Azerbaijan, Baku, May 25 / Trend /
Today Baku hosts the second semi-final of Eurovision 2012 song contest.
Eurovision participants from Serbia, F.Y.R. Macedonia, Netherlands, Malta, Belarus, Portugal, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia, Sweden, Georgia, Turkey, Estonia, Slovakia, Norway, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Lithuania participate in the second semi-final.
The contest is being held at the Baku Crystal Hall, built on the shores of the Caspian Sea specifically for Eurovision 2012.
The television audience of Eurovision 2012 is more than 100 million people in 50 world countries.
The participants from Romania, Moldova, Iceland, Hungary, Denmark, Albania, Cyprus, Greece, Russia, and Ireland reached the final following the first semifinal of Eurovision 2012 song contest.
According to Eurovision Song contest rules, five countries plus the host country will automatically move to the finals. They are Azerbaijan, Britain, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.
The grand final will be held on May 26. Representatives of 42 countries participate in this 57th contest starting 00:00 local time that is 8pm GMT.
Azerbaijan won the right to host the prestigious European song contest after the victory of Eldar Gasimov and Nigar Jamal (Ell / Nikki) at Eurovision 2011 in Dusseldorf, Germany last May.