Azerbaijan Makes It to Eurovision 2017 Finals

Azerbaijani singer Diana Hajiyeva, also known as Dihaj, made it through the first semi-final round of the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest with her hit song “Skeletons,” and will move on to the final round.

On Tuesday, a slate of 10 semi-finalists were announced, which included artists from Moldova, Azerbaijan, Greece, Sweden, Portugal, Poland, Armenia, Australia, Cyprus and Belgium.

A total of 42 countries competed in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, now in its 62nd season, which is being held in Kiev, Ukraine.

Azerbaijan made its debut in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008 and has managed to make it to the final round every year since then. In 2011, the duo Elnur and Nigar, also known as Ell & Nikki, won the contest with 221 points. This year Azerbaijan has a good chance of scooping the Eurovision champion title once again, according to Sun Bets, the UK’s fastest growing online betting website, which listed Azerbaijan’s odds of winning at 8:1.

Georgia is being represented by Tamara “Tako” Gachechiladze, who performed the song “Keep the Faith” during Tuesday’s show. Despite a colorful performance that featured pyrotechnics, she failed to score high enough to make it to the finals.

Another slate of ten countries will be selected during the second semi-final, held on Thursday, May 11. Countries competing in that round include Serbia, Austria, Macedonia, Malta, Romania, The Netherlands, Hungary, Denmark, Ireland, San Marino, Croatia, Norway, Switzerland, Belarus, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Estonia and Israel.

The final round of Eurovision 2017 will be held on Saturday and feature performances by all 20 semi-finalist winners.

This year’s contest was darkened after the Security Service of Ukraine announced it has barred Russian contestant Julia Samoylova from entering the country. In 2015 Samoylova visited Crimea, a peninsula in the Black Sea that was illegally annexed from Ukraine by Russia in 2014. Under Ukrainian law, Samoylova is banned from the country for three years.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) had offered wheelchair-bound Samoylova the opportunity to perform via satellite, but Channel One Russia, which was responsible for choosing Samoylova as Russia’s 2017 Eurovision contestant, refused the idea, saying it is contrary to the rules of the contest.