Azerbaijan: 229 entries submitted to Ictimai for Efendi's ESC 2021 song selection

Azerbaijan: 229 entries submitted to Ictimai for Efendi's ESC 2021 song selection
Wednesday, 03 February 2021

  • Azerbaijan's national broadcaster, Ictimai, has revealed that a total of 229 entries have been submitted in the song selection to determine Efendi's Eurovision 2021 entry. 

    According to the country's head of the delegation Isa Malikov, 229 compositions from local and foreign authors were sent in during the submission period of the song selection.

    Isa Malikov said about the evaluation process: 

    “Our team listened to each song several times to appreciate it. There were really beautiful compositions among them, six of the best of them were on our shortlist. As always, we tried to find a beautiful and professional song, regardless of genre. However, this year, first of all, we took into account the extent to which he will get along with the performer."

    The head of the delegation said that according to the requirements of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the duration of each song should not exceed 3 minutes. According to the selection process, the song will be selected in the next round based on the votes of an international focus group of more than 50 Eurovision experts from different countries.

    The official presentation of the song will take place in the second week of March.

     

    Azerbaijan in Eurovision

    The Land of fire debuted in the contest in 2008 and since then they have been present in every single edition of it, counting a totla of 13 participation.  In 2011 The duo Eldar & Nikki gave the country its one and only victory with their entry Running scared, leading the Eurovision event next year in the capital city of Baku. 

    In 2018 Azerbaijan was represented by Aisel and her entry X my heart, despite a dynamic performance she failed to qualify to the Grand Final. In 2019 Azerbaijan chose Chingiz through an internal selection to represent the country in Tel Aviv with his entry 'Truth', which finished 8th in the Grand final scoreboard.

    While Efendi's Eurovision 2020 journey was interrupted due to the coronavirus outbreak and never had the chance to perform 'Cleopatra' in Rotterdam, iTV decide to stick with the same act this year, giving her the chance to complete her mission in ESC 2021.

    News Source: INFE Azerbaijan 

    Image: Azxeber.com