Azerbaijan, Baku, May 25 /Trend/
It is very important for us to reach this level at Eurovision 2012, Malta's Kurt Calleja said at the at the press conference after the voting of the second Semi-Finals of Eurovision-2012.
"For many years Malta could not reach the finals," Calleja said. "We are very happy that we qualified this year."
Calleja noted that after the semi-finals his friends and family called on him to congratulate on the victory.
Kurt Calleja (born 5 May 1989) is a Maltese singer, representing his country this year at the Eurovision-2012 song contest. He first entered The GO Malta EuroSong 2010 with Priscilla Psaila with the song "Waterfall".
The song qualified from its semi-final, however, the song finished in joint 12th place with 19 points in the final.
Calleja again entered the Maltese national selection; Malta Eurosong 2011. Calleja's entry "Over and Over" qualified from the semi-final, the song finished in third place with 69 points in the final.
His persistence finally paid off, as on February 4, 2012 he won the Maltese national final and will represent Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with the song "This is The Night".
Malta will go under #21 in the finals.
Winners of the second semi-finals of Eurovision Song Contest 2012 that is taking place in Baku, have been announced.
Participants of the following countries will perform in the Grand Final on May 26:
Lithuania (Donny Montell with song Love Is Blind)
Bosnia and Herzegovina (Maya Sar with song Korake Ti Znam)
Serbia (Zeljko Joksimovic - with song Nije Ljubav Stvar)
Ukraine (Gaitana with song Be My Guest)
Sweden (Loreen with song Euphoria)
Macedonia (Kaliopi with song Crno I Belo)
Norway (Tooji with song Stay)
Estonia (Ott Lepland with song Kuula)
Malta (Kurt Calleja with song This Is The Night)
Turkey (Can Bonomo with song Love Me Back)
Participants of the following countries left the contest as a result of the second semi-finals: Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia, The Netherlands, Portugal, Georgia.
The finals of the contest will be hosted on May 26. 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. Twenty more countries (ten from each semi-final) will be performing as well.
Azerbaijan is hosting the 57th contest after in 2011 the country won the right to host the contest at Eurovision 2011 in Dusseldorf, Germany last May.
Representing Azerbaijan at the contest was the Eldar Gasimov and Nigar Jamal (Ell / Nikki) duo with "Running Scared" song. Azerbaijan scored 221 points as the winner of the contest.
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