ESC 2015: MEET ELNUR HüSEYNOV (AZERBAIJAN)

Elnur Hüseynov (28) is no stranger to Eurovision having already scored 8th place in 2008 when he provided Azerbaijan's debut entry Day after day in the contest with Samir. Since then this falsetto singingTurkmenistan born artist with the inceredible voice has starred in Notre-Dame de Paris in Ucraine and won O Ses Türkiye or The Voice of Turkey where he even covered Sertab Erener's Aşk, her opening act in Istanbul 2004 Eurovision and one of this blogger's favorite songs. Another reason to like Elnur.

Elnur's talent was discovered early and he attanded a school for gifted kids and specialized in piano. But he didn't chose music career first as he graduated from medical school with a degree in dentistry. Yet he wasn't only interested in teeth and took hairdressing classes. At some point he had time to graduate also from Music Collage, work at the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, sing in Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Choir and win a national singing contest in 2003. Currently he performs in Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Hall, besides making career in Turkey.

His The Voice of Turkey adventure was quite a success. Apparently he applied only for fun because he happened to be in Istanbul but his audition (here) went so well that all judges turned their chairs and he ended up singing bits of other songsby request, too, like Sweet dreams and beforementioned Aşk. Through songs like Stayin' alive, Golden eye, Get lucky, Yalgızam, Vur Yüreğim, Ellerimde Çiçekler, O sole mio (with a twist, check it out!) and Latch he emerged as the winner in the final where over one million votes were given. Turkey may not take part in this year's Eurovision but they surely have voted an artist for Vienna!

In Vienna he will sing Hour of the wolf, described as mystical contemporary ballad written by Nicolas Rebscher, Nicklas Lif, Lina Hansson and Sandra Bjurman. The writers don't sound very Azeri but it's already a habit and this time the overal package is so great all is forgiven. Elnur is promising a hypnotizing stage presentation and this being Azerbaijan they surely will have something extra in it. The song itself is already rather hypnotic. This blogger fell in love with the first hearing. The music, lyrics and the atmosphere in the video match perfectly and I can totally connect to this state of mind and soul portrayed in this song. Maybe it's a pisces thing, as I discovered Elnur is born a day after me (and some years in between.....) so there's a connection. I have had those sleepless nights when you are afraid to fall asleep your mind going overtime...

I hold my breath, I´m on the edge

Storming hills, I´ve been lost and found

I hope they're coming, I can hear them running

I once met peace, he said that he

Soon would have the answers to this hurt
And my mind was made up, I would never give up

I predict Azerbaijan should continue its string of top placements without any difficulty, this time they really deserve it, too. This is in my personal Top-5.
No other versions nor live performance of the song has yet emerged but there's a fan made sign language video and the karaoke version, that highlights the beauty of the melody and the arrangement. If there only was a live orchestra in Vienna......

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Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

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