42 countries will participate in ESC-2019
By Abdul Kerimkhanov
Representatives of 42 countries will take part in the international Eurovision Song Contest 2019, which will be held in Tel Aviv, Israel, the website of the competition said.
Competition Executive Director Jon Ola Sand said that last year, Netta allowed herself to dream and won the competition in Lisbon.
"We are delighted that 42 countries will be represented in Tel Aviv, and we hope that the broadcasters are inspired by the same dream," the director said.
In addition to the Israel, host country of the competition, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Albania, Armenia, Belarus, Belgium, Great Britain, Hungary, Germany, Greece, Georgia, Denmark, Ireland, Iceland, Spain, Italy confirmed their participation in the competition. , Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, Finland, France, Croatia, Montenegro, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Sweden, Estonia and Ukraine confirmed their participation in the competition.
Bulgaria refused to participate in Eurovision-2019 because of the savings.
The winner of the last Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon was Israel's Netta Barzilai. She scored 529 points with the song Toy.
Thanks to her victory, the 64th Eurovision Song Contest 2019 will be held in Tel Aviv, Israel. The semi-finals of the competition are scheduled for May 14 and 16, and the final will be held on May 18.
Azerbaijan debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008 after the Azerbaijani television channel ITV joined the European Broadcasting Union (EMU) and received the official right to broadcast the competition.
Azerbaijan marked its debut in 2008 with the duo of Elnur and Samir, who managed to become eighth in the final with their song ‘Day after day’.
The brilliant duet of Aysel and Arash, which represented Azerbaijan next year, took the third place at the song contest, while Safura Alizada, who represented Azerbaijan at Eurovision 2010 in Oslo, took the fifth place.
On its fourth attempt with Ell and Nikki's Running Scared song, the Land of Fire won the event, bringing the contest to Baku’s Crystal Hall in 2012. Ell and Nikki were the first mixed-gender duo to win the contest since 1963 and the first winners from Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan reached the Top 5 in five consecutive contests and achieved the Top 5 place finishes each once - 3rd in 2009, 5th in 2010, 1st in 2011, 4th in 2012, and runner-up in 2013.
The country managed another two consecutive Top 5 results with Sabina Babayeva finishing fourth with 150 points in 2012 and Farid Mammadov second with 234 in 2013.
In 2017, Diana represented the country with the song "Skeletons" finishing in 14th place. In 2018, Aysel Mammadova brilliantly performed at Eurovision 2018 Semi-Final 1, however, she couldn't make it to the final. She represented Azerbaijan with the song X My Heart.
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