Azerbaijan’s Ictimai TV has announced that Fahree will represent the Caucasus nation at Eurovision 2024 in Malmo, Sweden.
The 29-year-old former law student from Baku was internally selected by Ictimai TV following a lengthy selection period.
Fahree beat out Emy Lia, Mila Miles & İlkin Dövlətov & Etibar Əsədli, Aisel, Qorqud, and
Sabina Quluzadeh in a selection process overseen by singer and producer Eldar Gasimov (who won Eurovision 2011 as part of Ell & Nikki).
According to Ictimai, “unlike previous years, in this year’s elections, every performer participated with the song he/she wanted to perform on the Eurovision stage.”
Fahree won the selection as “the winning song reflects the synthesis of modern pop and traditional ethno elements.”
Born Fakhri Ismayilov in Baku in 1995, Fahree, comes from an artistic family. His father is a jazz singer and grandfather an actor, and he transitioned from his legal studies to music during the pandemic lockdowns of 2020.
Fahree’s professional career took off in 2022, releasing several singles including “Apardi Uzaqlara” (“It Took Him Far Away”), a collaboration with fellow national selection contender Mila Miles.
Perhaps his former law studies will be a good omen (in reverse, kind of) – Corry Brokken won the 2nd edition of Eurovision in 1957 and went on to become a lawyer and a judge in The Hague, Netherlands.
Fahree’s song and video will be released within the coming days.
Azerbaijan have typically used some variation of internal selection to make their choice since 2015. In their earlier years, Azerbaijan did use song contests to pick the artist and later internally select a song, though Milli Seçim Turu 2013, which was won by Farid Mammadov’s “Hold Me,” remains the only national final to date.
Azerbaijan’s Eurovision 2023 representatives, the twin indie-rockers TuralTuranX, were also selected by a panel led by Eldar Gasimov. TuralTuranX’s “Tell Me More” failed to qualify for the Grand Final in Liverpool, United Kingdom, coming in 14th of 15 in Semi-Final 1 with 4 points from the 1st all-televote Semi-Final since 2007.
This was only Azerbaijan’s second non-qualification (Aisel’s “X My Heart” from Eurovision 2018 being the first) since the Caucasus nation’s debut at Eurovision 2008.
TuralTuranX’s “Tell Me More” was also the only all-Azerbaijani penned and produced entry since their debut (Elnur and Samir’s “Day After Day”), so we shall see in the coming days if Fahree’s entry sticks to last year’s locals only approach.
What do #YOU think of the selection of Fahree by Ictimai? Or did #YOU want Azerbaijan to have given Aisel another shot? Let us know in the comments below, on our social media, or in our forum.
