Eurasian Song Contest 7

Pre-qualification round date
 Final date
 Host city
 Broadcaster
 Entries
 Debuting
 System
 Null points
 Winner

The **Eurasian Song Contest 7**, often referred to as **EASC 7**, was the seventh edition of the Eurasian Song Contest. The seventh edition took place in Manchester, United Kingdom, after Birdy won the sixth edition of the contest in Bucharest, Romania, scoring 193 points with "Keeping Your Head Up".

## Location

*For further information see Manchester***Manchester** (/ˈmæntʃəstər, -ˌtʃɪs-, -ˌtʃɛs-/) is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 545,500 in 2017; the Greater Manchester Built-up Area is the United Kingdom's second-most populous, with a population of 2.55 million. It is fringed by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and an arc of towns with which it forms a continuous conurbation. The local authority is Manchester City Council.

The recorded history of Manchester began with the civilian settlement associated with the Roman fort of *Mamucium* or *Mancunium*, which was established in about AD 79 on a sandstone bluff near the confluence of the rivers Medlock and Irwell. It is historically a part of Lancashire, although areas of Cheshire south of the River Mersey were incorporated in the 20th century. The first to be included, Wythenshawe, was added to the city in 1931. Throughout the Middle Ages Manchester remained a manorial township, but began to expand "at an astonishing rate" around the turn of the 19th century. Manchester's unplanned urbanisation was brought on by a boom in textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution, and resulted in it becoming the world's first industrialised city.

Manchester achieved city status in 1853. The Manchester Ship Canal opened in 1894, creating the Port of Manchester and directly linking the city to the Irish Sea, 36 miles (58 km) to the west. Its fortune declined after the Second World War, owing to deindustrialisation, but the IRA bombing in 1996 led to extensive investment and regeneration.

In 2014, the Globalisation and World Cities Research Network ranked Manchester as a beta world city, the highest-ranked British city apart from London. The 2018 Globalisation and World Cities Research Networkhad Manchester ranked alongside Edinburgh and Birmingham as Beta cities. Manchester is the third-most visited city in the UK, after London and Edinburgh. It is notable for its architecture, culture, musical exports, media links, scientific and engineering output, social impact, sports clubs and transport connections. Manchester Liverpool Road railway station was the world's first inter-city passenger railway station; scientists first split the atom, developed the stored-program computer and produced graphene in the city. Manchester hosted the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

## Format

### Semi-final allocation draw

The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place on May 31, 2019. The first part of the draw determined in which semi-final the automatic qualifiers would have to vote in. The second part of the draw decided in which semi-final each country would perform, with the exact running order determined by a draw moments later. 20 countries will participate in each of the semi-finals with 14 countries participating in the pre-qualification round. From each semi-final, 10 countries will join the automatic qualifiers in the final, where a total of twenty-seven countries will participate.

### Running order

The running orders of the semi-finals were chosen alongside with the semi-final draws. When a country was drawn from a pot, its semi-final and running order place was drawn from another pot.

## Participating countries

Fifty-four countries participated in the edition. Six of them, Finland, Greece, India, Italy, Morocco and the host country the United Kingdom, pre-qualified for the grand final. Afghanistan, Algeria, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia debuted in the edition, while Azerbaijan, Belarus, Brunei, Denmark, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, the Philippines and Turkmenistan withdrew. In addition, Croatia, Iran, Latvia and North Macedonia returned after each had a one-edition absence. Cyprus, Slovakia and Taiwan also returned after each had a two-edition absence.

### Returning artists

Elina Born, who represented Estonia in the second edition, returned to represent the country for a second time. CLC, the Thai representatives in the third edition, returned to represent the country for a second time. Croatian singer Franka returns to the contest after having previously represented Croatia in the second edition. Rosalía, who represented Spain in the previous edition, returned to represent the country for a second time in a row. Portuguese representative David Carreira previously represented Portugal in the second and fourth edition. Of Monsters and Men, who represented Iceland in the third edition, returned to represent their country for the second time. Carla's Dreams returned to this edition after having previously represented Moldova in the fourth edition and Romania in the fifth edition. Kosovar representative Yll Limani returned to the contest after having previously represented Kosovo in the second edition. Chinese representatives Alan Walker and K-391, now together with Sofia Carson and CORSAK, previously represented Norway in the fourth edition. Ananya Birla, who represented India in the fourth edition, returned to represent the country for a second time.

## Results

### Pre-qualification round

Fourteen countries participated in the pre-qualification round. In addition to the participants, Finland, India and Morocco voted in the pre-qualification round. The highlighted countries qualified for the semi-finals. Romania automatically qualified to the grand final for winning the pre-qualification round.

### Semi-final 1

Twenty countries participated in the first semi-final. Finland, India and Italy were allocated to vote in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified for the grand final.

### Semi-final 2

Twenty countries participated in the first semi-final. Greece, Morocco and the United Kingdom were allocated to vote in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified for the grand final. Iran was disqualified due to failing to present their votes in time.

