Eli and Niki national heroes

Considering the fact that Azerbaijan is a country that gained its independence the 1991, practically exactly 20 years ago, as well as the national interest to get as close as possible to Europe and its cultural values, the victory of the duo Nicky and Eli at the "Eurovision Song Contest" exactly in 2011 in Dusseldorf was for this country lying at the border of Asia and Europe was much more than just a game.

It's no secret that the Azerbaijani Eurosong team certainly used all the options of the new ESC voting system introduced a few years ago, assigning the same value to the vote of the jury and to the viewer telephone votes (50 percent of the total score in the semifinals and the finals are assigned by a professional jury consisting of renowned figures from the music industry, and the remaining 50 percent are audience votes). This has created additional space for discussion and comments on the quality of the songs that are on top of the Eurosong list, and about the various possibilities of achieving a victory in the musical completion with the greatest following in the world.

Whatever the current ESC interests might be, this year's winners Eli and Niki are certainly popular musicians in Azerbaijan, and have risen to national heroes level. Eldar Qasimov born in Baku in 1989 - just like his colleague Nigar Camal, realized his years-long by getting into the finals in Düsseldorf. Both were great fans of the "Eurovision Song Contest" even before the 2008 Azerbaijan had its début at the Belgrade edition of the festival.

They secured tickets to Düsseldorf after a very tense national competition with 77 participants, that had to compete in seven rounds broadcast live by Iktimai - the Azerbaijani public broadcaster. The song "Running Scared", was however, an entirely European product: the lyrics were written by Stefan Örn and Sandra Bjurman, and the music was authored by Stefan Örn, Sandra Bjurman & Iain Farquharson.

The finals in Düsseldorf included representatives from 25 member states of the EBU who sang before an audience of 30,000 in the Arena and millions of television viewers throughout the world. Soon after Eli and Niki celebrated their triumph of the streets of the capital city Baku, which immediately began to prepare for the next ESC event in May 2012.

The actual venue of the "Eurovision Song Contest" has not yet been specified, and there are three potential locations. The hosts started the construction of a magnificent concert hall located in the elite part of town, in the port on the shore of the Caspian Sea, next to national flag. The flag is the symbol of the city and of the nation, are flying on pole nearly 30 meters high which got it into the Guinness Book of Records. Two other buildings are being renovated for this purpose: a stadium - like the Germans did this year and another concert hall on the sea coast. Just in case - should the completely new Crystal Hall be unfinished by May 2012.

This capital investment is jet another indication that the Azerbaijani capital Baku is being reshaped into a modern and elegant European city which is still surrounded by archaic villages that have remained virtually unchanged for hundreds of years. The ESC is being managed by the "Heydar Aliyev" Foundation headed by the wife of president Ilham Aliyev.