Having recently filmed his postcard in Tel Aviv, Chingiz Mustafayev has revealed the four backing singers that will be joining him in Tel Aviv. He will be closing the second semi-final of Eurovision 2019 with “Truth” in the hope of bringing Azerbaijan back to the Grand Final.
According to ESCKaz, Chingiz will be joined by four backing singers for his performance in Tel Aviv. Continuing Azerbaijan’s internationally-collaborative approach to Eurovision, the vocal team is all-Nordic. In addition, Alex Panayi is returning as the vocal coach for the Azeri team. Chingiz’ backing singers are as follows:
- Cedrik Hammar
- Patrick Jean Olsson
- Pernille Leeloo
- Sara Linnea
You may recognise Pernille, who just recently participated in Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2019 with “That Vibe” under the moniker ‘Leeloo’. In addition, Sara had previously performed on the Eurovision stage last year as a backing singer and dancer for Moldova’s DoReDoS.
Chingiz is one of this year’s artists who has not performed at any of the pre-parties. Instead, he has been focusing on his Tel Aviv performance and has been rehearsing in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Who is Chingiz?
Chingiz Mustafayev is a singer, guitarist and songwriter. He has been performing for over ten years after winning a popular talent show Yeni Ulduz in 2007.
In 2013 he took part in the New Wave contest and finished 11th out of 16 contestants. Next to his solo career, Chingiz is also the lead singer and guitarist of the group Palmas. Recently the group released a cover of Maroon 5’s hit “Girls Like You”.
Chingiz got his biggest hits just recently. His self-directed music video for the song “Tenha gezen” was uploaded to YouTube in January and has reached over 3 millions views.
Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest
Azerbaijan debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008, where they reach 8th place. Having since participated 11 times, Azerbaijan have been one of the strongest countries in recent years, appearing in the Grand Final 10 times consecutively. The country even won the contest back in 2011 with Ell and Nikki’s “Running Scared”.
In addition, the country has achieved five consecutive top five results in the contest. They have finished third (2009) and fifth (2010) before their 2011 win, and fourth (2012) and second (2013) after their win.
However, last year they failed to qualify for the Grand Final for the first time. In Lisbon 2018, Aisel’s “X My Heart” narrowly missed out on a spot in the final, finishing 11th in the first Semi-Final with 94 points. This year, Chingiz will be seeking to bring Azerbaijan back to the final, performing in 18th in the second semi-final on May 16th.
Are you excited about Chingiz’s team? Are you looking forward to seeing Truth’s staging? Let us know! Be sure to stay updated by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter, @escxtra on Instagram and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates! We’ll also be posting plenty of content on our YouTube in the run up to Tel Aviv!
