Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014

Eurovision Song Contest 2014
Country  Azerbaijan
National selection
Selection process Böyük Səhnə
Selection date(s) Supercasting:
27 January 2014
28 January 2014
29 January 2014
30 January 2014
31 January 2014
2 February 2014
Heats:
9 February 2014
16 February 2014
23 February 2014
Final:
2 March 2014
Song announcement:
16 March 2014
Selected entrant Dilara Kazimova
Selected song "Start a Fire"
Selected songwriter(s)
Finals performance
Semi-final result Qualified (9th, 57 points)
Final result 22nd, 33 points
Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2013 • 2014 • 2015►

Azerbaijan participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Azerbaijani entry was selected through Böyük Səhnə, organised by Azerbaijani broadcaster İctimai Television (İTV). Azerbaijan was represented by the song "Start a Fire", performed by Dilara Kazimova and written by Stefan Örn, Johan Kronlund and Alessandra Günthardt. The entry qualified from the first semi-final to compete in the final. Azerbaijan placed 22nd in the final, scoring 33 points.

Böyük Səhnə

Böyük Səhnə (Big Stage) was an Azerbaijani talent show that selected Azerbaijan's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. The show was initially developed in 2013 by Azerbaijan's Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Ukrainian production company Euromedia and aired as a talent casting on Azad Azerbaijan TV until it moved to İTV for its second season in 2014 for the purpose of selecting the Azerbaijani Eurovision entry. Several participants from the 2013 edition of the talent show, including the eventual 2013 Azerbaijani Eurovision contestant Farid Mammadov, participated in the 2013 Azerbaijani national final.[1]

Format

The format of the show involved an audition period that occurred across Azerbaijan between 9 January 2014 and 16 January 2014. Select candidates proceeded to the supercasting shows which were broadcast between 27 January 2014 and 31 January 2014 and resulted in fourteen finalists advancing further. Three heats on 9, 16 and 23 February 2014 determined which contestants would enter the final on 2 March 2014. In the final, the winning artist was selected. Husniye Maharramova hosted the supercasting shows and was joined by Tural Assadov to host the heats and the final.[2]

Auditions

Auditions were held across Azerbaijan between 9 January 2014 and 16 January 2014 where interested singers could apply for participation. 250 candidates attended the auditions. The audition schedule included the following eight cities:[3]

Shows

Supercasting

The supercasting consisted of five shows that aired between 27 January 2014 and 31 January 2014, hosted by Husniye Maharramova. Contestants auditioned in front of a five-member jury panel. Each member of the jury panel assigned each contestant a score between 1 and 10. Contestants required a total score of 40 and above in order to proceed in the competition. The jury panel that assessed the contestants consisted of Gulchohra Shafieva (film director), Sevda Alekperzade (singer), Ilhama Gasimova (singer), Tunzala Gahraman (singer) and Saleh Bagirov (television presenter). At the conclusion of the five shows, fourteen finalists qualified to continue in the competition.[4] An additional show on 2 February 2014 provided a recap of the fourteen qualifying contestants.

  • Wave (Baku)
  • Valeria Huseynzadeh (Baku)
  • Samira Afandiyeva (Baku)
  • Lala Sultan (Baku)
  • Khana Hasanova (Baku)
  • Khulya Ibadova (Baku)
  • Fuad Asadov (Baku)
  • Erkin Osmanli (Baku)
  • Elton Ibrahimov (Baku)
  • Dilara Kazimova (Baku)
  • Azad Shabanov (Baku)
  • Aydin Eyvazzadeh (Baku)
  • Aishabeyim Naghiyeva (Ganja)
  • Safa Eldar (Sumqayit)

Heat 1

The first heat took place on 9 February 2014 in Baku. Fourteen candidates performed cover versions of various songs with each of the five jury members assigning them a score between 1 and 10. The jury panel consisted of Eldar Gasimov (singer and winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2011), Murad Arif (television host), Tunzala Aghayeva (composer and singer), Mubariz Taghiyev (Azerbaijani honoured singer) and Zumruz Dadashzade (professor at the Baku Music Academy). Candidates who scored over 45 points automatically advanced to the next round while those who scored 45 and less were in danger of being eliminated. Four contestants were eliminated after jury deliberations.[5]

