There were big ballads and epic stage shows, minimalistic staging and a fainting drag queen. As the dust settled on Armenia’s Depi Evratesil 2018, Sevak Khanagyan emerged victorious with “Qami”.
His song won with both the international jury and the televote. “Qami” becomes the first song sung entirely in Armenian at Eurovision.
Sevak has confirmed to wiwibloggs that the Armenian lyrics of his song will remain for Eurovision. This will make “Qami” the first song with 100% Armenian lyrics to be performed at Eurovision.
Sevak Khanagyan — “Qami” (Interview)
Sevak opened the show with “Qami”, which entered the contest as one of the favourites. The song ranked third with the Wiwi Jury, garnering an average score of 7.46. wiwiblogger Deban had this to say about the song:
“Qami” draws strength from its connection with the forces of nature, and in turn, stirs a powerful emotion. Sevak is an accomplished vocalist with years of televised singing experience both at home and abroad. It is a brave move to sing in Armenian — not many will understand what he’s singing about. However, no one can deny the power and strength of his vocal presence.
Sevak Khanagyan — “Qami”
Nemra finished as overall runner-ups with 18 points with “I’m a Liar”. Amaliya Margaryan finished third with her dramatic ballad on 15 points.
Fan favourite Kamil Show was ranked second by the people of Armenia but was ranked second last by the international juries.
Depi Evratesil 2018 international jury results
Sevak Khanagyan — 12 points
Nemra — 10 points
Amaliya Margaryan — 8 points
Lusine Mardanyan — 7 points
Asmik Shiroyan — 6 points
Mariam — 5 points
Robert Koloyan — 4 points
Gevorg Harutyunyan — 3 points
Kamil Show — 2 points
Mger Armenia — 1 point
Depi Evratesil 2018 televote results
Sevak Khanagyan — 12 points
Kamil Show — 10 points
Nemra — 8 points
Amaliya Margaryan — 7 points
Mger Armenia — 6 points
Gevorg Harutyunyan — 5 points
Mariam — 4 points
Asmik Shiroyan — 3 points
Robert Koloyan — 2 points
Lusine Mardanyan — 1 point
Depi Evratesil 2018 combined results
Sevak Khanagyan — 24 points
Nemra — 18 points
Amaliya Margaryan — 15 points
Kamil Show — 12 points
Mariam — 9 points
Asmik Shiroyan — 9 points
Gevorg Harutyunyan — 8 points
Lusine Mardanyan — 8 points
Mger Armenia — 7 points
Robert Koloyan — 6 points
Tonight’s show also featured a performance by last year’s Depi Evratesil winner, Artsvik. The show was also confirmed to return to help Armenia select its act for Junior Eurovision 2018!
What do you think of the results? How will “Qami” fare at Eurovision? Let us know in the comments below!
Does anyone know who are these mysterious Jury panel? Is there a link with their names and what points they gave??
I think he is quite hot. The song is too repetitive, but I just really like looking at him so it’s all good.
You know its funny, even though this song is completely in Armenian (which I like), this song doesn’t register as Armenian to me. it doesn’t have that ethnic, Armenian flavor I love. Even though Armenia has sung in English multiple times in the past their songs always sounded Armenian and had a specific identity and personality. This doesn’t, this sounds like any ballad you can hear on the radio, just sung in Armenian. Anyway, good luck to Sevak!
The Armenian language possesses all the sounds of the Indo-European languages and there’s absolutely no muscle tension when you pronounce it. It’s a natural language. Since ancient times people have noticed that when Armenian is your native language, you have no difficulty in learning any other languages. It’s kind of all-embracing, and learning it can give a very broad outlook. Perhaps this is also a reason why Armenians are so global. Armenian is not as difficult as it might seem at first. Some people are sometimes just afraid of things they’re not familiar with.
From what I heard in the NF show, there was some effort needed to pronounce the H sound. Kind of like the Spanish J which can take some effort to pronounce.
Well, in Armenian h sounds exactly like the English h, and it’s even written in the same way (?). The Armenian language is called Hayeren, Armenia is called Hayastan, an Armenian is called Hay (sounds like high, hi). So H is a very important letter in Armenian. Of course, we have sounds that don’t exist in English (and I guess other European languages) like kh, gh, zh, ts and more, and they can be difficult to pronounce for someone who just gets acquainted with Armenian. I used to think that we for example don’t have the French û or ë,… Read more »
It could be that I was confusing the H with the KH then. There was one sound that sounded like a combination of K and H, like the J for the Spanish. They give the sound an extra push that makes it sound exactly like half-K half-H. It’s impressive how fast and easy they can pronounce it.
