Mystical Song Contest 9

The Mystical Song Contest #9 (also known as MSC 9) was the ninth edition of the Mystical Song Contest. It took place in Astana, 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan after Luina won in Glasgow, 🇬🇧 United Kingdom.

It was confirmed that 50 countries participated in the 9th edition. 🇮🇳 India and 🇮🇩 Indonesia debuted while 🇨🇿 Czech Republic, 🇰🇵 North Korea withdrew.

The top 6 of last edition 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan, 🇰🇷 South Korea, 🇭🇺 Hungary, 🇭🇷 Croatia, 🇵🇱 Poland and The Netherlands were automatically pre qualified for the Grand Final of this edition. The 44 others participating countries were split into 2 semi finals.

The running orders were made by the supervisor of the contest ESC Thømås.

Astana
Astana is the capital city of Kazakhstan. It is located on the banks of the Ishim River in the north portion of Kazakhstan, within the Akmola Region, though administered separately from the region as a city with special status. The 2017 official estimate reported a population of 1,029,556 within the city limits, making it the second-largest city in Kazakhstan, behind Almaty.

Astana became the capital city of Kazakhstan in 1997, and since then has developed economically into one of the most modernized cities in Central Asia, with futuristic-looking buildings designed by world famous architects.

Modern Astana is a planned city, like Brasília in Brazil, Canberra in Australia, and Washington, D.C. in the United States and other planned capitals. After Astana became the capital of Kazakhstan, the city cardinally changed its shape. The master plan of Astana was designed by Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa. As the seat of the Government of Kazakhstan, Astana is the site of the Parliament House, the Supreme Court, the Ak Orda Presidential Palace and numerous government departments and agencies. It is home to many futuristic buildings, hotels and skyscrapers. Astana also has extensive healthcare, sports and education systems.

The settlement of Akmoly, also known as Akmolinsky prikaz, was established on the Ishim River in 1830 as the seat of an okrug by a unit of the Siberian Cossacks headed by Fyodor Shubin. The name was possibly given after a local landmark—Akmola literally means a white grave in Kazakh—although this theory is not universally accepted. In 1832, the settlement was granted town status and named Akmolinsk. The fairly advantageous position of the town was clear as early as 1863 in an abstract from the Geographic and Statistical Dictionary of the Russian Empire. It describes how picket roads and lines connected this geographic center to Kargaly in the East, Aktau fort in the South and through Atbasar to Kokchetav in the West. In 1838, at the height of the great national and liberation movement headed by Kenesary Khan, Akmolinsk fortress was burned. After the repression of the liberation movement, the fortress was rebuilt. On 16 July 1863, Akmolinsk was officially declared an uyezd town. During the rapid development of the Russian capitalist market, the huge Saryarka areas were actively exploited by the colonial administration. To draft regulation governing the Kazakh Steppe the Government of the Russian Empire formed Steppe Commission in 1865. On 21 October 1868, Tsar Alexander II signed a draft Regulation on governing Turgay, Ural, Akmolinsk and Semipalatinsk Oblasts. In 1869, Akmolinsk external district and department were cancelled, and Akmolinsk became the center of the newly established Akmolinsk Oblast.[citation needed] In 1879, Major General Dubelt proposed to build a railway between Tyumen and Akmolinsk to the Ministry of Communications of Russia.[citation needed] In the course of the first 30 years of its existence, the population of Akmola numbered a trifle more than 2,000 people. However, over the next 30 years the city's population increased by three times according to volosts and settlements of the Akmolinsk Oblast. In 1893, Akmolinsk was an uyezd with a 6,428 strong population, 3 churches, 5 schools and colleges and 3 factories.[citation needed]

Host of the show
On September 25, 2018 it was announced that Luina was the host of the Mystical Song Contest 9.

Luina ( Kazakh: Luina, real name Luiza Karinbaeva ; Zhanaozen, Mangistau Oblast , Kazakhstan ) is a Kazakhstani singer, Singer of the Year 2012 by Cosmopolitan magazine , Woman of the Year 2012 by the Fun Fearless Female award.

Louise Karinbaeva was born on May 25, 1987 in the city of Zhanaozen. From the age of 5 she was brought up by grandfather and grandmother in Aktau. After graduating from high school, she entered the Astrakhan Financial University, but always dreamed of a career as a singer. She began to show vocal abilities from an early age - as a teenager she composed her own songs and took part in various music competitions. Later, she began to receive job offers as a vocalist in Aktau and Aktobe restaurants, and sang as part of a local music group.

A breakthrough in her career came in 2010, when she reached the semifinals of the Kazakhstan version of the X Factor music talent competition. The National Development Group's producer center offered the singer cooperation, as a result of which the Luina project was launched. in 2016 their contract ended and after she began her new career.

Since 2017, the singer began working with a long-time friend - Aslan Tleubaev. In the first year of collaboration, they launched 2 clips and 3 songs. The very first work on the song Hey Yo, gaining popularity and gaining in YouTube - more than 9 million views. And in 2018, this song receives recognition as the Best Song according to the EMA Eurasian Music Award.

The first single, Luina, entitled “The Moon,” quickly and permanently took leading places in domestic music charts. Luina’s next track, “Odin,” recorded with rapper BigSom, made a splash on the Internet. The video clip for the song gained over 2.5 million views on YouTube video hosting, and also received wide rotation on music channels. The composition “Titanic”, recorded with the participation of popular Russian rappers ST and Pencil, found a response not only from the Kazakhstani audience, but also from the Russian one. For about 8 weeks, the track was on the top of the music charts of the RuTV and A-One channels. In addition, the song is rotated on MTV Russia Russian and Musix Box, as well as on Europa Plus, Russian Radio and LoveRadio. In the summer of 2013, Luina released the single Astana, dedicated to the celebration of the fifteenth anniversary of the Kazakh capital. For the video, photos of fans were used, sent as a congratulation to the main city of the Republic. In addition to her own tracks, Luina writes covers for popular songs by international artists: Diamonds, Someone Like You, My Heart is Refusing Me.

Debuting/Withdrawing
On September 25, 2018 it was announced that 2 countries won't participate in the 9th edition.


 * 🇨🇿 Czech Republic : CT the Czech Broadcaster, stated that the country won't participate due to financial problems. The last participation of the country was in the 8th edition.
 * 🇰🇵 North Korea : KCT was forced to withdraw since North Korea was a guest country. The last participation of the country was in the 8th edition.

On September 25, 2018 it was also announced that 2 countries will debut in the 9th edition.


 * 🇮🇳 India : After asking for the full MBU membership, India was invited to debut as a guest country.
 * 🇮🇩 Indonesia : Kazakhstan invited Indonesia to join the contest as a guest country.

Returning Artists
Here is the list of the returning artists for the 9th edition.

Semi Finals
On September 26, 2018 the supervisor of the contest ESC Thømås revealed the running order of both semi finals.

The big 6 members were assigned to a semi final where they had to vote.

A total of 22 countries competed in each semi final and 10 countries qualified in both.

Semi Final 1
In this semi final 🇰🇷 South Korea, 🇭🇺 Hungary and 🇭🇷 Croatia had to vote.

Semi Final 2
In this semi final 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan, 🇵🇱 Poland and The Netherlands had to vote.

Grand Final
On October 6, 2018 the supervisor of the contest ESC Thømås revealed the running order of the grand final.