Heat 1 – 9 February 2014
Draw Artist Song (original artists) E. Gasimov Z. Dadashzadeh M. Taghiyev T. Aghayeva M. Arif Jury Total Result
1 Lala Sultan "Aphrodisiac" (Eleftheria Eleftheriou) 7 7 8 8 7 37 Eliminated
2 Aydin Eyvazzadeh "Pumped Up Kicks" (Foster the People) 9 8 9 10 10 46 Advanced
3 Khulya Ibadova "You Are So Beautiful" (Joe Cocker) 10 10 9 8 8 45 Advanced
4 Samira Afandiyeva "All by Myself" (Eric Carmen) 8 8 9 10 8 43 Advanced
5 Elton Ibrahimov "Superstition" (Stevie Wonder) 10 9 10 10 10 49 Advanced
6 Aishabeyim Naghiyeva "Still Loving You" (Scorpions) 7 8 7 8 7 37 Eliminated
7 Wave "Sarı Gelin" (Azerbaijani folk song) 6 7 7 7 7 34 Eliminated
8 Fuad Asadov "Every Time (I See Your Smile)" (Tomas N'evergreen) 8 9 9 10 10 46 Advanced
9 Khana Hasanova "Hero" (Mariah Carey) 9 10 9 8 8 44 Advanced
10 Erkin Osmanli "Girls, Girls, Girls" (Erkin Osmanli) 10 10 9 10 10 49 Advanced
11 Dilara Kazimova "Mercy" (Duffy) 10 10 10 10 10 50 Advanced
12 Safa Eldar "Troublemaker" (Olly Murs feat. Flo Rida) 7 7 8 7 7 36 Eliminated
13 Valeria Huseynzadeh "Glorious" (Cascada) 9 8 7 6 7 37 Advanced
14 Azad Shabanov "Fall Again" (Glenn Lewis) 10 10 10 8 10 48 Advanced

Heat 2

The second heat took place on 16 February 2014 in Baku. Ten candidates performed cover versions of various songs with each of the five jury members assigning them a score between 1 and 10. The jury panel consisted of Sabina Babayeva (singer and 2012 Azerbaijani Eurovision entrant), Faiq Suceddinov (singer), Tunzala Aghayeva (composer and singer), Zumruz Dadashzade (professor at the Baku Music Academy) and Eldar Gasimov (singer and winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2011). Candidates who scored over 45 points automatically advanced to the next round while those who scored 45 and less were in danger of being eliminated. Four contestants were eliminated after jury deliberations.[6]

Heat 2 – 16 February 2014
Draw Artist Song (original artists) S. Babayeva F. Sujaddinov T. Aghayeva Z. Dadashzadeh E. Gasimov Jury Total Result
1 Khulya Ibadova "GoldenEye" (Tina Turner) 9 8 9 9 8 43 Eliminated
2 Erkin Osmanli "Lovelight" (Robbie Williams) 10 10 10 10 9 49 Advanced
3 Valeria Huseynzadeh "Drip Drop" (Safura) 8 9 8 8 9 42 Eliminated
4 Azad Shabanov "Señorita" (Justin Timberlake) 10 10 9 10 10 49 Advanced
5 Samira Afandiyeva "It's All About You" (Juliana Pasha) 10 10 10 9 9 48 Advanced
6 Aydin Eyvazzadeh "Pompeii" (Bastille) 9 8 7 8 7 39 Eliminated
7 Khana Hasanova "Dance Again" (Jennifer Lopez feat. Pitbull) 9 10 8 9 10 46 Advanced
8 Fuad Asadov "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" (Elton John) 9 8 7 8 7 39 Eliminated
9 Dilara Kazimova "History Repeating" (Propellerheads feat. Shirley Bassey) 9 9 10 10 10 48 Advanced
10 Elton Ibrahimov "Creative" (Leon Jackson) 9 10 8 9 9 45 Advanced

Heat 3

The third heat took place on 23 February 2014 in Baku. Six candidates performed cover versions of various songs with each of the five jury members assigning them a score between 1 and 10. The jury panel consisted of Tunzala Gahraman (singer), Zahra Badalbeyli (musician), Dimitris Kontopoulos (composer), Murad Dadashov (producer) and Fuad Aliyev. Candidates who scored over 45 points automatically advanced to the final while those who scored 45 and less were in danger of being eliminated. Three contestants were eliminated after jury deliberations.[7]

Heat 3 – 23 February 2014
Draw Artist Song (original artists) T. Gahraman Z. Badalbeyli D. Kontopoulos M. Dadashov F. Aliyev Jury Total Result
1 Khana Hasanova "At Last" (Etta James) 10 10 10 9 8 47 Advanced
2 Elton Ibrahimov "Ready For Love" (India.Arie) 9 8 8 7 7 39 Eliminated
3 Samira Afandiyeva "I Have Nothing" (Whitney Houston) 9 9 9 8 9 44 Eliminated
4 Azad Shabanov "Whatever Happens" (Michael Jackson) 9 9 9 8 10 45 Eliminated
5 Dilara Kazimova "Hometown Glory" (Adele) 10 10 10 10 9 49 Advanced
6 Erkin Osmanli "If You Were a Sailboat" (Katie Melua) 9 9 9 8 9 44 Advanced

