THIS YEAR'S ENTRY

Two entries, two Top 10 finishes is the respectable track record of Armenia at the Eurovision Song Contest. Armenian television announced in November that popular local singer Sirusho Harutyunyan would represent the country in Belgrade and Armenian composers were invited to submit songs. Four potential entries, selected by Sirusho were performed in a special selection show staged on March 8th. The public were asked to choose the entry. In the most one sided selection of the year, 86.5% of the votes were cast for "Qele Qele".

Sirusho was born in 1987 in Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia. She was raised in a very artistic family with a father who is an accomplished actor and director, and a mother who is a well-known and respected singer. Sirusho has been singing all of her life and first performed on stage at the age of seven. Since then she blossomed into being one of the most popular singers in Armenia.

Sirusho has toured in many countries and has spread the Armenian pop and folk music in countries like Canada, USA, Syria, Iran, France, Belgium, Greece, Germany, Lebanon, Russia, Turkey, Georgia, Jordan and Egypt, and that was before she started her promotional activities for her Eurovision Song Contest entry. 

Sirusho recorded her first pop album when she was just thirteen years old. The album titled "Sirusho" was released in 2000 and was an immediate success. Her second album "Sheram" which comprised of Armenian folk songs was released five years later and has been recognised as the "Best album of the year" in Armenia. For her third album "Hima", released in 2007 Sirusho contributed her own music and lyrics in both Armenian and English.

For the past four years, she has won the "Best female Artist" award in Armenia (2005), "Best female artist" in Russia (2006) (as voted by the Armenian population) and' Best female Artist' in USA (as voted by the Armenian population). Sirusho has also received the award of best female artist in 2007 in the Armenian Golden Star Awards. In addition, she has also won several awards for her music videos. Her songs have always been on top of the charts in Armenia. Sirusho also has been known to write songs for many other Armenian artists. She will be the first female and the third participant to ever represent Armenia in Eurovision Song Contest, but she already has appeared at the contest as she called in Armenia's votes in 2007. 

Since being chosen to be Armenia's entry "Qele Qele" has been on of the bookmakers favorouties to win the contest in Belgrade and is seen as virually guaranteed a spot in the final. Fan polls have not been quite so enthusiastic, although support suggests that Armenia is going to have a third consecutive Top 10 result.   

SAMPLE LYRICS