TOP FIVE

Another long-awaited song contest, Eurovision 2010, has come to an end in Norway's capital. The winner was 19-year-old German singer Lena Meyer-Landrut. Azerbaijan's representative and bookmakers' favourite, Safura Alizada, came fifth. The winner of Eurovision 2010 was decided by viewers' votes and a professional jury. But first things first...

Proud to be first

Long before the final, a well-known betting companies had Safura as favourite. In what way was our singer leading? Apparently, the bookies were impressed by Azerbaijan's promotion campaign for Safura in Europe. Of course, after the successful performance by Aysel and Arash in Moscow, we wanted to take first place.

In the cause of victory, the most famous and professional team was hired. The video for our participants was filmed by an American film director Rupert Wainwright, a Grammy and MTV Video Music Awards winner, who found fame after the movie "Stigmata" and who filmed the video "History" for Michael Jackson himself. Safura's choreographer was JaQuel Knight - dance "mentor" for Beyonc? Knowles and American Idol producer. The no less eminent stylist, Tanya Gill, created a new image for our singer and turned her from a girl-next-door into a seductive beauty. By the way, "Drip Drop" was written for Safura by the Swedes Stefan Orn and Sandra Bjurmann. The song was recorded at Anders Bagge's studio in Stockholm, where albums have been created for Celine Dion, Enrique Iglesias and many other famous artists.

There were rumours that the star team had been joined by Robert Patinsson, vampire hero of the "Twilight" saga, who was, by the way, Safura's idol. First it was alleged that the actor starred in her video and then word went round that Robert would support the Azerbaijani singer on the Eurovision stage. But neither happened.

 As part of her promo tour, the Azerbaijani star managed to conquer nearly all of Europe. Safura visited Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Russia and Ukraine. While on tour, the singer gave numerous interviews, met with thousands of fans, took part in various concerts and saw the most interesting sights in the countries she visited. Safura carefully recorded all her observations and thoughts in a virtual diary on her official web page.

At the Telenor Arena, Safura performed in a white-blue chiffon dress, about which there were many rumours. The creator of the elegant dress was British designer Francesca Rosella. Swarovski crystals and a few thousand bulbs were sewn into the bodice and skirt. The dress changed colour from pale blue to deep red by remote control. The initial concept was that during Safura's performance, the dramatic effect of the song would be stressed by "water" motifs, with the help of podiums covered in LED elements to reflect an image of water and the ocean. Everything was in place for victory. But...

Safura was greatly agitated, although she definitely deserved the prestigious fifth place. She could have been even higher in the rankings, but she probably did not convey very well the emotions expressed in the song. According to some experts, the suffering did not quite match the sharp dance movements in the refrain. Perhaps the young Azerbaijani singer was affected by the "first off" syndrome and her voice wobbled slightly. This is why Europe did not believe it and gave Safura 145 points, but they did believe a schoolgirl from Germany. Our singer received maximum points from Malta, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Turkey.

Meanwhile, experts say that the attitude towards Safura's performance in some European countries cannot be seen as anything other than injustice and envy. Obviously, the achievements of Azerbaijan and Azerbaijanis have become an "indigestible product". Suffice it to recall last year's success of Aysel and Arash at Eurovision 2009, when we worthily took third place, even though Azerbaijan only received maximum points from Turkey. But this year, 16 of the 38 countries awarded Azerbaijan "0" points. Before the final, well-known bookmakers, who are very rarely wrong, predicted victory for Safura. Previously, their predictions for Dima Bilan and Alexander Rybak had proved totally correct. But apparently, the usual envy played a role here. How can little Azerbaijan invest so much money in its participant and make the best video for Eurovision? Yes, Safura received assistance at state level, because the country's prestige is beyond material consideration. Azerbaijan wanted to demonstrate a high level, which was done. This is why Safura was working with a powerful team of nearly a hundred people. What prevents countries, which are much stronger economically than Azerbaijan, doing the same for their participants? Where is European justice? As always, there is a policy of double standards, says a Trend news agency correspondent.

In our country, no-one at all xpected "0" points from the UK and Germany. Moreover, Germany and Portugal have not given us any points for two years in a row. And if distant Portugal can be understood, how can you explain the attitude of countries with which Azerbaijan maintains good political and economic ties? And what do you say about the other "0" "awarded" by Romania, Serbia, Albania, Croatia, Finland, Slovenia, Estonia, France, Slovakia, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Sweden? asks the agency's correspondent.

