Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan is an oil and gas rich country Having seen neighbours Armenia and Georgia enter the Eurovision Song Contest in the past two years, in 2008 it's the turn of Azerbaijan, the third former Soviet republic from the Trans-Caucasian region to enter the competition. While Azerbaijan may be competing in the contest for the first time, the show has been broadcast on Azeri television for several years.

Ictimai Televiziya ve Radio Yayimlari Sirketi, or ITV, is one of the public television channels in Azerbaijan and it became a member of the EBU on July 5th, 2007 and can therefore take part in the Eurovision Song Contest. ITV is one of the few broadcasters in the Eurovision network which is not state-run or owned. The Azeri national television channel, AzTV, also attempted to gain EBU membership in 2007 but was denied due to its relationship with the government.

Prior to its membership of the EBU, ITV announced that it would enter the Eurovision Song Contest at the first opportunity and once accepted, set about choosing its entry for Belgrade.The selection process was one of the most lengthy and confusing of the year, starting with a series of casting competitions in October, before the field was finally whittled down to just three potential entrants, who each performed two songs at the first Azeri selection staged in Baku on February 2nd.

The selection was one of the most expensive shows in this year's calendar, featuring guest performances from three former Eurovision winners and journalists being flown in from Europe and Asia at the expense of ITV to cover the event. In the end, the winners, chosen by a specially appointed jury were Elnur Gusseinov and Samir Javadzadeh and the song "Day After Day". While it was not certain at the time, an announcement made a few days later, confirmed that the song would be the first Azeri Eurovision entry.

Elnur Huseynov was born on the 3rd of March, 1987 in Ashkhabad in the neighbouring country of Turkmenistan, into the family of a Soviet serviceman. His mother is a musicial theorist. In 1992 he entered a conservatory and got piano lessons. In 1999 his family moved to Baku, Azerbaijan, and in 2000, Elnur began his education in a medical college. In 2001, he entered the Music School named after Asaf Zeynali, while at the same time taking lessons from his teachers Sevda Mamedova and Fidan Kasimova. Nowadays, his teacher is Rashad Gashimov. He also worked in the State Opera and Ballet Theatre of Azerbaijan and in the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic. In 2003 he was awarded the grand prize in the TV project "Sing Your Song". After leaving the music school in 2004 he began training as a stylist and hairdresser. His dream is to create a mini zoo at home, because he likes animals very much. At the moment, he has a white rat, a python and he is planning to get a cat.

Samir Javadzade was born on 16th of April in 1980 in Baku. He finished school in the Kradakh district. In 1997, he entered the University of Business, department of International Economic Releations. In 1998 he started studying at the music school named after Jabbar Ghar-Yagdyoglu. During those three years he was a front man of Sharon, a popular local band, and proceeded with a solo career afterwards. As a real Azerbaijani, he likes national cuisine. He likes to experiment with his clothes and his favorite performers are Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson.

Azerbaijan is considered to be in with a reasonable chance of emulating their neighbours and qualifying for the Eurovision final at their first attempt, while internet fan polls have produced very mixed results, causing strong reactions, both positive and negative.