THE PATH TO VICTORY

2008

Azerbaijan first became part of the Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade (Serbia) in 2008. At the time we were very disappointed that our country's "Eurovision" debut was not a triumphant one, and our brilliant duo of Elnur and Samir and their fairly strong entry Day After Day had to be satisfied with eighth place. But now, if we look back at history and what "Eurovision" has become today, we can begin to understand that eighth place wasn't such a bad result for a first effort. In essence, this was a "first attempt" and it would be stretching it a bit to call it a "flop". One might claim with every confidence that the song Day After Day and its execution were too good for the musically not very discerning "Eurovision" public.

Elnur and Samir gave 100 per cent to their performance. Their song was one of the liveliest and most spectacular in the show, which reflects great credit on the "Eurovision" debutants. However, determined as they were to win, our boys failed to recognize one subtle fact, and that is not to expect the "old timers" of "Eurovision" to give an appropriate assessment of our duo's performance - neighbours voted for neighbours, and the old "stooges", as usual, voted for their "elder brothers".

The winners in 2008 were Russia. The dream of the Russian performer, Dima Bilan, who decided to wear down Europe's resistance, finally came true. Bilan, who was runner-up in the 2006 contest, received 272 points and was declared the winner of "Eurovision-2008". Third place went to the young Greek girl, Kalomoira.

2009

"We very much hope that the second attempt by Azerbaijani performers to worthily represent their country at the "Eurovision" song contest will be successful and we will at least finish among the top three." This was how Region+ concluded its article on the results of the "Eurovision-2008" song contest. Well, our predictions came true. At the Olympic arena in Russia the fiery Azerbaijani duo, as the Russian and European media dubbed Aysel and Arash, took third place. Our hopes were realized and our efforts crowned with success.

Some 34 out of the 41 participating countries voted for Azerbaijan. In 2008 21 out of 40 voted for Azerbaijan. Neighbourliness could be traced in the exchange of the top 12 points between us and Turkey, which was not surprising.

"Well-wishers" at the time claimed that Azerbaijan achieved third place thanks to the strong Iranian lobby and the Swedish population who voted for the well-known singer, Arash, whose ethnic roots are Iranian and who now lives in Sweden. That said, they forgot to point out that Arash is of Azeri extraction, and as far as Sweden is concerned, thanks very much for your 8 points. After all, the Belarussians voted for Rybak on the same principle. "Third place is another sensation and a great success for Azerbaijan. The country made its debut only last year with a successful eighth place for the duo Elnur and Samir and has made another impressive leap. The duo Aysel and Arash took the bronze just behind Iceland. This pair got the maximum out of their hit-song Always," was what virtually all the media said about Azerbaijan in 2009.

2010

In Norway first place went to the 19-year old German Lena Meyer-Landrut. Azerbaijan was a little unlucky. Their representative, the bookmakers' favourite Safura Alizada, made the top five.

Long before the final concert leading bookmakers were tipping Safura to win. What were the criteria which brought our singer into the leading group? Clearly, the bookies were struck by the scale with which Azerbaijan had begun to promote Safura in Europe. Of course, after the successful showing by Aysel and Arash in Moscow we very much wanted to win. The most illustrious and professional team was hired in the hope of achieving victory. The American director Rupert Wainwright, a winner of a Grammy and MTV Video Music awards, who won fame after the film "Stigmata" and who made the History video for Michael Jackson, made a video for our participant. JaQuel Knight, Beyonce's dance "mentor" and producer of the American Idol show, became choreographer-producer for Safura's number. The no-less celebrated stylist Aunt Gill created a new image for our singer. The song Drip Drop was written for Safura by the Swedes Stefan Orn and Sandra Bjurman. The song was recorded at Anders Bagge's studio in Stockholm where the albums of Celine Dion, Enrique Iglesias and many other famous artistes were created. The original idea was that during Safura's performance the dramatic nature of the song would be emphasized with "water" motifs and podiums on stage covered with LED lighting giving an image of water and the ocean. Everything was prepared for victory. But…Safura became over anxious. Although she clearly deserved the worthy fifth place, she could have done better, but clearly she did not convey the emotions embodied in the song well enough. In the opinion of some experts, the heartache in the song did not quite blend with the sharp dance movements in the refrain. It is possible that the Azerbaijani singer was affected by the "first in sequence" syndrome and her voice quivered a little. Well, Europe did not buy it and gave Safura 145 points. She got her highest marks from Malta, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Turkey.

The outcome could have been affected by the fact that during the voting the not very successful moments of the Azerbaijani singer's performance were shown on the screen. But whereas the previous year Azerbaijan was awarded her top 12 points only by fraternal Turkey, this year she was joined by Ukraine, Bulgaria and even Malta.

2011 

A triumph! We've won! And we are holding the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest in Baku! From the results of SMS-voting and the decision of the jury Eldar Qasimov and Nigar Jamal received 221 points! We received the highest assessments (12 points) from Russia, Turkey and Malta.

The battle for the title was between Azerbaijan, Italy and Sweden. In the semi-final with a few other countries Turkey and Armenia fell out of the race. Not only viewers from 43 European countries, but also internet users, followed the semi-final. The concert was shown on-line on Eurovision's official web page www.eurovision.tv. The competition was held under the slogan "Feel Your Heart Beat!" The Azerbaijani participants Eldar Qasimov and Nigar Jamal (Ell and Nikki) sang the ballad "Running Scared", which was written by the Swedish lyricists Stefan Orn, Sandra Bjurman and Iain Farguhanson. Our duo took to the stage in the huge Esprit Arena stadium dressed in white, the colour and design also being chosen by Swedish designers.

Nigar's dress was very reminiscent of the show-white outfit of Aysel Teymurzada. Incidentally, the colour white clearly brings us luck. The whole of Europe believed in the love story of the Azerbaijani duo.