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The Baku Eurovision Show
The magic night in Baku. The fascinating Baku Crystal Hall…
Bakuwas the first place to use the Eurovision arena’s façade as a part of the show itself with the Baku Crystal Hall flashing
with colors of the national flag of each participating country prior to the respective performer’s appearance.
The stage and podiums were presented in 3D format by FlorianWieder, a renowned designer of the ESC 2011, MTV Video
Music Awards and X Factor and Pop Idol shows, the latter one highly popular in Europe and the US.
The most cutting-edge illumination system used at the Baku Crystal Hall comprised more than 2500 projectors, above
30,000
meters of wire and pre-fabricated modules delivered to Azerbaijan from Germany, 5000 kilometers away, by
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trucks, 40 tons capacity each. The state-of-the-art LED and video camera systems were transported to Baku from
various places in Europe by two aircrafts.
LED screens with an overall area of 1300 squaremeters were installed at the Baku Crystal Hall exceeding the same indices
of the ESC show in Dusseldorf and featuring eye-catching effects during performances of artists from 42 countries.
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HD cameras were installed in the arena to provide the tiniest details of the show on the screen. This set of cameras
included two freemoving Spidercamunits fixed to the arena’s ceiling, two shooting cranes, two Steadicamunits, and two
cameras on railway tracks. There were some novices in shooting techniques as well. One Steadicam unit and a tracks-
mounted set had two cameras, so that different snapshots could be made from the same angle. This was the way the
audience was provided with more dynamic records of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012.
Live broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 all over Europe was provided by the cutting-edge mobile TV station
delivered to Baku from Belgium and operated by a professional team. Sound transmission was backed by two mobile
units ensuring stereo and 5.1 Dolby Surround quality.
Another feature making the Baku show ever more memorable was bound with Green rooms, no longer located behind
the curtains but placed amidst the auditorium. Never before did the artists and fans have a chance to be that close to
each other during the show.
Azerbaijan, My Magic Land of Fire
The musical message of Azerbaijan was conveyed through the country’s centuries-old arts of mugham and gazal,
the ashuq music, traditional instruments like balaban, the national dance and the tambourine stone…
Brought together in one composition, they produced a magnificent impression and added an enormous value to the
Eurovision Song Contest. One could not resist the impact of such a combination of music and poetry. The Baku show
succeeded in presenting the Eurovision in a brand new format. Irrespective of the final outcome, each performance was
amasterpiece in its ownway thusmaking both the artists and the viewers ever more attached to the event. The audience
thoroughly enjoyed all the three shows on May 22, 24 and 26. The presenters, Eldar Gasymov, the winner of Eurovision
Song Contest 2012, Leyla Aliyeva, an anchor at Ictimai (Public) TV, and Nargiz Birk-Peterson proudly conveyed the
message of this truly fascinating show from Baku to the whole of Europe.
On May 22, the sound of tambourine stone (gavaldash) and Natiq drum band launched the First Semi-Final of Europe’s
most popular show with the rhythms of Azerbaijan passing over the spirit of this ancient land to millions of viewers.