In a televised national final, the Armenian representative for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest has been picked tonight out of 21 entries. The public could cast their vote by SMS, and an expert jury voted on the songs as well. These are the participating artists in order of appearance:
Iren - Miayn Du
Hasmik Margaryan
The Beautified Project - Butterfly
Hay - ya - Molto Bello
Marta Bulbulyan - Yes Andari Perin Em
Inga & Anush Arshakyanner - Nor Par
Oxygen - Par Andzrevi
Artem Avun - Eternal Fire
Shprot - Lucky
Hayk Kasparov - Give An Answer
Arman Harutyunyan - Come On My Friends
Guj - Ko Dem
Lilu - Et Ari
Davit Minasyan - Kez Yergem
Mher - Heart And Soul
Dorians - Fly
Bambir - Yolk
Hripsime Hakobyan - Eli Eli
Davo - Dzerker Ver
Tigran Petrosyan - Only Time
Sergey Grigoryan - Kez Hamar
After all 21 entries had been performed, Sirusho entered the stage to start the voting. She had represented Armenia in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest with Qélé Qélé, reaching the fourth place. Then, Hayko performed Anytime You Need again - with that song, he had represented Armenia in the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest.
In the end, only the top ten of the combined vote were announced by opening ten envelopes:
Inga & Anush Arshakyanner - Nor Par
Mher - Heart And Soul
Dorians - Fly
Bambir - Yolk
Shprot - Lucky
Tigran Petrosyan - Only Time
Hripsime Hakobyan - Eli Eli
Hay - ya - Molto Bello
Lilu - Et Ari
Sergey Grigoryan - Kez Hamar
Thus, the public and the expert jury voted in favour of the duo Inga & Anush. The two sisters will represent Armenia in Moscow with their energetic song Nor Par, which means New Dance in English. Tonight, they presented a bilingual (English-Armenian) version of that song. Armenia was drawn to take part in the first Semi-Final of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, to take place on May 12th in Moscow.
