Eurovision star Efendi dazzles Polish music lovers with her Mata Hari hit song [VIDEO]

Azerbaijan's Eurovision star Samira Efendi has become a guest star of Poland's Eurovision 2023 pre-selection.

The singer thrilled the audience with her hit song Mata Hari, which features ethnic motives based on traditional Azerbaijani musical instruments, such as zurna (trumpet) and nagara (drum), as well as melodies from the Azerbaijani folk dance yalli, Azernews reports.

With this song, Samira Efendi came 20th in Eurovision Song Contest 2021. The music video hit over 34,000 views on YouTube.

Some 37 countries will join the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, UK, in May 2023.

Azerbaijan has already confirmed its participation in Eurovision Song Contest 2023.

The finalists of the national selection include Leyla Izzatova, Humay Aslanova, and Amrax Musayev duo, Mamagama band, Turan and Tural Bagmanov duo as well as Azar Nasibov.

Meanwhile, the year 2023 marks Azerbaijan's 15th involvement in the Eurovision Song Contest since its debut in 2008.

Azerbaijan marked its debut in 2008 with the duo of Elnur and Samir, who managed to become the eighth in the final with their song Day After Day.

The brilliant duet of Aysel and Arash, which represented Azerbaijan next year, took third place at the song contest, while Safura Alizada, who represented the country at the Eurovision 2010 in Oslo, came fifth.

On its fourth attempt with Ell and Nikki's song Running Scared, the Land of Fire won the event, bringing the contest to Baku's Crystal Hall in 2012. Ell and Nikki were the first mixed-gender duo to win the contest since 1963 and the first winners from Azerbaijan.

It is noteworthy that Azerbaijan reached the Top 5 in five consecutive contests - 3rd in 2009, 5th in 2010, 1st in 2011, 4th in 2012, and 2nd in 2013.

In 2018, Aysel Mammadova performed brilliantly at the Eurovision 2018 semi-final, but she couldn't make it to the final. The singer represented Azerbaijan with the song X My Heart.

Azerbaijan's Chingiz Mustafayev impressed all Eurovision fans with his stunning performance in 2019. The singer finished in eighth place in the song contest.

In 2020, the song contest was canceled amid the coronavirus pandemic. However, fans of the music contest had a great chance to enjoy a spectacular show Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light, featuring 41 songs from this year's entries.

During the show, Samira Efendi pleased Eurovision fans with the song Cleopatra about trusting your gut instinct, standing up for yourself, and being a "Queen" - even when things get tough and especially if someone betrays or hurts you.

In 2022, Nadir Rustamli represented Azerbaijan at Eurovision 2022. The singer left Eurovision fans speechless with the song Fade To Black, co-written by Andreas Stone, Anders Rethov, Sebastian Schub, and Thomas Stengard. He came 16th, scoring 106 points.