Eva Rivas

Eva Rivas (Armenian: Եվա Ռիվաս, Russian: Ева Ривас; born Valeria Alexandrovna Reshetnikova-Satouryan, Russian: Валерия Александровна Решетникова-Цатурян, 13 July 1987) is a Russian-Armenian singer.

Early life

Rivas was born and raised in Rostov-on-Don to an Armenian mother and a father of Armenian, Russian and Greek descent. She took the stage name Eva Rivas from her Greek great-grandmother. Growing up in Rostov, she sang in the Armenian "Arevik" ensemble.

Eurovision Song Contest 2010

On 14 February 2010, Rivas won the Armenian National Final and went on to represent Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song "Apricot Stone." She was placed sixth in the semi-final and advanced to the final where she performed 21st in the line-up and placed seventh with a total of 141 points.

To promote her song that year, Rivas visited, prior to the contest, some European countries. Rivas plans to continue to travel around Europe, promoting her song and making new ones. She had wished to represent Armenia again in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012; however, ultimately Armenia did not participate that year.

Apricot Stone

"Apricot Stone" is a song by Eva Rivas that was the Armenian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 held in Oslo, Norway. The song was written by two former Eurovision songwriters: Armen Martirosyan, composer of "Without Your Love", the first Armenian Eurovision entry by André; and Karen Kavaleryan, six-time lyricist for five different countries. The arrangement was provided by nationally recognized arranger and record producer Ara Torosyan.

The song featured the Armenian national music instrument duduk played by famous Armenian `dudukahar' Djivan Gasparyan, one of the oldest persons ever to feature in a Eurovision Song Contest performance, only beaten by Emil Ramsauer (95) of Takasa in 2013 for Switzerland. The instrument is traditionally made of apricot wood.

The apricot, known in Armenia since ancient times, has long been held as an emblem of the country which has been called "The motherland of the apricot." Some have interpreted the lyrics of Apricot Stone to have a political message about the Armenian Genocide. Later in France, an Armenian representative gave a speech confirming this claim.

Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest (French: Concours Eurovision de la chanson), often shortened to ESC or Eurovision, is the longest-running annual TV song competition, held, primarily, among the member countries of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) since 1956. The competition was based upon the existing Sanremo Music Festival held in Italy.

Each participating country submits an original song to be performed on live television and radio and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition. The contest has been broadcast every year for sixty years, since its inauguration in 1956, and is one of the longest-running television programmes in the world. It is also one of the most watched non-sporting events in the world, with audience figures having been quoted in recent years as anything between 100 million and 600 million internationally. Eurovision has also been broadcast outside Europe to several countries that do not compete, such as the USA and China. An exception was made in 2015, when Australia was allowed to compete as a guest entrant as part of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the event. In November 2015, the EBU announced that Australia would return in 2016. Since 2000, the contest has also been broadcast over the Internet, via the Eurovision website.

Song Contest

Song Contest may refer to:

Apricot

An apricot is a fruit or the tree that bears the fruit of several species in the genus Prunus (stone fruits). Usually, an apricot tree is from the species P. armeniaca, but the species P. brigantina, P. mandshurica, P. mume, and P. sibirica are closely related, have similar fruit, and are also called apricots.

Description

The apricot is a small tree, 8–12 m (26–39 ft) tall, with a trunk up to 40 cm (16 in) in diameter and a dense, spreading canopy. The leaves are ovate, 5–9 cm (2.0–3.5 in) long and 4–8 cm (1.6–3.1 in) wide, with a rounded base, a pointed tip and a finely serrated margin. The flowers are 2–4.5 cm (0.8–1.8 in) in diameter, with five white to pinkish petals; they are produced singly or in pairs in early spring before the leaves. The fruit is a drupe similar to a small peach, 1.5–2.5 cm (0.6–1.0 in) diameter (larger in some modern cultivars), from yellow to orange, often tinged red on the side most exposed to the sun; its surface can be smooth (botanically described as: glabrous) or velvety with very short hairs (botanically: pubescent). The flesh is usually firm and not very juicy. Its taste can range from sweet to tart. The single seed is enclosed in a hard, stony shell, often called a "stone", with a grainy, smooth texture except for three ridges running down one side.