Another night, another series of sizzling performances at Zhara Fest — the international music festival that celebrates pop music from the Russian-speaking world. The four-day celebration kicked off on Thursday at the Sea Breeze Resort in Baku, and since then we’ve seen the likes of Ani Lorak and Sofia Roatru set the venue alight. But this year’s line-up continues to deliver, and we greeted a series of Eurovision winners on Saturday evening…
wiwibloggers Bernardo Tavares Pereira and Deban Aderemi returned to the Seabreeze resort last night and settled down in the bar. As they downed virgin mojitos, Eurovision 2011 winner Nikki Jamal walked in the bar and the crowd went bananas.
This Azerbaijani star — who splits her time between Baku and London — ain’t running scared no more! She owned every inch of this floor-sweeping, high couture look on the red carpet.
Just when you thought the Zhara Fest red carpet couldn’t get more exciting, Russia’s music legend Philipp Kirkorov arrived with a BANG!
Shielded by a team of bodyguards and a press entourage from Moscow State Television, Philipp served rock star eleganza extraordinaire with this monochrome ensemble that featured aviary graphic detailing. Big hair, bespoke eyewear, and non-stop attitude, he does him and we were lapping it up!
Things got even more intense when a convoy of cars arrived at the same time in the backstage area. The lovely Leyla Aliyeva — the London-based editor of Baku magazine and the daughter of the President of Azerbaijan — added even more glitz to the star-studded event.
Known for her charitable work and interest in global fashion and culture, she was kind enough to send a lovely message to wiwibloggs and our dear readers. She needs you to know: You’re always welcome in Baku.
Thank you, Leyla!
The word “fangirling” goes up a notch when Eurovision 2009 winner Dima Bilan enters any space.
And so it went on Saturday, with fans clapping, shrieking and shouting for the “Believe” singer, who paused to send you guys some big love.
As the VIPs took their seats, the performers took the temperature up a notch on stage. Belarus’ Eurovision 2005 act Angelica Agurbash made the 12,000-strong crowd roar, so we dropped our selfie sticks and headed to the main stage.
We arrived just in time to catch Eurovision winners Dima Bilan and Nikki Jamal performing a duet. There was real chemistry, y’all.
Afterwards Eurovision maestro Philipp Kirkorov invited us to his dressing room. We caught a glimpse of his wardrobe, which included a Pierre Balmain jacket that costs enough to cover the mortgage of a well-appointed Russian house.
Fearless, but at the same time approachable, Philipp chatted with us for nearly twenty minutes about everything from his Eurovision memories to Sergey Lazarev to potential artists for the future. Video coming to wiwi.tv very soon…
Uff. What an intense day. Tonight Zhara Fest comes to a glittery end with performances by Sergey Lazarev, LOBODA, EMIN and others.
Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Youtube for all the action. The Zhara Fest extravaganza continues for another three days. And you better believe we ain’t leaving till it’s over!
I’m curious to hear what Philipp Kirkorov said about Sergey.
Since you can’t remove Kirkorov’s tentacles from Russia+ESC combo, I’d dare to predict that less than in a decade there may appear big national selections with several cities and big final, suspiciously reminiscent of one well-known competition, and there’ll be He or His team in head of it, claiming themselves as big inventors.
Dima Bilanz ist a Eurovision Winner from 2008, Not 2009!
Ladies and gentlemen, now we are witnessing one of the most meaningless festival designed by Russian speaking glamour Azerbaijanis.
As you mentioned Belarus I wanted to ask if you guys will run a poll on Belarus’ JESC NF?
“Kirkorov tells us he may return to Eurovision as a songwriter/producer…”
And this is supposed to leaves us surprised or shocked? The guy has been desperate to win the whole no matter what … his 1995 poor result has clearly traumatized him to level of desperation. What Kirkorov seems to have forgotten is that this is a song contest and not his Kardashian-esque ego-filling platform. He will never win if he carries on putting his ego ahead of the music …