest average score for a winning song under the current voting system (in place since 1975), with only 5.14 points per country (including Azerbaijan) and 5.26 (without Azerbaijan). Azerbaijan reached the Top 5 in five consecutive contests, and achieved the Top 5 place finishes each once - 3rd in 2009, 5th in 2010, 1st in 2011, 4th in 2012, and runner-up in 2013.
History
Azerbaijan's first try at Eurovision proved to be successful as the country qualified for the final from the first semi-final and came 8th with 132 points in the final evening.
Previously, another broadcaster, AzTV, wanted to participate in 2007, but EBU rules did not allow this as AzTV was not an active member of the EBU. AzTV was denied active EBU membership on 18 June 2007, as it was considered too connected to the Azerbaijani government.[1] On 5 July, İTV became a full EBU member,[2] and on 15 October it was given permission to take part by the EBU.[3]
Azerbaijan's first Eurovision performance by Elnur and Samir made it in the top ten placed at number 8 with 132 points. In 2009 Azerbaijan achieved an improvement on their 2008 debut, coming third and receiving 207 points with the song "Always", performed by duo AySel & Arash.
On 14 May 2011, Azerbaijan won the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with a song by Ell & Nikki.[4][5] With their entry only receiving 5.26 points per voting country, Azerbaijan holds the record of the lowest average score for a winning song under that voting system (in place from 1975 to 2015).
The country managed another two consecutive top 5 results with Sabina Babayeva finishing fourth with 150 points in 2012 and Farid Mammadov second with 234 in 2013 but in 2014 Azerbaijan failed to place in the top 10 for the first time since their debut, finishing 22nd, the country's worst result to date. Azerbaijan has since failed to come in the top ten coming 12th in 2015, 17th in 2016 and 14th in 2017.
Popularity of the Contest
Since debuting in 2008 the contest has been extremely popular in the country. After placing in the Top 10 at their debut in 2008 and also ending in the Top 5 from 2009-2013, the contest has become a matter of "national pride" and of very high importance. The high importance of the contest within Azerbaijan became evident and world news in 2013 when the country's president Ilham Aliyev himself launched an inquiry into why his country did not award Russia any points in the Eurovision 2013 final.[6] Since 2009 the Eurovision Song Contest has consistently become the most watched television show on Azeri TV even though the contest is broadcast from after midnight local time because of time difference from the Central European Time. Azerbaijan issued a postage stamp dedicated to Azerbaijan’s victory with Ell & Nikki at Eurovision.[7][8] The duo also became national stars after their Eurovision 2011 win.
The country spent €160 million (300 million Azerbaijani Manat) on hosting the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, including building a completely new arena for the event.[9] As of 2017, this is the largest amount of money any host has ever spent on hosting the Eurovision Song Contest.
Contestants
- Table key
| Year | Artist | Language | Title | Final | Points | Semi | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Elnur & Samir | English | "Day After Day" | 8 | 132 | 6 | 96 |
| 2009 | Aysel & Arash | English | "Always" | 3 | 207 | 2 | 180 |
| 2010 | Safura | English | "Drip Drop" | 5 | 145 | 2 | 113 |
| 2011 | Ell & Nikki | English | "Running Scared" | 1 | 221 | 2 | 122 |
| 2012 | Sabina Babayeva | English | "When the Music Dies" | 4 | 150 | Host country | |
| 2013 | Farid Mammadov | English | "Hold Me" | 2 | 234 | 1 | 139 |
| 2014 | Dilara Kazimova | English | "Start a Fire" | 22 | 33 | 9 | 57 |
| 2015 | Elnur Hüseynov | English | "Hour of the Wolf" | 12 | 49 | 10 | 53 |
| 2016 | Samra | English | "Miracle" | 17 | 117 | 6 | 185 |
| 2017 | Dihaj | English | "Skeletons" | 14 | 120 | 8 | 150 |
| 2018 | Aisel | English | "X My Heart" | ||||
NOTE: If a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year.