Final

The final took place on 2 March 2014 in Baku. The three finalists performed two cover versions of different songs and one original song. The jury that evaluated the artists consisted of Eldar Gasimov (singer and winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2011), Tunzala Agayeva (composer and singer), Murad Arif (composer and producer), Stefan Örn (composer) and Jamil Guliyev (İTV director). The winning artist was Dilara Kazimova.[8]

Final – 2 March 2014
Draw Artist Song (original artists) E. Gasimov T. Aghayeva J. Guliyev S. Örn M. Arif Jury Total Overall Total Place
1 Erkin Osmanli "Girls, Girls, Girls" (Erkin Osmanli) 8 8 8 6 8 38 122 3
"Love Me Again" (John Newman) 9 10 9 8 8 44
"Letter to Brooke" (original song) 7 7 8 8 10 40
2 Dilara Kazimova "History Repeating" (Propellerheads feat. Shirley Bassey) 8 8 8 7 9 40 136 1
"Happy" (Pharrell Williams) 9 9 9 9 10 46
"Alone" (original song) 10 10 10 10 10 50
3 Khana Hasanova "Dance Again" (Jennifer Lopez feat. Pitbull) 9 9 9 7 7 41 129 2
"Run" (Snow Patrol) 10 9 9 9 9 46
"My Life" (original song) 9 9 8 8 8 42

Song announcement

The song that Dilara Kazimova performed at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 was presented on 16 March 2014. The song, "Start a Fire", was internally selected by an expert jury. The song was composed by Stefan Örn (composer of the 2010, 2011 and 2012 Azerbaijani contest entries), Alessandra Günthardt and Johan Kronlund (one of the composers of 2012 Azerbaijani entry).[9]

At Eurovision

Dilara Kazimova at the first semi-final dress rehearsal
Aerial acrobat Matleena Laine at the first semi-final dress rehearsal

During the semi-final allocation draw on 20 January 2014 at the Copenhagen City Hall, Azerbaijan was drawn to compete in the first half of the first semi-final on 6 May 2014.[10] In the first semi-final, the producers of the show decided that Azerbaijan would perform 8th, following Russia and preceding Ukraine.[11] Azerbaijan qualified from the first semi-final and competed in the final on 10 May 2014. During the winner's press conference for the first semi-final qualifiers, Azerbaijan was allocated to compete in the first half of the final.[12] In the final, the producers of the show decided that Azerbaijan would perform 3rd, following Belarus and preceding Iceland.[13] Azerbaijan placed 22nd in the final, scoring 33 points.

On stage, Dilara Kazimova was joined by three backing vocalists: Jennie Jahn, Sofia Lindström and Lena Engman.[14] The performance also featured aerial acrobat Matleena Laine performing on an 8-meter-high acrobatic trapeze. The staging of the performance was completed by Swedish director and dancer Asa Engman, in cooperation with Polish-Japanese choreographer Piotr Giro.[15]

The Azerbaijani spokesperson revealing the result of the Azerbaijani vote in the final was 2012 Azerbaijani contest entrant Sabina Babayeva.[16]

Points awarded to Azerbaijan

Points Awarded to Azerbaijan (Semi-Final 1)
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
Points Awarded to Azerbaijan (Final)
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

Points awarded by Azerbaijan

Semi-final 1

Points awarded in first semi-final:

12 points Ukraine
10 points Russia
8 points Hungary
7 points Latvia
6 points San Marino
5 points Estonia
4 points Belgium
3 points Netherlands
2 points Montenegro
1 point Portugal

Final

Points awarded in the final:

12 points Russia
10 points Ukraine
8 points Hungary
7 points Belarus
6 points Romania
5 points Malta
4 points Greece
3 points San Marino
2 points Poland
1 point Austria

Split voting results

The following five members comprise the Azerbaijani jury:[17]

Semi-final 1

The Azerbaijani votes in the second semi-final were based on 50% jury voting and 50% televoting results.[18]

Semi-final 1 – Azerbaijani Results
Draw Country Y. Axundova M. Tağıyev S. Cəfərov N. Camal X. Mustafazadə Average Jury Rank Televote Rank Combined Rank Scoreboard (Points)
01  Armenia 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15
02  Latvia 5 6 1 4 5 4 9 4 7
03  Estonia 1 3 5 3 3 3 11 6 5
04  Sweden 12 4 12 14 14 14 8 13
05  Iceland 13 12 14 11 13 13 12 14
06  Albania 7 5 2 5 7 6 14 12
07  Russia 2 1 4 1 2 1 2 2 10
08  Azerbaijan
09  Ukraine 3 4 3 2 1 2 1 1 12
10  Belgium 8 11 7 10 8 9 6 7 4
11  Moldova 6 8 9 8 6 7 13 11
12  San Marino 9 9 10 12 10 10 4 5 6
13  Portugal 14 13 13 9 11 12 7 10 1
14  Netherlands 11 10 8 13 12 11 5 8 3
15  Montenegro 10 7 11 6 9 8 10 9 2
16  Hungary 4 2 6 7 4 5 3 3 8

