Aobour Fest
Aobour Fest is a joint national final that is used to select the representatives of both the nations of Aonach and Nicolas' Neighbour at the Internatia Song Contest. It is organised by the broadcasters of both nations, the Aonachian broadcaster RTVRA and the Neighbourian broadcaster BNN, to select their representatives due to the close cultural and political ties between the two nations, as well as to improve their results at the contest.
Aobour Fest has been hosted twice so far, selecting representatives for the Internatia Song Contest 26 and Internatia Song Contest 29. Both finals generated high viewing figures in their respective nations, and the national final is credited with the rising viewing figures in Aonach, where interest in ISC was said to be at an all-time low before the Internatia Song Contest 26.
Origin of the contest
Due to poor results achieved by the Aonachian broadcaster RTVRA, it was decided by members of the Internatia Song Contest to change the selection of the Aonachian entrant. Internal selections of well-known Aonachian artists was not a formula for success at the contest since the 18th edition. Therefore, RTVRA approached the broadcaster from Nicolas' Neighbour, BNN, to come together and produce a high-quality national selection that would select both nations' entrants at the contest. Both nations have very close cultural and political ties, as well as the fact that singers from both nations being popular in the other nation.
Hosting
It was decided that the contest would not be used for every Internatia Song Contest, but for every third contest. The contest would be hosted in Láirge, Aonach for the inaugural edition. The second contest was hosted in the capital city of Nicolas' Neighbour, Baus-Ia. It was therefore decided to rotate the hosting of the contest i.e. Aonach will host the 3rd contest.
Voting
The current voting format is a positional voting system similar to that used at the Internatia Song Contest. Televoting is held in both nations for the national final. Each nation awards 12, 10, 8 & 7 points to the other nation's songs. Each nation cannot give points to its own songs, but both nations allow the televoters to vote for their own songs to see which song is the televoting favourite of each nation.
Regional juries from each of the nations competing at the Internatia Song Contest are invited to vote in the national final, and they must rank the songs from 1st to 8th place, using the same positional voting system. The song with the most points at the end is declared the overall winner. The song that came first for each nation is the song that will go to the Internatia Song Contest.
Contests
Aobour Fest 1
Aobour Fest 1 was the inaugural edition of the Aobour Fest format, a joint National Final between Aonach and Nicolas' Neighbour. It was hosted by RTVRA and hosted in the capital city of Aonach, Láirge, in the Palais de Musique, which also hosted the Internatia Second Chance Contest 11.
Four songs were chosen by each broadcaster and competed against each other. 10 juries from 10 nations competing at the Internatia Song Contest voted in the national final, alongside Televoting from both Aonach and Nicolas' Neighbour.
| Order | Participant | Song | Language | Placing | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Linnea Henriksson
|
"Min Stad" | Swedish | 7th | 68 |
| 2 |  Elena Gheorghe
|
"De Neinlocuit" | Romanian | 5th | 72 |
| 3 | The Common Linnets
|
"Lovers And Liars" | English | 3rd | 85 |
| 4 | Molly Sandén
|
"Spread A Little Light" | English | 6th | 69 |
| 5 | Árstíðir
|
" Ljóð Í Sand" | Icelandic | 4th | 75 |
| 6 | Anna Tsuchiya
|
"Rose" | English | 8th | 62 |
| 7 | Andru Donalds & Evgenia Vlasova
|
"Wind Of Hope" | English | 2nd | 93 |
| 8 | Laura Jansen & Tom Chaplin
|
"Same Heart" | English | 1st | 100 |
| Draw | Artist | |
|
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 |
 |
 |
 |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Linnea
|
8 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 68 | |
| 2 | Elena
|
8 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 12 | 72 | |
| 3 | Common Linnets
|
10 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 3 | 7 | 85 | |
| 4 | Molly
|
10 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 69 | |
| 5 | Árstíðir
|
12 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 75 | |
| 6 | Anna
|
7 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 62 | |
| 7 | Andru & Evgenia
|
7 | 12 | 12 | 3 | 7 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 93 | |
| 8 | Laura & Tom
|
12 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 4 | 5 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 12 | 10 | 100 |
Laura Jansen, who represented Nicolas' Neighbour at the Internatia Song Contest 12 won the overall selection alongside Tom Chaplin with the ballad "Same Heart", and would represent Aonach at the Internatia Song Contest 26. Andru Donalds & Evgenia Vlasova, who placed second, would represent Nicolas' Neighbour at the same contest. Neither song managed to set the scoreboard on fire in Yottobán, Chruno. Nicolas' Neighbour did not manage to qualify from the first semi-final, placing 19th in the end. Aonach managed to qualify for the final, but only managed to place 22nd out of 27 in the final.
Nevertheless, high viewing figures were recorded for the national final in each nation, and the competitive spirit between both nations was deemed exciting and excellent for improving the relations between both nations' public even more. Furthermore, RTVRA decided to send Elena Gheorghe, who placed 5th in the final (2nd of Aonach's songs), to the Internatia Song Contest 28, where she came 16th, Aonach's best result since the Internatia Song Contest 17.
Aobour Fest 2
Aobour Fest 1 was the second edition of the Aobour Fest format, a joint National Final between Aonach and Nicolas' Neighbour. It was hosted by RTVRA and hosted in the city of Nan'ji in Nicolas' Neighbour,
Four songs were chosen by each broadcaster and competed against each other. 9 juries from 9 nations competing at the Internatia Song Contest voted in the national final, alongside Televoting from both Aonach and Nicolas' Neighbour.
| Order | Participant | Song | Language | Placing | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2ne1
|
"Come Back" | Korean | 5th | 69 |
| 2 | MØ
|
""Walk This Way" | English | 7th | 63 |
| 3 | Hannah Pakarinen
|
"Go Go" | English | 2nd | 80 |
| 4 | Marlene
|
"Indian Summer" | English | 1st | 82 |
| 5 | The Coronas
|
"All The Others" | English | 8th | 58 |
| 6 | Kim-Lian
|
"Garden Of Love" | English | 3rd | 79 |
| 7 | Inna Voronova
|
"Ty Ne Moj"" | Ukranian | 6th | 64 |
| 8 | Natalie
|
"Nello Spechhio" | Italian | 4th | 74 |
| Draw | Artist | |
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Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2ne1
|
7 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 12 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 69 | |
| 2 | MØ
|
10 | 3 | 12 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 63 | |
| 3 | Hannah
|
8 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 10 | 7 | 10 | 3 | 8 | 80 | |
| 4 | Marlene
|
10 | 12 | 6 | 12 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 82 | |
| 5 | The Coronas
|
7 | 7 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 58 | |
| 6 | Kim-Lian
|
12 | 8 | 3 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 10 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 79 | |
| 7 | Inna
|
8 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 12 | 64 | |
| 8 | Natalie
|
12 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 10 | 74 |
Marlene, won the overall selection with the up-temp song "Indian Summer", and would represent Nicolas' Neighbour at the Internatia Song Contest 29. Kim-Lian Van Der Meij who placed third, would represent Aonach at the same contest.
Both RTVRA and the Aonachian public were rather disappointed with the results obtained by the Aonachian artists, especially the one by MØ, who was the public favourite of Aonach.
Statistics
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