Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008

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Eurovision Song Contest 2008
Country Azerbaijan
National selection
Selection processLand of Fire 2008
Selection date(s)2 February 2008
Selected entrantElnur and Samir
Selected song"Day After Day"
Selected songwriter(s)
  • Govhar Hasanzadeh
  • Zahra Badalbeyli
Finals performance
Semi-final resultQualified (6th, 96 points)
Final result8th, 132 points
Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest
2008 • 2009►

Azerbaijan's was represented by Elnur Hüseynov feat. Samir Javadzadeh in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song with the song "Day After Day".

Before Eurovision[]

Land of Fire 2008[]

Land of Fire 2008 was the national final organised by İTV that selected the Azerbaijani entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. The competition took place on 2 February 2008 at the Heydar Aliyev Palace in Baku and was hosted by Husniye Maharramova and Ilham Gasimov.[1] The show was broadcast on İTV, in Turkey on TRT2, TRT Türk and TRT International, in Georgia on GEGT, in Lithuania on LRT televizija as well as streamed online via the İTV website itv.az and the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.[2][3][4]

Competing artists[]

İTV called for interested artists to apply for the competition by attending auditions held in October 2007. Eligible artists were those that were citizens of Azerbaijan or part of the Azerbaijani diaspora.[5] 28 artists attended the auditions and on 11 January 2008, İTV announced the three artists selected for the competition from five potential performers that were shortlisted: Aynur Iskenderli, Aytaj Jafarova, Elnur Hüseynov, Erkin Osmanli and Unformal.[6][7] The selection of the three competing artists was based on the decision of a panel consisting of national and international experts.

Final[]

The final took place on 2 February 2008. The competing artists each performed three original songs and Elnur Hüseynov was selected by a fifteen-member jury panel as the winning artist.[8] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Eurovision Song Contest 2003 winner Sertab Erener, Eurovision Song Contest 2004 winner Ruslana and Eurovision Song Contest 2007 winner Marija Šerifović performed as guests.[2] "Day After Day", performed by Hüseynov in a duet with Samir Javadzadeh, was announced as the selected song on 8 February 2008.[9]

Draw Artist Song Songwriter(s)
1 Unformal "Lalala Song" Farida Jafarova, Dilara Kazimova
2 "Little Muse" Farida Jafarova, Igor Garanin, Togrul Manafov
3 Elnur Hüseynov "If You Never Back" Isa Melikov, Paulina Melikova
4 Elnur Hüseynov and Samir Javadzadeh "Day After Day" Govhar Hasanzadeh, Zahra Badalbeyi
5 Aynur Iskenderli "Swear That You Will Stay" Ilham Abdullayev, Zahra Badalbeyli
6 "Rhythm of Fire" Mikhail Nekrasov, Zahra Badalbeyli

At Eurovision[]

Azerbaijan made its début in the Eurovision taking part in the first semi-final on 20 May 2008.[10] In the semi-final 1, Azerbaijan performed 7th, following Belgium and preceding Slovenia. Elnur & Samir finished 6th with 96 points and was therefore qualified for the final.[11] In the final, Azerbaijan performed 20th, following France and preceding Greece. The Azerbaijani duet Elnur Hüseynov and Samir Javadzadeh finished 8th with 132 points.[12]

"Day After Day" incorporates elements of opera singing combined with the Azeri folk genre of mugham. It symbolises the eternal dialogue between good and evil. Elnur and Samir perform the song dressed as devil and angel. When asked about the symbolism behind that, Elnur and Samir said:

The global main topic at this very moment is war. Everything evil comes from the devil - who is, in fact, just a fallen angel who was expelled from paradise. He symbolizes everything evil which happens on earth. However, he can turn into an angel again, which means winning over all evil. We just hope that this will happen some time soon in our world.[13]

For the 2008 contest the spokesperson for the Azerbaijan broadcast was Leyla Aliyeva.

Voting[]

Points awarded to Azerbaijan[]

Points awarded by Azerbaijan[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Exclusive: Azerbaijan song will not be known at final". Esctoday (in English)
  2. ^ a b "Exclusive: Azeri final with Marija & Ruslana to be webcast". Esctoday (in English)
  3. ^ "ITV prepares state of the art show for Saturday". Archived from the original on 22 May 2009. Oikotimes (in English)
  4. ^ "Exclusive: Lithuanian TV link to Azerbaijan". Esctoday (in English)
  5. ^ "Azerbaijan 2008 / Азербайджан 2008". Esckaz (in English and Russian)
  6. ^ Hondal, Víctor (11 December 2007). "Azeri entrant to be revealed late December". Esctoday. Archived from the original on 13 December 2007. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  7. ^ "Exclusive: 3 Finalists for Azerbaijan known". Esctoday (in English)
  8. ^ Klier, Marcus (2 February 2008). "Azerbaijan decided: Elnur Gusseinov to Eurovision". Esctoday.
  9. ^ Floras, Stella (8 February 2008). "Azerbaijan: Elnur goes to Eurovision with Day after day". Esctoday. Retrieved 16 March 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. ^ In First Semi-Final Azerbaijan to Compete with Armenia
  11. ^ "First Semi-Final of Belgrade 2008". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 23 April 2021. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
  12. ^ "Grand Final of Belgrade 2008". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 23 April 2021. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
  13. ^ The official website of the Eurovision Song Contest. Interview: Eurovision.tv talks to Elnur & Samir.
  14. ^ a b "Results of the First Semi-Final of Belgrade 2008". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 24 April 2021. Retrieved 24 April 2021.
  15. ^ a b "Results of the Grand Final of Belgrade 2008". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 24 April 2021. Retrieved 24 April 2021.
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