Yes, you are right, you meant kh, the first ‘letter and sound’ of Sevak’s last name Khanaghyan. In English it makes two letters, in Armenian it’s just one letter and sound.
He starts the song with that sound, he sings, Khul u hamr en qaminer?…. which means ‘Deaf and mute are the winds’…
No the Spanish J is a normal h!
This kh sound is a different letter altogether in my language(Hindi) and probably Armenian too and the h is a completely different unrelated and distant alphabet! The kh sound is closer to a K than an h
Its the balkan h sound though! Like the way Lea pronounces h in hvala ne
I heard the Spanish J like in Juan and it’s the same sound! Though the Spanish J seemed a bit milder to my ears.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDu_rPuORgE
This is some “heavy folk” by Inga and Anush. )))) The song is called ‘Khio khane’ and is all about that sound kh.
Hey guys, I’m Tamar “The Witch” I buy fake followers on fb and bought fake likes and views on my song called “Poision”, if you don’t believe me you can google me and see I was booted out in the semi finals. Oh just one last point even when one of my colleagues was in final I had to try and take her moment away. I guess you can call me self absorbed, a liar, suffering from bi polar with princple of blaming the world, I call myself an artist on soical media but I have never been able to… Read more »
?ell me The Witch where did you buy 45000 Spotify listeners for your Posion? Or there is no Spotify in Russia?
I think that they will translate the song, because it’s really not good this way. The language sounds too harsh for foreign ears. I mean it’s not portuguese or italian or french etc. It just doesn’t work. For now it’s really boring, I couldn’t even listen ’till the end. Good luck with revamp.
I’m Azerbaijani, but I gotta tell, I’m so sick and tired of you guys saying “x language is not italian, portuguese, french and etc”.. They sound good to you just because you are used to hear those languages, they are not that ideal as you claim if you ask me.
Hey.., who cares what do you think? Armenians will NOT translate anything and Sevak is going to sing his beautiful ballad in beautiful Armenian, – a language which was spoken in the Ancient World, when no Portuguese, Italian, French.. are existed))
If something doesn’t work with you or something sounds harsh to you IT IS your own problem. Deal with it. Don’t speak for everyone else.
I disagree. The more different languages in the contest, the better. Moreover, songs often lose their spark when they are translated.
I am Portuguese and I couldn’t disagree more. Armenian is a beautiful language. It has s very distinctive musicality, which is really special. Let me tell you, for me Swedish or Norwegian sounded much harsher to my ears, but these countries won singing in their own language. We as ESC fans should cherish this diversity. The problem is that we are too used of English and some other small number of languages….
I rather listen to a bad Armenian song than an entirely English song with horrible accent and shallow lyrics, which Armenian entries have always been for the last couple of years!
A beautiful ballad sang in your beautiful language. I’m happy of your choice.
He is not very easy on the eyes.The song is avarage.Asmik had the best song
Prefer this in English…Too boring
Kamil is my winner
Armenian language sounds really good. Idk why it hasn’t been used before.
Armenia’s ESC entries between 2007 and 2009 had a mix of English and Armenian lyrics:
2007: “Anytime You Need” by Hayko (bridge in Armenian)
2008: “Qélé, Qélé” by Sirusho (English lyrics with only the title in Armenian)
2009: “Jan Jan” by Inga and Arnush (parts 1 and 3 in English, part 2 in Armenian)
Definitely the best. Armenia will once again receive a good position. The song currently 4th with me(I have a defined top 6). Good luck Sevak!!!
Armenian TV just released the split voting results for the semi-finals. Tamar came second in the televote gaining 10 points but only received 2 points from the juries and finished 6th. So, clearly, no foul play on part of AMPTV and as some of the crazy people here were claiming. Also, it looks like all of her votes were properly counted.
Who were those juries? Why didn’t we see them announcing points as they usually do at the other national selections? Don’t you think they may conspire with locals who may affect the former’s decision by their comments? Also, I still believe that the jury have been influenced by the terrible sound which the Public TV did for Tamar. Too many questions answers to which we probably won’t find out. It’s a decision made behind the closed doors.