Final

The Azerbaijani votes in the grand final were based on 50% jury voting and 50% televoting results.[19]

Final – Azerbaijani Results
Draw Country Y. Axundova M. Tağıyev S. Cəfərov N. Camal X. Mustafazadə Average Jury Rank Televote Rank Combined Rank Scoreboard (Points)
01  Ukraine 6 5 5 7 6 6 1 2 10
02  Belarus 3 2 3 4 1 2 5 4 7
03  Azerbaijan
04  Iceland 19 18 17 19 19 18 18 21
05  Norway 20 21 20 20 18 20 19 24
06  Romania 5 6 2 2 3 4 9 5 6
07  Armenia 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25
08  Montenegro 9 11 10 9 10 10 22 18
09  Poland 10 10 12 11 12 11 12 9 2
10  Greece 4 4 6 5 7 5 11 7 4
11  Austria 24 24 23 24 23 24 3 10 1
12  Germany 23 22 22 21 22 22 17 23
13  Sweden 22 23 24 23 24 23 7 13
14  France 15 12 15 13 14 14 24 22
15  Russia 1 3 1 1 2 1 2 1 12
16  Italy 8 7 9 6 5 7 23 16
17  Slovenia 11 8 8 10 8 9 21 15
18  Finland 14 15 14 15 16 15 20 20
19  Spain 12 13 11 14 11 12 15 12
20   Switzerland 21 20 21 22 21 21 6 11
21  Hungary 2 1 4 3 4 3 4 3 8
22  Malta 7 8 7 8 9 8 8 6 5
23  Denmark 17 16 18 17 17 17 16 19
24  Netherlands 18 19 19 18 20 19 13 17
25  San Marino 13 14 13 12 13 13 10 8 3
26  United Kingdom 16 17 16 16 15 16 14 14

See also

References

  1. ↑ Jiandani, Sanjay (26 December 2013). "Azerbaijan: Boyuk Sehne will deliberate Eurovision representative". esctoday.com. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
  2. ↑ Omelyanchuk, Olena (9 February 2014). "14 semi-finalists in the Böyük Səhnə Show". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
  3. ↑ Jiandani, Sanjay (26 December 2013). "Azerbaijan: Boyuk Sehne auditions kick off in January". esctoday.com. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
  4. ↑ "Eurovision 2014 - Azerbaijan / Азербайджан". ESCKaz. 25 January 2014. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  5. ↑ Omelyanchuk, Olena (9 February 2014). "Azerbaijan: Results of the first heat". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
  6. ↑ Brey, Marco (16 February 2014). "Who qualified in the second heat in Azerbaijan?". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
  7. ↑ Omelyanchuk, Olena (23 February 2014). "Azerbaijan: Three tickets to the final". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
  8. ↑ Omelyanchuk, Olena (2 March 2014). "Dilara wins Böyük Səhnə in Azerbaijan". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  9. ↑ Omelyanchuk, Olena (16 March 2014). "Watch tonight: Dilara Kazimova's song presentation". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 16 March 2014.
  10. ↑ Escudero, Victor M. (20 January 2014). "Allocation Draw results: Who's in which Semi-Final?". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  11. ↑ Siim, Jarmo (24 March 2014). "Running order for Eurovision Semi-Finals decided". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
  12. ↑ Brey, Marco (7 May 2014). "First Semi-Final: Meet the winners at the press conference!". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  13. ↑ Storvik-Green, Simon (9 May 2014). "Running order for the Grand Final revealed!". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  14. ↑ "ESCKAZ - Eurovision 2014 - Dilara Kazimova (Azerbaijan)". ESCKaz. 18 April 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  15. ↑ Omelyanchuk, Olena (28 April 2014). "Azerbaijan: It's all about powerful voice and aerial act". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  16. ↑ "Eurovision Song Contest 2014: ecco l’elenco degli spokesperson" (in Italian). Eurofestival News. 8 May 2014. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  17. ↑ Brey, Marco (1 May 2014). "Who will be in the expert juries?". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
  18. ↑ "Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 First Semi-Final". Eurovision.tv. 11 May 2014. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
  19. ↑ "Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 Grand Final". Eurovision.tv. 11 May 2014. Retrieved 5 June 2014.

External links