Alternative Eurovision Song Contest 16

### Opening act

**Semi Final 1:** Qonyratbay Fam performing "Bir An Salam"**Semi Final 2:** Kazakh national dances

**Grand Final:** Saryn performing "Kün Men Ay" and flag parade

### Interval act

**Semi Final 1:** Sasha Holiday performing "Chameleon"**Semi Final 2:** Crystalz performing "Sen Sulu"

**Grand Final:**Qonyratbay Fam performing "Bir An Salam" and Beybit Quşqalïev performing "Ayaqtı qïmıldat"

## Participants

### Returning countries

 **Cyprus** **Estonia**

 **Hungary**

 **Portugal**

### Withdrawing countries

 **Andorra** **Belarus**

 **Chile**

 **Italy**

 **Kosovo**

 **Venezuela**

## Vote

### Voting system

Each country awardes 12, 10, 8-1 points to their 10 favourite songs

### Label

**Alternative Eurovision Song Contest 16**, often referred to as **AESC 16**, was the 16th edition of the Alternative Eurovision Song Contest. . The contest was hosted in **Almaty, Kazakhstan**  after **Qonyratbay Fam** won in last edition, in **Barcelona**   with song *"Bir An Salam"*

## Location - Almaty

Almaty , formerly known as Alma-Ata and Verniy , is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of 2,039,376 people, about 11% of the country's total population, and more than 2.7 million in its built-up area that encompasses Talgar, Boraldai, Otegen Batyr and many other suburbs. It served as capital of the Soviet and later independent Kazakhstan from 1929 to 1997. In 1997, the government relocated the capital to Astana (known as "Nur-Sultan" as of 23 March 2019) in the north of the country and about 12 hours away by train. Almaty continues as the major commercial and cultural centre of Kazakhstan, as well as its most populous and most cosmopolitan city. The city is located in the mountainous area of southern Kazakhstan near the border with Kyrgyzstan in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau at an elevation of 700–900 m (2,300–3,000 feet), where the Large and Small Almatinka rivers run into the plain. The city has been part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in the area of music since November 2017. The city was the host for a 1978 international conference on Primary Health Care where the Alma Ata Declaration was adopted, marking a paradigm shift in global public health.

## Venue - Almaty Arena

Almaty Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Arena was opened in 18 September 2016 and seat 28,000 spectators for ice hockey. Apart from hosting ice hockey matches, the arena is venue for boxing, figure skating, basketball, concerts, and other events. It is one of the venues to host the 2017 Winter Universiade. The arena is located in the north of punched Ryskulov Avenue, to the west from Momyshuly street in the Alatau District.

 Nur-Sultan
 Almaty
 Kyzylorda

## Hosts - Kamshat Zholdybayeva and Beybit Quşqalïev

**Kamshat Zholdybayeva** - Kazakh singer and television presenter. Former member of the KESH YOU band. Kamshat was born in January 28, 1988 in Aqtau. During AESC 9, she took part in Kazakh selections, during which she took second place.

**Beybit Quşqalïev -** is a popular artist from Kazakhstan. Artist's music videos reached 7.3M total views, 21.1K likes, and 4.1K dislikes . The highest Beybit Kushkaliev 's charting position is #4 , and the worst ranking place is #154 . Beybit Kushkaliev's songs spent 61 weeks in the charts. Most climbed song of Beybit Kushkaliev reached +105 positions up. The worst movement is 20 places down. He represented Kazakhstan during AEC 7 in Valencia, and finished seventh.

## Other Countries

* **Andorra -** The head of the Andoer delegation decided that Andorra would not participate in the sixteenth edition, without giving specific reasons.
* **Belarus -** The Belarusian Broadcasting Union, on February 12, decided to quit the competition for financial reasons and low interest in the overall contest
* **Italy** -After Italy took the last place in the semi-final, the Italian head of delegation decided that the annual competition of the Italian musician "Sanremo" will not decide the song representing Italy at AESC. Unfortunately, the Italian Broadcasting Union did not find any representative, and temporarily left the competition. Due to the departure of the competition after the official deadline, a fine was imposed on Italian television.
* **Kosovo -** Due to the low budget, Kosovo's broadcasting union decided to quit the competition until the financial affairs of the state were stabilized.