@Steve – you seriously need to calm down. Tamar is not a strong vocalist at alllllll. The names of the juries are going to be published along with their respective scores. There’s no foul play here. Strop trying to find reasons other than the fact Tamar did not have a quality song to go to eurovision with.
“Tamar did not have a quality song to go to eurovision with.”
Though I remember it was one of your favourites. LOL!
@c’mon man – yep. She and Asmik had my favorite songs followed by Kamil, Sevak and Amaliya. But, the fact that I like the songs in that order does not mean I like quality songs. I tend to like the cliche’ dance/pop music which lately has not done well in Eurovision (i.e., Greece 2017). If this was 2008-2011, Tamar and Asmik would finish top 10, but not now.
Dennis is that you?
Super excited to have a completely Armenian song as well! 😀
Wow! The Armenian language sounds so beautiful in this song. Great choice Armenia!
Maybe to Armenians…To me it sounds harsh
I’m not Armenian but the language sounds really beautiful, especially when used in songs.
It was how it should be. Sevak was my favourite and clearly the best possible choice in an average NF. I don’t know how the general public will receive it in May, but I can see it placing top 15. The last minute is really powerful and his vocals are on point the entire song. Being Armenia, this is a sure qualifier. Then, in the final, we’ll see.
I’ve heard so many bad comments about this one coming the winner… maybe it is a little generic and I’m not a fan of his voice. But I enjoy the song itself very much, the fact that it goes more and more powerful is a great add. Very good choice for Armenia.
Listening to this for the first time and I enjoyed it. The last minute is very powerful. I hope he keeps it 100% in Armenian.
I have 100% hope Sevak will keep “Qami” in Armenian. 🙂
Ok-ish. Qualifier, but it will end up in the lower part of scoreboard’s left side. Or high right. Who knows.
Now I’ll be calmly waiting with popcorns for the new wiwipoll and see how it will get overflooded by the armenian votes. They’ll be the new spaniards. MARK MY WORDS.
Anything is better than Tu crapción, so the Armenian spamming is more than welcome!
Just listened to this song again..it is really good and the 3 minutes pass by so quickly…Love it, my favourite at the moment.
The best song won, well done.
Good powerful song Armenia well done!!
Here is my top 21 so far!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so86jR3sWAY&feature=youtu.be
Serbia 21?Armenia 18? and Belarus 9th and Malta 4th. While music taste is an objective matter yours is subjectively BAD
I think you got the terms the other way around. Music taste is subjective.
He is just upset that he placed his country Armenia that low. LOL
Lol….when not knowing the meaning of words make a comment much more funnier than it was intended to be.
Was hoping for some real show (Kamil…), but this is actually a mild fave. Good luck, Armenia.
I wake up so much happier when countries make good decisions. Excellent news. Come on, Armenia!
Perhaps they need to translate the song? I don’t know, I also cannot connect with it. The three minutes felt like six minutes. Neither the song nor the singer interested me. It was kinda boring I have to say. So far it’s one of the weakest entries chosen along with Malta, Montenegro and Belarus IMHO.
Lets keep it real and short , this song is really bad , period …..
Now some fans of a retro radio friendly song with the dancer from Albania 2009 and with Safura’s lighting stairs will start their hate speech against the worthiest winner of the selection. Shame on jurors and voters that didn’t got that fresh air and “avant garde” composition. Shame….
Love it! Good luck dear brothers! Greece loves you!
Nationalist pig
Damn! Is this seriously the best they had? :O This is so uninteresting and boring. Montenegrin ballad sounds much better and that one isn’t good too. It definitely won’t do well.
Good for Montenegro!
After 2013, this song from 2018 is second bad choices for Armenia at Eurovision. Boring song. Only thanks to huge diaspora , ex soviet countries in I semi, and expensive staging this song will go to final. In final resul like Armenia result in 2013 ,2015. 2018 from 16 to 18 place.
There is not much friendly countries in semi1 for Armenia. Only Greece and Belgium usually give us high marks.
I really like Sevak!! But please please please fix your hair lol
I don’t like this at all. I’m sorry, but it’s just boring and he looks scary. :< They should select Asmik.
Asmik is a horrible live Performer, no thanks.
So you wanna tell me she can sing well?
Hopefully Asmik will perform better next year. 🙂
This song is totally irrelevant to this world and music industry. Extremely boring.
