Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

First Semi-Final of the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest was held in Kyiv, Ukraine. In total 18 countries competed to get into the Grand Final.

The marvelous show was broadcast live from the International Exhibition Centre in Kyiv. Azerbaijan acted in the first semi-final, which will also see performances of Montenegro, Finland, Georgia, Portugal, Belgium, Sweden, Australia and others.

Azerbaijan’s Dihaj was among first ten qualifiers for the Grand Final of the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest.

Azerbaijan Eurovision performance was unique and spectacular as usual.

The performance featured a chalk board behind singer DiHaj. She wrote a text on this board during her act. At the end of the song, the walls came down. All in all, Azerbaijan has quite an artistic act and performance in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest.

The singer has explained the thought behind her remarkable act for the song ‘Skeletons’ at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017.

“The guy with the horse mask is the bad guy. He is sitting on a ladder, showing that there is a huge emotional distance between us. At the end of our performance I am getting out of our box, a cage, which means I have stepped over our self-destructive relationship", she said.

The final outcome was decided through a combination of scores received from national expert juries and televoting. The expert juries had already voted after watching the live feed of the dress rehearsal, held yesterday. Televoting took place during the broadcast of the live show. Viewers could also vote using the official app.

Viewers from the 18 countries participating in the first Semi-Final, as well as from Italy, United Kingdom and Spain cast their votes. The first ten finalists will join the so-called Big Five and hosts Ukraine in the Grand Final on May 13.

Azerbaijan has been one of the most consistently successful countries in modern Eurovision. Since debuting in 2008, Azerbaijan has always qualified for the final, and placed in the top 10 six times, including Ell & Nikki’s 2011 win with "Running Scared" .

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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