ELNUR HUSEYNOV AND SAMIR JAVADZADEH: "WE WILL NOT PARTICIPATE IN EUROVISION SONG CONTEST ANY MORE"

Azeri Press Agency
June 13 2008
Azerbaijan

Let Azerbaijanis not believe in rumours on us

Baku. Ulkar Gasimova-APA. Azerbaijani singers Elnur Huseynov and Samir
Javadzadeh, who represented Azerbaijan in Eurovision 2008 Song Contest,
gave an interview to APA exclusively

-Is 8th place successful for Azerbaijan, which participated in the
contest for the first time?

Elnur Huseynov: Of course, it is not only our success, but whole
Azerbaijan. We think that we will be among first trio.

Samir Javadzadeh: 8th place is not bad for the first time. Azerbaijan
has been represented for the first time within 53 years. Our music
is at high level, because Azerbaijan takes the 8th place for the
first time.

Azerbaijanis living in other countries supported us very much. All
Europe believed in that we would take the place among first
five. Everybody knows that this is political contest.

-How were you met in Azerbaijan? Have you been awarded any prize?

Samir Javadzadeh: We had 5-moth trainings for the contest. We expressed
our gratitude to Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Youth and Sport Ministry. As
prize, we have not been awarded yet.

Do you expect honorary title?

Elnur Huseynov: We have been promised to give honorary title, when
we left for the contest. We are expecting it as well.

-They say that Eurovision attaches more importance to show ….

Elnur Huseynov: Everything is important in this contest. There should
be the best performance and show.

Samir Javadzadeh: We had performance among 43 countries. Everybody
remembers our performance.

Which country you thought to be your rival?

Elnur Huseynov: Ukrainian singer Ani Lorak was our rival. Though
Greece, Armenia and Ukraine made same performances, Ani Lorak was
superior in voice, appearance and experience. We think to invite
Moldovan singer Geta Burlacu and give a concert with her.

-Were you satisfied with support of Azerbaijanis?

Samir Javadzadeh: We were satisfied very much. We were informed that
all Azerbaijanis celebrated it, when we gained license to final. It was
not difficult for Azerbaijani singer, who will represent Azerbaijan
in the contest. We were responsible for all difficulties. Govhar
Hasanzadeh supported us very much there.

-Did breaking of evil’s throne in the first training of semi-final
influence on your main performance?

Samir Javadzadeh: The throne had to be broken after mugham. We included
breaking of throne in the performance. We break the throne to see the
result. There were rumours after it. But it was not so. I fell before
semi-final very badly. But it was not occurred during the breaking
of throne. I could not sleep at night because of my pain.

-They say that the wings of angel were broken …..

Elnur Huseynov: Wings of angel was 15kg. I pray to Allah let me not
fall whilst acting with these wings. I think about good performance
in semi-final and final. I was anxiety about the wings. My wings
were broken in semi final and they were bent in final. I have waist
pain since 12 year-old. The wings should be opened at the end of the
performance. But we were afraid of causing problem.

-You have more anxiety in semi final …. Your voices were trembling
….

Samir Javadzadeh: Of course, we were anxious, because of final.

-How was the position of Armenian singer on you?

Elnur Huseynov: We think about our work. We attached no importance
to them. We did not think to stay in hotel with Armenians. But they
laughed at us, sang songs while passing by us. Our flag was hung in
hotel. They hung their flag after seeing our flag in hotel. They took
their flag. But our flag was stayed there till the next week.

-How do you think that Azerbaijan moved back 4 stages from Armenia?

Elnur Huseynov: We were shaken by it. Representatives of all countries
considered our performance stronger than their ones. Armenia has
participateds in the contest for three times. Azerbaijan will not face
such problem next year. Our country has collected enough information
about the contest.

Samir Javadzadeh: This fact saddened us very much. I am from Karabakh
and the fact saddened me very much.

They are our enemies even it is the contest. We couldn’t abate until
the morning after the finals. Govhar Hasanzadeh, Yashar Bakhish,
Elnur and me – we all were crying. It is true, Armenia didn’t hit
even top tens during its first performance in the contest. From this
perspective we are higher than them. They perfectly understood that
we left them behind.

-Armenian web-sites published materials about you and introduce you
as sexual minorities…

Elnur Huseynov: We were informed about it in Belgrade. It is their
nationalist character because they are Armenians. They have to
show their discourtesy. They don’t leave us in peace even in their
countries.

Samir Javadzadeh: The main goal of Armenian was to irritate and
to tackle us. Armenians teased our guys during a dinner, but the
silenced later.

