Azerbaijan 2009

In 2009, the national final was allready planned to be held by the Azerbaijani broadcaster ITV. However, after the quality of the entries was deemed poor, ITV decided to organize an internal selection.

On January 17 it was revealed that Aysel Teymurzadeh, a 19 year old R&B singer, was selected to represent Azerbaijan at the ESC 2009 in Moscow. She was selected by a 7-member jury appointed by ITV. A few days later it was announced that the same jury unanimously chose the song Always written by and performed as a duet with Iranian/Swedish singer Arash.

As part of their promo tour, Aysel and Arash visited Slovenia, Romania and Sweden. At the ESC they came 3rd.

Aysel Teymurzadeh (April 25, 1989, Baku) is an Azerbaijani pop and R&B singer. Aysel started to sing at the age of 4 and the piano became her passion since childhood. Aysel graduated from the Intellect Lyceum and attended Texas High School in 2005-2006. Within days after her arrival in the USA, she signed up for the local choir. In 2005 Aysel participated in the talent show Yeni Ulduz.
After the ESC Aysel toured Europe with Arash and together they released an album.

Arash Labaf (April 23, 1977, Tehran)is an Iranian/Swedish singer, dancer, entertainer and producer. At the age of 10 Arah and his family moved to Sweden where he became interested in music. His debut album in 2005 was very popular in Azerbaijan, Turkey,Sweden, Russia, Slovenia, Greece and Poland. Arash had many hits all over Europe and colloborated with many famous artists. Since 2005 he released 3 succesful albums and many hit singles.