Dilara Kazimova ( ; born 20 May 1984) is an Azerbaijani singer and actress. She represented

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2014 The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 was the 59th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the with the song "Only Teardrops" by Emmelie de Forest. Organised by the European B ...

in Copenhagen with the song " Start a Fire".

Career

Born in

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

, Kazimova studied vocal arts at the

Baku Academy of Music The Hajibeyli Baku Academy of Music (Azeri: ''Hacıbəyli adına Bakı Musiqi Akademiyası'') is a music school in Baku, Azerbaijan. It was established in 1920 in Baku and was previously known as the Hajibeyli Azerbaijan State Conservatoire. H ...

. After graduating, she briefly performed as part of an opera troupe. From the early 2000s, she was a member of the rock band Unformal and later the lead singer for the duo Milk & Kisses. Both bands participated in the Azerbaijani national selection for the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

before, with Unformal placing second in the national final in 2008, and Milk & Kisses placing second again in the national final in 2010. In 2010, the duo Milk & Kisses represented Azerbaijan at the annual New Wave music festival in Jurmala,

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

, but came 16th out of 17 contestants. In 2014, Kazimova participated in the Azerbaijani selection (this time by herself) and won the competition. " Start a Fire", the song with which Dilara represented Azerbaijan in Copenhagen, was released two weeks later, on 16 March 2014, at the same time as the video clip. Dilara performed in the first semi-final of the contest, placing 9th with 57 points and ultimately qualified to the final. In the final she came 22nd with 33 points. Also in 2014, Kazimova was a contestant on the fourth season the Ukrainian reality talent show '' Holos Krayiny'' (part of the international syndication '' The Voice''), under the coaching of

Svyatoslav Vakarchuk Sviatoslav Ivanovych "Slava" Vakarchuk (; born 14 May 1975) is a Ukrainian musician, politician, public activist and soldier. He is the lead vocalist of Okean Elzy, a rock band in Ukraine. Vakarchuk is a formerBrussel" (Brussels). In 2015, Vak ...

. Kazimova has also starred in two Azerbaijani films '' Try Not to Breathe'' (alongside

Fakhraddin Manafov Fakhraddin Manaf oglu Manafov () (born 2 August 1955, in Khankendi, Nagorno-Karabakh, NKAO, Soviet Azerbaijan) is an Azerbaijani actor. Biography He was born in Khankendi, Nagorno-Karabakh. His family moved to Baku when he was around 5. He mad ...

) in 2006 and ''Purgatory'' (for which she recorded the soundtrack "Sonsuz yol" as part of the band Unformal) in 2007. In May 2022, Kazimova performed at the EuroVillage festival in Baku, whose goal is to promote cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan.

Discography

Singles

Filmography

References

21st-century Azerbaijani women singers Musicians from Baku Living people Baku Academy of Music alumni English-language singers from Azerbaijan Azerbaijani film actresses 21st-century Azerbaijani actresses 1984 births The Voice (franchise) contestants The Voice of Ukraine contestants Azerbaijani rock musicians Articles containing video clips Eurovision Song Contest entrants {{Azerbaijan-bio-stub