Azerbaijan’s Eurovision team are confident singer Jiva will secure a place in the contest’s final after performing in the second semi-final in Vienna on Thursday evening (14 May).
Turab Teymurov, Head of Media for Azerbaijan’s Eurovision delegation, told AnewZ’s Nadia Gyane that the 43-year-old winner of the third series of The Voice of Azerbaijan was perfecting her vocals ahead of her semi-final performance.
“The song that she's singing is so emotive, so passionate, so I'm sure she will wow the judges today and go straight through when we see her in the semifinal on Thursday,” he said.
“There have been a couple of rehearsals. Once again, the first one went pretty well. The second one included some improvements in terms of vocals, and we're just getting there.”
Jiva, also known by her given name Jamila Hashimova, will represent Azerbaijan with her emotional power ballad ‘Just Go’, performed in English and Azerbaijani, as she attempts to secure a place in this year’s final on Saturday in the Austrian capital, Vienna.
Azerbaijan has failed to qualify for the Eurovision Song Contest final for the past three years. However, the country previously won the contest in 2011, finished runner-up in 2013 and came third in 2009.
In Eurovision’s first semi-final on Tuesday, Estonia, Georgia, Montenegro, Portugal and San Marino were eliminated from the contest. Belgium, Croatia, Finland, Greece, Israel, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Serbia and Sweden progressed to the final.
Israel’s entry, Noam Bettan, was booed by a number of people in the crowd during his performance, with shouts of ‘Stop the genocide’ heard from some audience members in reference to Israel’s continued armed conflict in Gaza.
Ireland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Spain and Slovenia have all boycotted this year’s edition of the annual song contest over Israel’s inclusion in the event.
Despite the political tensions surrounding Eurovision this year, Teymurov said the focus in the host city of Vienna remained on the artists.
“The topic exists in the background, and it would not be honest to say that nobody's aware of it, but at the same time, the day-to-day atmosphere is very positive. It's focused on the music, the preparation, and delivering the best possible performance,” Teymurov said.
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