It is significant that many of these countries are home to representatives of the Azerbaijani diaspora. How could it be that we did not get a single point from these states? Was there fraud? ordinary citizens wonder.

The outcome could have been affected by the fact that some of the less successful moments in the Azerbaijani singer's performance were broadcast during the voting.

Meanwhile, it should be noted that whereas last year Azerbaijan only received the maximum 12 points from fraternal Turkey, this year Turkey was joined by Ukraine, Bulgaria and even Malta.

Ambassador's granddaughter was the first

In general, this contest was surprising for its unpredictability. Some seemingly strong participants did not even make it into the top ten. Thus, Spain's representative, Daniel Diges, received only 68 points and took 15th place, while Harel Skaat of Israel got 71 points (14th place). The biggest flop was the performance of Josh from Britain, who came last in the list of Eurovision participants.

By the way, this time Spain had to perform twice because of an intruder. An unknown person in a red cap got on the stage and happily danced together with the group of dancers in clown suits. Of course, he was quickly led away from the scene, nevertheless, the number was spoilt. According to the rules, the Spaniard had to sing again - after the last performer. As we found out later, the breacher of the peace was a Spaniard, Jimmy Jump - a so-called "striker", a sports hooligan. The meaning of his life is to pop up at all sorts of major venues such as stadiums and large concerts and "express" his opinion on any event. He has already disrupted quite a few matches. Once he was even fined 60,000 euros for throwing a Barcelona shirt at the French striker Thierry Henry. But even the repeat performance of the Spanish representative at Telenor Arena did not help him make it into the top ten.

But a school graduate from Germany, Lena Meyer-Landrut, did so with ease. She appeared onstage in a simple black dress and performed the song "Satellite" very confidently and easily, heading the "Europarade" with 246 points. Their fledgling winner does not play any musical instrument. Incidentally, the singer's grandfather was ambassador of the German Federal Republic to the Soviet Union many years ago. She has been fond of dancing all her life. Despite her youth, Lena had a controversial tattoo inscribed on her left forearm in the form of a red lily and managed to get involved in a big scandal before the contest. Her erotic video "surfaced" on the eve of Eurovision, but even this did not prevent Lena from taking first place. The singer will now get royal treatment in her native Hanover. Before Lena's triumph, West Germany had won Eurovision only once - in 1982.

Meanwhile, clear scepticism can be detected in many commentaries on Germany's victory at Eurovision 2010. Here is what Novyye Izvestiya writes on the subject. "This year, Germany positions itself through the media as the saviour of Europe," the newspaper quotes one fan as saying. Germans also explain their victory pragmatically: "Germany pays for the banking crisis, Germany pays for the Greek debt, Germany pays for everything in the universe, and now they want Germany to pay for a big European party in Berlin next year," said the German fan. Meanwhile, the newspaper notes, the rumours that the results are "rigged" remain rumours. In 2000, much was said about Alsu allegedly "buying" second place and in 2008 - about Bilan "buying" victory, but no-one has yet caught Eurovision organizers red-handed. However, last year, Tatu soloist Yelena Katina let slip that shortly before the contest that in 2003, the group was offered first place for money, but they refused ("Cold calculation and mad Lena").

Interestingly, many viewers noticed that, for some reason, a gathering of people, who stood outside and waited for the end of Eurovision 2010 voting, was held in Hamburg, which gave the impression that Germany already knew who would win. There was no such gathering in other countries.

The only rock band at this year's contest, MaNga from Turkey, stood out for its quality rock, captivating tune, original number and costumes. As simple as it is - a straightforward song "We could be the same" - gained second place. Meanwhile, the Turkish group MaNga is a relatively young band. The guys came together and made themselves known to Turkish show business a few years ago in Ankara. By the way, the band was given its exotic name because of the common passion of its five members of different characters and musical tastes for Japanese comics.

Third place rightfully went to a beautiful duo from Romania, Paula Seling & Ovi. Lively Paula has participated repeatedly in the national Eurovision contest, but had never won. She is quite an experienced singer: she sang a duet with Albano and was "promoted" by Michael Bolton. This year, Paula Seling teamed up with a musician who had also previously entered the national selection contest unsuccessfully - Ovi. He was born in Romania, but now lives in Norway and performs under various stage names. In Romania, he is known as Cernauteanu and in Norway - as both Jacobsen and Martin. This resulted in the duet "Playing with fire" which was rated highly by the whole of Europe.