-It is interesting that these talks are going on in Azerbaijan now…

Samir Javadzadeh: We were informed that these gossips were published in
one of the local newspapers. They don’t think that we are Azerbaijanis
and our families live in Azerbaijan. Armenians can write that, but how
the Azerbaijani newspaper can publish it? We perfectly understood that
we would represent Azerbaijan in Belgrade. Armenians had to do that,
because they irritated when they saw us. They saw that our performance
was better and therefore they sought ways to blow us.

Elnur Huseynov: If they spread such gossips about the two sons of
Azerbaijan, how they will talk about the woman singer going to the
next contest? Sirusho was asked at the press-conference that "they say
she lives with the son of one well-known person". She couldn’t answer
the question. We ask them but who is your representative, do you know
her? No European countries except our enemy country, sabotaged us.

Samir Javadzadeh: These rumors have also spread our country and
it disturbs us. We ask to give up spreading these rumors. We had
much trouble within half a month. We worked for Azerbaijan, not
for ourselves.

Sometimes we could not sleep because of these rumors.

-Why did you miss the press conference held after the first semifinal
of Eurovision?

Elnur Huseynov: Only two men from each delegation were allowed to
participate in the press conference. As Samir and I do not know English
well, we needed a translator. That’s why head of the delegation Adil
Karimli and Govhar Hasanzadeh participated in the press conference.

-Is it true that you behaved badly in Belgrade? They even say you
were punished for this…

Elnur Huseynov: A lot of parties of different states were held in
Belgrade. We could not participate in all these parties, as we needed
to be calm. If we had gone to the parties we would have suffered from
insomnia. The reports that our access to media was prohibited and we
were punished are not true. As you see we give interview to you.

Samir Javadzadeh: It is impossible to be loved by everybody. Maybe
there is someone who spreads these rumors. We were not banned from
anything. We were simply tired and nervous and did not speak for
a time.

-Why did you get angry?

Samir Javadzadeh: During the promo-tours we were taken to the places,
where it was impossible to be quiet. We were made to sing even when
we were ill. It was terrible.

Elnur Huseynov: We did not want to sing in the places, which did
not suit the level of Azerbaijan. Ukrainians took us to the bar to
sing. We told them that they had no right to present Azerbaijani
music in the bar, in the place people drink and entertain. We did
not behave badly there.

Doesn’t the person who says this think that how we could behave badly
if we represented Azerbaijan? Which singer can sing Azerbaijani mugham,
music in a bar? Which Azeri singer can bear this? The Ukrainians phoned
the head of our delegation and said we did not want to perform. But
we did not want the name of Azerbaijan to be mentioned in such places.

Samir Javadzadeh: The presentation was not right. Ukrainians saw that
they were weak and that’s’ why criticized us. Seventy percent of the
performance was our idea. No one wants to write or speak about it.

Elnur Huseynov: We gave concerts in about 13 countries. Why our
performance was in the form of concert only in four of these
countries? There were stages where it was impossible for two men
to stand on it, but we six men demonstrated show. Even our dresses
were not normal by the time we left for Belgrade. We were terrified
when we saw our clothes. They were sown wrongly and their size was
larger. Along with the delegation we began to seek for fabric there. We
bought 40-size shoes in stead of 42-size shoes. We are obliged to say
all this, because of the rumors. We tolerated all this for the sake
of Azerbaijan, and now we hear rumors about ourselves in our country.

-Why did you avoid from media during this period?

Samir Javadzadeh: We felt ashamed, because we were behind Armenia. We
just needed time. We said we would rest for a week and then speak.

-Where were you during the voting in the final? We saw the
representatives of all countries except you.

-Samir Javadzadeh: They even say that we went to the hotel after our
performance. This is not true. When we were given 12 points for the
first time we had gone out to smoke together with soloist of Mor ve
otesi group Harun Tekin. We were back after two minutes and saw that
our delegation had already been shown. When we were given 12 points
for the second time we were there. The members of our delegation had
flag in their hands and therefore we were not seen. Should we push
aside our flag or members of our delegation? We were applauding at
that time. It was filmed.

Elnur Husyenov: We were thinking why we did not have a stylist or a
hairdresser while there were so many of them in Azerbaijan. I made
first my hairstyle and then Samir’s hairstyle in all rehearsals and
semifinal. You see, Day after day was arranged in Ukraine, US and
Great Britain, but the best version belonged to Yashar Bakhish and
we performed Yashar Bakhish’s version in Eurovision. There are a lot
of professionals in our country, why other country is commissioned
to do it.

-We heard you were at odds with Dima Bilan…

Samir Javadzadeh: There may only be resentment. We could not go Dima
Bilan’s party. It does not mean that we do not like Dima Bilan. We
could not go to the party of Turkey, because the press conference
finished late. Then we thought that we should not go the party of
Russia, as we had missed the party of Turkey. It would have caused
much greater resentment. We did not speak that some did not come to
our party.