Sevak is a great choice, i enjoy his singing, but jury was too harsh to Kamil Show. The song was great too.
Kamil, Kamil
Where did you take my warm memories?
Kamil, Kamil
Give me wings to follow you
Kamil
Sevak’s singing always remind about Kamil 🙂
Always nice to hear a new langauge in ESC
But the song is the kind of song we have every year in ESC. Dark, gloomy, overtly dramatic, jury-friendly, Nothing new and a safe choice. But it does that very well. And we know juries will like it
That kind of song finished second last year. 😉
I’m not a fan of Beautiful Mess but I must admit this one nowhere close to that. There is no comparison.
I’m very happy with that! I didn’t expect that to happen, this takes me by surprise. Wow, Armenia goes high on my list with such a beautiful and earthy song…
Good song and great performer! My choice would have been Nemra but I’m kinda ok with Sevak, he was probably my number 2 or 3. I love the fact that it’s in Armenian, I really enjoy this year’s trend of national languages. I like the song but it lacks that hook to catch people. I’m not sure if this can shine among the other songs in Eurovision but it probably will qualify as Armenia usually does.
It’s hardly a trend this year to have national language. it would be if a majority of songs were in national langauge. But they’re not.
Even so, none of them would win. ESC Winners don’t follow the trend, they create the trend. A majority of national language songs would lead to a winner in English.
Ya maybe the majority will still be in English but at least compared to previous years, we can safe to say national languages are increasing in number. I don’t care if one of them will win the whole thing but still I’m pleased to hear new languages.
But I must add singing in national language doesn’t always mean quality. I’m aware of that.
From Lisbon 2018 to Yerevan 2019! What a fantastic choice! Finally a song in this beautiful language and by home grown talent. His a great singer and the crescendo of the song is just fantastic. I hope this will place in top 3. It certainly deserves it.
Are they gonna hire Sasha Jean Baptiste this year? She can give this song a memorable staging for sure.
I posted congratulations to Sevak, but the filters deleted it 🙁
Congrats, the best singer won. Not sure about the song yet, but it may grow on me.
Sevak is good vocalists and is in good hands of Armenian Public television who were able to make Artsvik qualify with much more anonymus song. The same bookies predicted that Armenia will win in 2014 and we’ll see how they react when final product Armenia will bring on Eurovision stage. Kami is powerful ballad with some Armenia 2014 vibes performed by a guy who unlike Aram MP3 took part in many contests and was chosen by a contest and who will not make the same mistakes did by Aram MP3. Now Sevak and Armenian team must work, work, work as… Read more »
And Sevak looks better than Aram. Additional plus!
Sevak is as ugly as Aram LOL
To me Not Alone is the best Armenian entry ever! Sevak may be a better singer but Aram Mp3 was waaay better than him.
Kamil ending 2nd by the televote is my favourite part
Conchita was second, too. Now if we have a better drag queen, they easily can reach the top
I’m so happy!!! Finally a power ballad!!! Juries will love this!!!!
Beautiful song and performance, good luck Armenia!
Where can I find the results of Semis?
In the Armenian eurovision page of wikipedia.
OMG I got goosebumps listening to this. Along with Albania this is my favourite so far and feel it could do very, very well. Great job Armenia better than that noise of Kamil!
Happy to see Mger not winning. Sevak is ok, but seems bookies widened the bets for Armenia which is a bad sign. The song needs to be revamped like the UK did last year and it will sounds perfect. No English words, please.
@ Steve – Hi Steve
Hi Ron, I read your comment where you announced that Tamar was second among televoters and was eliminated by the jury. This means that the jury may have got rid of the best song to open a door for their competitors. We don’t need international jury. Don’t you think?
No. I think Armtv played fair and square and you can be very proud of a great production they put together.
One of the worst Armenian entries. Armenia better stays in the semi this year.
You definitely forgot to add “Greetings from Turkey”.
Actually I’m living in Germany, but yeah, greetings from Germany! 🙂
A Turk living in Germany?
Last year was worse. I mean, this is awful, but last year was even worse.
Fly with me was one of the better Armenian entries. It was surely not the best Armenian entry, but I personally like it more than Qami.
Qami is boring af, at least Fly with me was an interesting entry.
Gosh, Fly with Me was so awful, it was so generic and bland and such a bad choice for Artsvik.