Light your fire!
Ott Lepland to represent Estonia in Baku
Baku, March 5 (AZERTAC). Estonia have selected Ott Lepland to sing the ballad Kuula at this year`s Eurovision Song Contest, which will be held in Baku.
A record-breaking 159 songs were sent in to the selection competition held by Estonian broadcaster ERR , the official Eurovision website reported. Out of these songs a total of 20 were picked by a professional jury to go forward to the two semi-finals.
Five songs qualified from each of the two semi-finals of Eesti Laul 2012 over the past two weekends, leaving ten finalists who battled it out on Saturday for two places in the super final.
In the initial round a 50/50 split between televoting and jury votes determined the two super-finalists. The final was held in the Nokia Concert Hall in Tallinn.
An interval held after the first round of performances, then the juries and televoters had a window of opportunity to vote for their favourites. After those votes were calculated, it was announced that the two superfinalists were: Lenna and Ott Lepland
In the superfinal, the winner was decided by televoting and the Estonian TV public picked Ott Lepland, who won 67% of votes. He will represent his home country in Baku with his powerful ballad Kuula.
Estonia will take part in the second half of the Second Semi-Final on Thursday 24 May in Baku.
Having won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2001 with Everybody from Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL, Estonia have struggled since the semi-final system was introduced in 2004. They have only twice managed to qualify for the final, in 2009 with Urban Symphony and in 2011 with Getter Jaani.
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