-How was your attitude towards the participants?

Samir Javadzadeh: We became friends with some of the participants. We
have known Ani Lorak since March. We participated in the same
concert. But she did not greet us even once. We did not know why she
did so. We respected her as a woman and greeted her. But then we did
not greet her either.

-Is it true that if you were winners you would sponsor an orphan?

Elnur Huseynov: I said it. I thought that if we would win we can
improve our financial conditions and I can sponsor one child.

Samir Javadzadeh: I thought that if everything would be OK, I would
construct an orphanage, but they expounded our intentions differently.

-What do you wish Azerbaijan’s representative in Eurovision-2009?

Elnur Huseynov: First of all, patience.

Samir Javadzadeh: Don’t believe anyone except God. Believe in
yourself and your talent. Don’t believe everyone because those, whom
you believe and you are sincere, can move against you tomorrow. If
something happens, cast down head and say "OK" and then close the
door not to see anyone. We thought that everybody was our friend,
but only 8 per cent of 100 were our friends. Do you know who are
they? They are those, who misinform the people.

-What do you think the different countries vote for your performance
or for the political influence of Azerbaijan?

-Certainly if they didn’t like our performance, they didn’t vote even
for the politics too. Our performance was really strong one and they
thought that it deserved their votes even from the political point
of view.

-Who can represent Azerbaijan in Eurovision-2009?

Samir Javadzadeh: There is no age limitation in this contest. There
are many talents in Azerbaijan, who can represent the country in
Eurovision-2009 in the high level.

-Do you think to reject wedding performances?

-Believe me. The peoples invite us to their weddings and banquets
to show Day After Day composition and ballet program. We received
invitations even from Russia. It is not a wedding performance and
therefore we can sing it in the weddings, but we will not reject the
wed invitations. We just make some break and currently we don’t go
to the wedding parties and show-programs.

-Will you raise wedding honoraries?

Elnur Huseynov: Of course, there are some people we show disinterested
performance in their parties. It is blameworthiness not to be in the
parties, where they want to see their popular singers.

-Does the number of your foes increase after the Eurovision contest?

Samir Javadzadeh: Yes, it does, but I think it encourages us.

Elnur Huseynov: Our foes didn’t change. Indeed it is OK that they are,
we don’t want to lose them.

-Are there peoples among your counterparts, who don’t communicate
and congratulate you yet?

Samir Javadzadeh: Roya, Zulfiyya Khanbabayeva, Samira, Faig
Agayev, Elnur Mammadov, even Ella, who lives in Germany called
and congratulated us. No one except them congratulate us. Probably
they want to say that they don’t love us. Now we know our friends
and lovers.

-What difference did you see on the Eurovision’s stage?

Elnur Huseynov: First of all, we saw levels, standards. All things were
different there. If there were some problem during the performance,
we could solve them pressing the button.

-Do you think to go to other country?

Elnur Huseynov: We will never change our homeland. We will not
do that despite all restrictions. We can do all necessary moves in
Azerbaijan. We missed Azerbaijan and our national dishes in Europe. We
didn’t find their dishes delicious.

Samir Javadzadeh: Filip Kirkorov came and embraced us after the
performance and said "guys, you were the best".

-What are your future plans?

Samir Javadzadeh: We have new projects with Govhar Hasanzadeh and
Rashad Hashimov. We are preparing several new compositions. We intend
to show mini-musicals. There are no modern musicals in Azerbaijan. We
will perform both solo and duet programs.

-How will you accept second invitation to Eurovision?

Samir Javadzadeh: We will never agree with that. Even they will promise
us the first place like Dima Bilan. Journalists asked Dima Bilan after
he took the first place that "what will you sing in the next time?" We
don’t’ want to hear this question. If Dima Bilan was not sure in his
victory, he would never come to the contest for the second time.

Elnur Huseynov: We are not egoists. Our other singers have to test
themselves. Dima Bilan is egoist, indeed Sergei Lazarev had to
participate this year.

Samir Javadzadeh:There are some people who seek moments to trample
us, but they cannot do that. Those, who spread gossips about us,
cannot do that till the end. They will silence at last.

-Your last word…

Samir Javadzadeh: Today all over the Europe say good things
about the Azerbaijani singers. Let someone spread gossips about
us, but Azerbaijani People, who support us will never believe
them. Scandalmongers aim to blow us.

Elnur Huseynov: These talks would never concern us if we will be 40,
but we are young and we have future. My girlfriend left me because
of these gossips. I ask my people not to believe these talks.