Armenia Advances to Eurovision 2015 Final (Video)

VIENNA, Austria (A.W.)–Armenia, represented by the group “Genealogy,” has moved forward to the final stage of the Eurovision 2015 contest. Armenia was one of 16 countries taking part in the first semi-finals in Vienna on May 19.

Armenia, Belgium, Greece, Estonia, Serbia, Hungary, Russia, Albania, Romania, and Georgia qualified during the first semi-final round.

The second semi-final round will take place on May 21, when 17 more countries will compete to move onto the final stage of the contest.

Below is a video of Armenia’s performance.

On March 12, Armenia released its Eurovision 2015 song entry, “Don’t Deny.” The song enraged some in neighboring Azerbaijan, which claims the lyrics carry a political message. The Armenian delegation denies any specific political subtext in the song.

Along with the release of the song and its music video, Inga Arshakian of Armenia was revealed as the final performer of Genealogy. Arshakian joined Stephanie Topalian, Essaï Altounian, Vahe Tilbian, Mary-Jean O’Doherty Vasmatzian, and Tamar Kaprelian, who hail from Europe, Asia, America, Africa, and Australia, respectively—and are all of Armenian origin.

According to the official website of the Eurovision Song Contest (Eurovision.tv), this is the first time a country is participating with performers from different parts of the world.

A few days following the release, the Armenian delegation announced that it would rename the song to “Face the Shadow” in order to suppress concerns of a political theme and to “strengthen” its themes.

The music for Armenia’s entry was written by award-winning Armenian musician and composer Armen Martirosyan, who also composed Armenia’s entry into the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest, “Apricot Stone.” The lyrics to the song were penned by Inna Mkrtchyan; the music video was directed by renowned Armenian director, Aren Bayadyan.

The finals take place on May 23, when 27 countries compete for first place. The 10 qualifying countries from both semi-finals will qualify to the finals, where they will join the host nation Austria and the five main sponsoring nations: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom, and Australia, which was invited this year to commemorate the contest’s 60th anniversary.

9 Comments

  1. Bravo yerkhek, you represent 13 million of Armenians. Keep your goal alive because we all us deserve the better future without forgetting our past.
    Thank you all.

  2. It is amazing to see how much improvement has been achieved in the last few years with the local participants from armenia. good Luck to all our contestants.

  3. Great job. Moving and sheer elegance. Good luck in the competition and thank you for putting words and passion towards this important issue. I lost many members of my family and lost a heritage that I can only imagine. Your song and seeing your performance is inspiring.

  4. i’m sorry hearing armenians singing in english sounds like we don’t have any armenian songs to present in this contest? 1 think they sound absolutely great but i rather hear Armenian songs.by the way was that a turkish flag they were waving?

    • The target audience understands English.
      English is the universal language of commerce, business, and entertainment.

      English is not Turkish.

      There are situations when Armenians need to present their message to the world in a language that will have the widest possible impact.
      This is one of those situations.

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