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Safura Alizadeh is studying Eurovision history â€“ PHOTOSESSION

Safura Alizadeh is studying Eurovision history â€“ <font color=red>PHOTOSESSION </font>

01 April 2010 09:50 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Ulkar Gasimova â€“ APA. Safura Alizadeh, who will represent Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Oslo in May, gave an interview to Eurovision.tv in Sweden. According to Eurovision.tv, when doing interviews, Safura still needs an interpreter, and even though she understands most of the questions, she prefers to answer in her own language, APA reports. Safura is well aware of that when she goes to Oslo, she will be faced with thousands of journalists asking her questions in English. But the problem of language doesnâ€™t seem to bother her much. â€œIâ€™m working on my English, and I hope that I will understand everything that people say in May. Now, I do understand most of the things people say, but itâ€™s hard to speak sometimes, even though I could do it a bit if I had to. Iâ€™m not so nervous about that.â€
In Azerbaijan, the Eurovision Song Contest means big news. The public interest for the competition is very high since the country first entered in 2008. â€œAll people are very much into the contest there, itâ€™s all over the news. Thatâ€™s why this is so big for me, and why Iâ€™m trying so hard to represent my country as good as I can,â€ Safura says. Some artists might have found the pressure of carrying the expectations from such a Eurovision Song Contest loving country nerve-wracking. But Safura says that her intense period of work takes her mind away from the pressure. â€œI knew what I was doing when I entered the national final in Azerbaijan, so I understand the responsibility. I donâ€™t think about nerves now, Iâ€™m just working.â€

Besides recording, Safura is also practicing choreography and vocal coaching in Stockholm. Her schedule is strict and requires work all day, which has prevented her from checking the other songs competing in Oslo on YouTube. Instead, when she has spare time these days, she tries to get rest and sleep to keep the voice in shape. Safura is not spending much time in her home country when preparing for Oslo. When sheâ€™s not in Stockholm itâ€™s Kyiv, where she does promotional work and other preparations. â€œItâ€™s mostly about Sweden and Ukraine. Iâ€™m recording my album here in Sweden, and in Kyiv I work with other talented people. Weâ€™re shooting the video clip for Drip Drop there,â€ she says.

After singing for most of her life, Safura came to the attention of the public eye in her home country when winning the national Pop Idol competition. After the victory, she started preparing for the Eurovision Song Contest national selection, said Eurovision.tv.

Since Azerbaijan entered the contest in 2008, Safura has herself started to take interest in the show. She is fond of the previous Azerbaijani entries by Elnur & Samir and Arash & AySel, and also a few other songs from the last two years.

â€œI like Fairytale, of course, and also Kalomiraâ€™s song Secret Combination, Ani Lorakâ€™s Shady Lady, Svetlana Lobodaâ€™s Be My Valentine and a couple of others. And now Iâ€™m watching the history of Eurovision when I have time. When I go to Oslo, I will know most of it!â€