ESC: Evgeni Timokhin to direct Azerbaijan's stage performance

Ukrainian Evgeni Timokhin has been invited to direct Azerbaijan's Eurovision 2024 stage performance, Azernews reports.

Timokhin, better known as Time, has been working as a stage designer, stage director, and music video maker since 2004. In 2006, he won the best music video prize at the Euro Video Grand Prix competition.

In 2011, his music video "LOVE" went viral and collected more than one million views in less than 24 hours. He also took care of the stage design of the musical pieces of the Azerbaijani version of "The Masked Singer" show.

Fahree (Fahri Ismayilov) and Ilkin Dovlatov will represent Azerbaijan at Eurovision 2024 with the song "Özünl? apar".

The song was co-written by Fahree, Edgar Ravin, Hasan Haydar, Mila Miles, and Mado Salikh.

Fahree (Fahri Ismayilov) was born in Baku in 1995 and was brought up in a very artistic family; his father was a passionate jazz drummer, while his grandfather was a respected actor.

During his university years, Fahree studied hard to become a lawyer, spending 6 years achieving both a bachelor's and a master's degree in law.

However, while the world was caught up in the global pandemic back in 2020, Fahree was living a renaissance of his childhood dream… dedicating his life to music.

Fahree finally got the courage to put aside his juridical career perspectives and follow his real passion, and the Eurovision Song Contest is a dream come true.

Ilkin Dovlatov was a participant in the final of The Voice of Azerbaijan. Since then, the singer has gained many fans as he blends traditional and modern music styles.

He sings mugham music, known as treasury of the Azerbaijani and world music.

Ilkin Dovlatov actively performs in concerts both in Azerbaijan and abroad, promoting Azerbaijan's rich musical legacy.

The first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 will take place on May 7, and the second semi-final is scheduled for May 9. The grand final will take place on May 11.

It will be the third edition of the contest to take place in Malmo, which hosted it in 1992 and 2013, and the seventh in Sweden, which last hosted it in Stockholm in 2016.

Thirty-seven countries are expected to participate in Eurovision 2024.