Dilara Kazimova has established herself as a contender to win Böyük Sehne, Azerbaijan’s national selection for Eurovision 2014. Her cover of Duffy’s “Mercy” had real soul and showcased some real classy vocals. It earned her 50 points from a jury, which was enough to secure victory in the first live show on Sunday.
Fourteen acts competed and the top 10 have advanced to the next show, which will be broadcast on Sunday. Here’s how the contestants stacked up.
1. Dilara Kazimova 50
2. Erkin Osmanli 49
3. Elton Ibrahimov 49
4. Azad Shabanov 48
5. Fuad Asadov 46
6. Aydin Eyvazzade 46
7. Hülya Ibadova 45
8. Khana Hasanova 44
9. Samira Efendiyeva 43
10. Valeria Huseynzadeh (Rilaya) 37
11. Lale Sultan – 37
12. Ayshebeyim Nagieva – 37
13. Safa Eldar – 36
14. Band Wave – 34
Here’s Dilara’s cover of Duffy. So much soul!
Another highlight of the show was when all of the contestants performed Sabina Babayeva’s latest single “Ey Azerbaycanim”. That’s patriotism, people.
And here’s Lale Sultan, whose cover of Eleftheria Eleftheriou didn’t go down as well.
i don’t like how azeri language sounds. so i hope they keep singing english, no offense.
& Yeah Charles,
It would suck if they do that, but wouldn’t be surprising. The person you get to know know from the show gets morphed into somebody completely different with all that Swedish composing & phonetic English stuff. 🙁 boo hoo
Despite MST having a really low production budget, I think that was more pure. Though it’s too early to say right now. I liked seeing ethnic night where they sung a traditional Azerbaijani song. It was really interesting to see the artists in their own element. Some even sounded way better singing in their own language (no surprise lol) but it was a nice thing to witness from the entrants. & this show’s on only once a week now ;[ The quality is higher though, I’ll give it that. Xana is easily a shoo in after she was brutally kicked… Read more »
They can’t sing their own songs?!?!? :O
First note: despite my usual suspicious regard upon the country’s participation in Eurovision for their excessive usage of non-Azeri written songs but Swedish made ones in its majority, I have to complement this girl … she sang stunningly well, good English (I would like to believe she also speaks good English just for the sake of not having more translators next to the performers) and this song “Mercy” is an awesome choice to sing. I loved watching Eldar going nut with the performance 🙂 Now … despite liking her singing abilities and confidence on stage … I ask myself …what… Read more »
I agree Mex. It’s great that this is pure Azerbaijani. I like it.
If this is purely Azerbaijani production, they have gone far from last year’s show. Good. Finally learning something. 🙂