### Final

Twenty-seven countries took part in the final.

## Other countries

Eligibility for potential participation in the Eurasian Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active EABU membership that would be able to broadcast the contest. As in every edition, an invitation to all the members have been sent in order to confirm whether they will participate or not. The following list of countries declined stating their reasons as shown below.

**Active EABU members**

* Azerbaijan: İTV announced that Azerbaijan would not be taking part in the seventh edition mostly due to "unfair results in the contest", and "to be able to upgrade their selection process for possible upcoming participations".
* Belarus: Although originally confirming their participation, BTRC announced the country's withdrawal from the contest without stating any further reasons for their decision, however, stating that a return to the contest was already in mind.
* Brunei: RTB stated that "the contest was not designed for microstates", and that "broadcasting the contest would no longer fit the standards of the channel".
* Denmark: DR withdrew from the contest due to the surprising resignation of their head of delegation, and not being able to find a new one in time. A return in the next edition is highly suggested.
* Georgia: GPB confirmed that they would not be returning in the seventh edition due to financial difficulties that followed an internal problem, which prevented them from taking part in the previous edition.
* Iraq: After having selected the Israeli singer NAAMA, who was of Iraqi descent, to represent the country in the sixth edition, in which the country finished 13th, IMN was forced to withdraw from the contest after angering the public and the political governance for purposely promoting Israel.
* Kyrgyzstan: KTRK was one of the first countries to announce their withdrawal from the contest, stating financial difficulties as their reason for withdrawing from the contest.
* Lithuania: LRT announced their withdrawal from the contest without giving any specific reason for their decision, although a financial problem has been speculated by the public.
* Luxembourg: RTL confirmed that Luxembourg would indeed not be returning to the contest after having been disqualified in the fifth edition after an internal mistake, which also lead to their withdrawal in the previous edition. The microstate's broadcaster said, "A return to the contest in the near future is in doubt as we are experiencing internal difficulties, which prevent us from participating in the contest. We would like to take part, but we simply cannot."
* Malta: After having been disqualified in the fifth edition for a mistake in their voting, the nation withdrew for the sixth edition as "a boycott toward the unfair system". TVM confirmed that Malta would also be sitting out the seventh edition to focus on a stronger return to the contest.
* Philippines: After having failed to present their votes in time, the EABU gave their broadcaster sanctions. PBS later explained that the sanctions will prevent them from taking part in the seventh edition as the country does not want to face financial difficulties, and rather chose to withdraw.
* Tajikistan: TVT confirmed that the country would not be returning to the contest due to lack of singers interested in the contest, as well as difficulties with production.
* Turkmenistan: TTV announced Turkmenistan's withdrawal from the contest without any specific reason, but internal issues have been speculated as the reason for the nation's withdrawal.
* Uzbekistan: It was confirmed by the broadcaster MTRK that Uzbekistan would not be returning to the contest after having missed the sixth edition as well. Reasons included "lack of interest" and "broadcasting the contest not fitting the future plans of MTRK".
* Yemen: Although YTV initially wanted to take part in the contest, the country's current political situation as well as lack of funding prevented them from sending an entry.

**Inactive EABU members**

The following countries are full members of the EABU, but have not taken part in the contest in the last two or more editions.

* Bahrain: Bahrain TV confirmed that the nation would not be returning in the seventh edition due to lack of interest from the public.
* Bangladesh: BTV stated that they would not be returning to the contest unless their automatic qualification contract would be resigned as they were a huge financial contributor for the fourth edition and want proper compensation from the EABU.
* Cambodia: It was confirmed by the broadcaster TVK that Cambodia had no plans to return to the contest, but would follow the contest closely.

* Lebanon: The nation was first disqualified back in the fourth edition after the EABU found out the nation was planning on not broadcasting the Israeli performance during the third semi-final, which also resulted in the broadcaster getting sanctions from the EABU. After the incident, TL decided to let things cool of and withdrew from the contest. TL later confirmed that they would not return in the seventh edition.
* Myanmar: MRTV stated that their financial difficulties would prevent them from taking part in the edition, but would like to return to the contest in the near future.
* Saudi Arabia: SBC confirmed that they would not be returning to the contest. To this day, Saudi Arabia's only participation in the contest was in the third edition.
* Singapore: After having fixed "internal problems", the nation was looking forward for a return to the contest, but later stated that a contest like the Eurasian Song Contest wasn't a place for microstates.
* Sri Lanka: Following the current situation in Sri Lanka, SLBC confirmed that the country would not be making a reappearance in the contest, but stated that hopes for a return were "pretty decent".
* Vietnam: VTV stated that a lack of interest from the public as well as Vietnamese artists refusing to represent the nation were enough to keep the country aside from the contest.

## Notes

* **^** Contains few lines in English.
* **^** Contains a repeated line in English.