DOUBLE RESPONSIBILITY

She participated in all national qualifying rounds for four years, and last year luck smiled at her. Sabina Babayeva always wanted to represent Azerbaijan at the Eurovision Song Contest, but it was especially important for her in 2012 as the major European contest would be held in the singer's hometown - Baku.

Sabina was born into the family of an army officer and pianist on 2 December 1979 in Baku. At the age of 10-12, she was a soloist of the conservatory's children's choir "Merry Notes". After leaving school, she entered the Law Faculty of the University of Dagestan. But love of music still gained the upper hand - Sabina also graduated from the vocal department of the Asaf Zeynalli Baku Musical School.

In 1999, she won the first prize of the Baku city contest "The Wave", which was conducted among students of music schools in the category "Best Performance of a Foreign Song". Sabina is the winner of the Golden Hit-99 international contest, the prize of the international festival dedicated to the 55th anniversary of victory over fascism, the prize for the best patriotic song Brest-2000, and The Golden Key-2001 contest. She is the winner of the Grand Prix of the international Amberstar-2009 contest. Currently, Sabina works in the theatre and plays the part of Fleur-de-Lys in the Azerbaijani version of the world-famous musical "Notre-Dame de Paris".

At the Eurovision-2012 contest, Sabina Babayeva will present the song "When The Music Dies" by Swedish authors Anders Bagge, Sandra Bjurman, Stefan Orn and Johan Kronlund. Anders Bagge's songs are also performed by famous singers such as Madonna, Janet Jackson, Santana, Jennifer Lopez, Celine Dion and Enrique Iglesias. And Sandra Bjurman and Stefan Orn are the authors of the song "Running Scared", which brought a victory to the duet from Azerbaijan last year.

The lyrical song performed by Sabina Babayeva represents a synthesis of local and western music. "When The Music Dies" is a unique fusion of the latest European trends and traditions of folk music. When the song was recorded, Azerbaijani national instruments - the kamanca, balaban, gaval and elements of mugam were used. Highly professional music instrumentalists were involved in recording the parts of national music, and the mugam part was performed by the world-famous Alim Qasimov.

In an interview with the R+ ahead of the contest, Sabina shared her feelings about the upcoming, and perhaps, the most important events in her life.

- Sabina, how do you feel as the hostess of the contest this year?

- I confess it is an honour for me to represent Azerbaijan at Eurovision-2012. Of course, it is easy and at the same time difficult to perform in your own country. There's no place like home. I have huge support from my countrymen, relatives and friends. But it is also double responsibility. So now I am actively preparing to represent my country at the contest.

 - What was done during the training in Ukraine?

- While I was in Ukraine, we managed to shoot a video and prepare a photo shoot. Of course, the process of training takes almost all of my time - vocal, dance and staging. We work hard in the studio, because apart from the contest format of the song "When The Music Dies", its jazz, acoustic, and, of course, national Azerbaijani version will be released. For me, it is important that the song is a multi-faceted and easy to perceive for people with completely different musical preferences.

- For which contestant will you be rooting?

- By sheer luck, my good friend - the Georgian representative Anri Jokhadze - is participating in Eurovision-2012. We have been friends for a long time and even once sang a duet together. So I will keep my fingers crossed for him. Of course, I've seen the performance of Buranovskiye Babushki from Udmurtia. They are very cute! I wish them good luck in Baku and hope that the grannies will like it here!