Next November 25th, Minsk Arena will host the sixteenth Junior Eurovision Song Contest. It will be the second time that the event takes place in the venue in Belarus’s capital. With Ukraine’s last minute confirmation, a record-breaking 20 countries will participate. Therefore, it is the perfect time to look back at the journeys of all of this year’s participating countries in the contest. Today, let’s take a look at the journey of one of the 3 returning countries: Azerbaijan!
Quick facts
- Country: Azerbaijan
- Broadcaster: ITV
- Debut appearance: 2012
- Number of participations: 2
- Highest finish: 7th (2013)
- Lowest finish: 11th (2012)
Back to the very beginning…
Azerbaijan made their Junior Eurovision debut in Amsterdam in 2012. The first to fly the country’s flag at the contest were Suada Alakbarova and Omar Sultanov with their entry “Girls and boys”. They ended on 11th place, second to last, with 49 points.
Azerbaijan’s journey so far..
Since debuting in 2012, Azerbaijan only made 2 appearances at the contest. Actually, the country had planned a Junior Eurovision debut in 2008, the same year of their Eurovision debut but ultimately did not participate. After their debut in 2012, they returned for the 2013 contest in Kyiv. That year, it was Rustam Karimov who flew the Azeri flag with his entry “Me and my guitar”. He finished on 7th place with 66 points. So far, that is Azerbaijan’s best placing at the contest. Unfortunately, Azerbaijan then withdrew for unspecified reasons and didn’t return until this year. Ivan Eismot, BTRC General Director, hinted that Azerbaijan was interested in returning to the contest and soon after the EBU indeed confirmed Azerbaijan would return to the contest. Will they be able to improve Rustam’s 7th place? Time will tell.
Looking ahead to 2018
Currently, it is not clear how Azerbaijan will select their entrant for Minsk. In 2012 they used a national final while in 2013 they opted for internal selection so both are a possibility. Stay tuned for more information on Azerbaijan’s act and keep checking ESCXTRA for more updates.
My favourite Azerbaijani entry!
So there isn’t too much of a choice here, but for me it is the easiest choice. Of course, my favourite is Rustam’s “Me and my guitar”.
I am really not a fan of their 2012 entry. On the other hand, 2013 is a super sweet and catchy song! Rustam is such an adorable and charismatic performer and the performance was amazing. Looking through the comments on Youtube some people are confused about the bike at the beginning. I love it! It makes me start the song with a smile. The smile continues with all the strings and cool dance moves. I will say though that perhaps he should have let the dancers do the dances and he should have just sang, because his dancing really ruined his vocal performance. Also, I don’t get why he chose to sing that small bit in English, it really feels out of place, should have just sang the whole song in Azerbaijani, it’s a beautiful language! Overall, this song wouldn’t feature among my favourite Junior Eurovision entries but I still enjoy this very very much and who knows, hope to see Rustam at Eurovision someday!
Our countries’ journeys so far:
My favourite was 2013 but what is your favourite Azerbaijani entry at Junior Eurovision? What kind of song are you hoping they will send to Minsk?
Don’t forget to come back next Tuesday for another journey down another country’s Junior Eurovision memory lane!
Let us know in the comments below or on social media @ESCXTRA.
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