Eurovision is coming to Denmark

The final of the Eurovision Song Contest took place in Malmö, Sweden. The first place was taken by the Danish Emilie de Forest with the folk number Only Teardrops. The winner scored 281 points. The highest score, 12 points, was given to Denmark by 8 out of 39 countries: Great Britain, Serbia, Italy, Iceland, France, Ireland, Slovenia and Macedonia.

Farid Mamedov. Photo: Reuters

The second and third places of the competition were taken by participants from the former USSR - Farid Mamedov from Azerbaijan with the song Hold Me scored 234 points, Ukrainian Zlata Ognevich with the song Gravity - 214 points. Norwegian Margaret Berger took fourth place with 191 points.

Zlata Ognevich. Photo: Reuters

Russian Dina Garipova with the song What If was in fifth place with 174 points. Garipova admitted to reporters that she was not very upset: “I am incredibly grateful to those who voted for us. I am in a wonderful, wonderful mood. Because life goes on. And I am happy to be here, to be part of it.”

Dina Garipova. Photo: Valery Melnikov/RIA Novosti

In total, performers from 26 European countries took part in the final, 42 countries took part in the voting. According to the terms of Eurovision, the next competition will be held in the homeland of the winner - Denmark.

20-year-old de Forest, known for always performing barefoot, appeared on stage in the pose of Andersen's Little Mermaid, writes BBC. The musical accompaniment used a traditional Scandinavian flute and a bass drum. At the national qualifying competition "Grand Prix of Danish Melodies", held in January, de Forest beat out more famous contenders, according to local journalists, "melting hearts with her naive, chaste appearance."

Emily de Forest. Photo: Reuters

The winner was born in the city of Randers on the Jutland Peninsula in a Danish and Swedish family. From the age of nine she sang in a church choir, and at the age of 14 she began performing in her homeland with Scottish musician Neil Fraser, performing songs of her own composition, as well as folk and blues versions of famous hits - from Nirvana to Johnny Cash. The girl studies at the Copenhagen Institute of Vocal Performance.

The annual Eurovision music competition has been held since 1956 among the 56 countries of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East that are members of the European Broadcasting Union. From each country, one representative (soloist or group, but no more than six participants) performs a song lasting no more than three minutes. Due to the large number of participants at Eurovision, qualifying rounds were introduced - two semi-finals. Only the host country of the competition and the Big Five countries: Great Britain, Germany, France, Spain and Italy automatically qualify for the finals. The winner of the final is determined by audience televoting, and viewers cannot vote for the artist representing their country.

Russia made its debut at the competition in 1994, but it managed to win only once: in 2008, singer Dima Bilan won the competition with the song Believe. Before him, Russia was represented at the competition by Philip Kirkorov (1995, 17th place), Alla Pugacheva (1997, 15th place), Alsou (2000, 2nd place), the Mumiy Troll group (2001, 12th place), the quartet " Prime Minister" (2002, 10th place), group "Tatu" (2003, 3rd place), Yulia Savicheva (2004, 11th place), group "Silver" (2007, 3rd place). In 2012, the group from Russia “Buranovskie Babushki” took second place in the competition.