- Title: AZERBAIJAN: Fans celebrate Azeri duo Ell/Nikki's Eurovision Song Contest victory
- Date: 16th May 2011
- Summary: BAKU, AZERBAIJAN (MAY 15, 2011) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) ANCHORWOMAN IN TV STUDIO, SCREEN WITH WINNER'S PHOTOGRAPH AT LEFT TV SCREEN WITH CORRESPONDENT'S PHOTOGRAPH VARIOUS OF PEOPLE IN MASTER CONTROL ROOM BAKU, AZERBAIJAN (RECENT) (REUTERS) VIEW OF CITY'S SEAFRONT WITH TV TOWER IN BACK VARIOUS OF PEOPLE AT SEAFRONT SKYSCRAPERS UNDER CONSTRUCTION SEAFRONT WITH A
- Embargoed: 31st May 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan
- Country: Azerbaijan
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
- Reuters ID: LVACRY89EOGVXVC9QOKFJBUGDNT5
- Story Text: Fans in Azerbaijan celebrated early on Sunday (May 15) the country's first ever victory in the Eurovision Song Contest with street parties and dances.
Twenty-one-year-old student Eldar Gasimov and thirty-year-old Nigar Jamal, a mother-of-two who lives in London, won the annual competition of 43 countries with the romantic ballad "Running Scared" on Saturday night, watched by a television audience of more than 100 million people.
"I'm very glad about it, we didn't sleep through the whole night. In the morning we came here just to share our joy with each other. I hope the whole Azerbaijan is happy about it too. We are very glad and wish the same success in future," a girl from Baku said on Sunday morning.
Azeri fans were glued to the TV screens at home and in bars for hours watching live broadcasts, praying and hoping for their country which appeared on the Eurovision stage in 2008 for the first time.
"Despite my age I was following it all night long, I watched TV till half past two. I am very glad that our (duo) has won. I hope it's not the last victory," an elderly woman told Reuters in the street of Baku.
Another girl said she and her friends would celebrate all day .
"We are very happy that we (Azerbaijan) won the Eurovision Song Contest, as you can see it, yes. We came out on streets today to celebrate the event," she said.
The capital Baku was deafened at night by screaming crowds pouring into streets and honking vehicles circling around the downtown.
National television broadcasted celebrations live for nine million population.
Azerbaijan's first ever Eurovision Song Contest victory will bring the oil-rich Caucasus country to the world's limelight in 2012.
The energy-rich state and important supplier of oil and gas to Europe, is a mainly Muslim but secular country which is still locked with neighbouring Armenia in an unresolved territorial dispute over the breakaway Nagorno- Karabakh region. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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