AZERBAIJANI LOVE CONQUERS EUROPE

There were about two weeks to the final of Eurovision-2011 as Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper predicted victory for Azerbaijan at this prestigious music contest.

In an article headlined "Will the Next Eurovision Be In Baku?", the newspaper tried to make its own forecast based on the number of views of clips on the Internet. It turned out that the most popular song on the web was the track "Running Scared" of the Azerbaijani duo Eldar Qasimov and Nigar Camal - Ell & Nikki.

"The implication is that during the actual contest, viewers in Europe will evaluate the performers in the same way. Of course, there may be a variety of surprises and 'collusion' between the audiences of friendly countries, but the overall picture may well be preserved," Komsomolskaya Pravda wrote in early May.

Music critics and bookmakers made their own predictions as to whether any of the contestants had more chances of winning. Although, we must say, they have very often been wrong in their predictions lately.

 It happened this time as well. This year, for some reason, they persistently preferred the young French tenor Amaury Vassili who eventually took only 15th place. Azerbaijan, they believed, would take third place at best.

But it was Komsomolskaya Pravda's forecast that was destined to come true. At Eurovision-2011, the winner was Azerbaijan! The romantic duet of Ell & Nikki really was at its height -

contrary to predictions by sceptics who did not expect such huge success from them.

Commenting on the results of the contest, another Russian publication Kommersant wrote that the Eldar and Nigar duo could be only sincerely applauded.

"When in the course of voting, Azerbaijan started getting high points from historically close nations, including Russia, it was still possible to speak of 'a geo-political principle' of voting. But when Iceland and San Marino voted for Azerbaijan, everything became crystal clear."

And we cannot say that competition was weak: Amaury Vassili from France, with the song "Sognu" (Dreaming), Blue from the UK - "I Can", the winner of last year's Eurovision, Germany's Lena Meyer with the song "Taken By A Stranger" and Russia's Aleksey Vorobev - "Get You" all had chances of winning.

 But everyone chose Azerbaijan - most of Europe was touched by the love song of Eldar and Nigar. Commenting on the song "Running Scared", the German press says that this lyrical work combines Eastern sensibility and the influence of Western pop ballads.

Experience shows that nothing conquers Europe as much as romantic love. Recall Norway's Alexander Rybak who took first place at this international contest in 2009 - from a professional point of view, his song cannot be called a musical masterpiece, but it was a story about pure love.

The winner of Eurovision-2010, Lena Meyer-Landrut, who came only 10th this time, said: "Before the contest, I predicted that Azerbaijan would win. And so it happened. It's great!"

Experience shows that skilful performance is not enough to win Europe's main musical contest. According to many journalists working at the Eurovision press centre in D?sseldorf this year, the victory of Ell & Nikki was largely the result of a competent PR-campaign.

It is symbolic that during the announcement of the results, the Azerbaijani team was holding the flags of Turkey and Azerbaijan in their hands. In Turkey, this was regarded as a gesture on the part of Azerbaijan. "Victory belongs to Turks", "This is our victory", "A very nice gesture on the part of Azerbaijan" - these were the main headlines in the Turkish media which widely publicized the success of the Azerbaijani duo. In short, Turkey's disappointment at their failure to make it into the final was replaced by joy at the victory of fraternal Azerbaijan.

"That's incredible, as though Turkey had won!" a TRT presenter exclaimed during the live broadcast.

Thus, the Azerbaijani team kept its promise to represent not only their country but also the entire Turkic world, and next year Europe's main musical contest will be held in Azerbaijan.

Winning the right to host the Eurovision Song Contest is a significant event for any country, including Azerbaijan. For Baku, it is important, especially in terms of promoting the country which is in a state of information war with neighbouring Armenia. On the other hand, Azerbaijan has an opportunity to demonstrate once again its strong focus on integration into the European cultural space, not to mention the fact that the holding of Eurovision is accompanied by large investments in infrastructure, including tourism.

The executive director of the Eurovision Song Contest, Jon Ola Sand, says he has already handed over to the head of the Azerbaijani delegation, Adil Karimli, a document confirming Baku's right to host Eurovision-2012. "We are confident that Azerbaijan will host the contest in Baku at the highest level," Sand said.

Naturally, the executive director's confidence is based on a real analysis of the situation and specific practice. Baku has repeatedly demonstrated its organizational capabilities, hosting prestigious international events, including political, economic, sports and cultural ones, at the highest level. In this regard, Europe in 2012 expects to see a show that will certainly not be outstripped by previous ones in scale and entertainment.