Voting history
As of 2017, Azerbaijan's voting history is as follows:
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hostings
| Year | Location | Venue | Presenters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Baku | Baku Crystal Hall | Leyla Aliyeva, Eldar Gasimov and Nargiz Birk-Petersen |
Awards received
Marcel Bezençon Awards
The Marcel Bezençon Awards were first handed out during the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 in Tallinn, Estonia, honouring the best competing songs in the final. Founded by Christer Björkman (Sweden's representative in the 1992 Eurovision Song Contest and the current Head of Delegation for Sweden) and Richard Herrey (a member of the Herreys and the Eurovision Song Contest 1984 winner from Sweden), the awards are named after the creator of the annual competition, Marcel Bezençon. The awards are divided into three categories: Press Award, Artistic Award, and Composer Award.[10]
| Year | Category | Song | Performer(s) | Composer(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Press award | "When the Music Dies" | Sabina Babayeva | Anders Bagge, Sandra Bjurman, Stefan Örn, Johan Kronlund |
| 2013 | Artistic award | "Hold Me" | Farid Mammadov | Dimitris Kontopoulos |
Commentators and spokespersons
| Year(s) | Television commentator | Dual Television commentator | Spokesperson |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Leyla Aliyeva | Murad Arif | Azerbaijan did not participate |
| 2008 | Husniyya Maharramova | Isa Melikov | Leyla Aliyeva[11] |
| 2009 | Leyla Aliyeva | Husniyya Maharramova[12] | |
| 2010 | Husniyya Maharramova | No Dual Commentator | Tamilla Shirinova |
| 2011 | Leyla Aliyeva | Safura Alizadeh[13][14] | |
| 2012 | Konul Arifgizi | Saleh Bagirov | |
| 2013 | No dual commentator | Tamilla Shirinova | |
| 2014 | Sabina Babayeva | ||
| 2015 | Kamran Guliyev | Tural Asadov | |
| 2016 | Azer Suleymanli | ||
| 2017 | |||
| 2018 | TBA | TBA |
Photogallery
.jpg)
.jpg)
._Photo_348.jpg)
See also
- Armenia–Azerbaijan relations in the Eurovision Song Contest
- Azerbaijan in the Bala Türkvizyon Song Contest
- Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Dance Contest
- Azerbaijan in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest
- Azerbaijan in the Türkvizyon Song Contest
References
- ^ Kuipers, Michael (2007-06-18). "Azerbaijan not joining after all". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 20 June 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-18.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help); Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ News Eurovision Finland 2007 Новости Евровидения 2007 Финляндия
- ^ Eurovision Song Contest | Belgrade (Serbia) 2008 - Articles
- ^ "Azerbaijan's Eurovision rebirth". AFP. 16 May 2011. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
- ^ Sperling, Daniel. "Azerbaijan win Eurovision Song Contest 2011". Retrieved 16 May 2011.
- ^ "Eurovision: Azerbaijan probes Russian 'nul points'". BBC News. 20 May 2013.
- ^ "Ell & Nikki (2011) IN POST STAMPS". Retrieved 6 June 2013.
- ^ "Stamps on Azerbaijan's Eurovision-2011 win issued". Retrieved 6 June 2013.
- ^ "Eurovision 2014 was the second most expensive ever". Retrieved 13 March 2016.
- ^ "Marcel Bezençon Award – an introduction". Poplight.se. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
- ^ Floras, Stella (7 May 2008). "Azerbaijan: Azerbaijan: Elnur, Samir & Ruslana in Istanbul". ”ESCToday.com. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
- ^ Montebello, Edward (8 February 2011). "Malta: Azerbaijani TV host is a jury member". ”ESCToday.com. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
- ^ Schacht, Andreas (14 May 2011). "The 2011 Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final!". ”Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
- ^ Roxburgh, Gordon (26 May 2011). "Running order for the voting tonight". ”Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
External links
- Eldar & Nigar - Eurovision 2011 Winners! (official video)
- Eldar & Nigar - Azerbaijani entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf, Germany
- Safura - Azerbaijani entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Oslo, Norway
- Eurovision Azerbaijan
Eurovision Azerbaijan - Points to and from Azerbaijan eurovisioncovers.co.uk
