The Eurovision-2009 song contest held the second semi-final on Thursday to determine another ten countries of the 25 finalists to compete on Saturday night, Itar-Tass reported.

Thursday qualifiers comprised:

Azerbaijan - AySel & Arash with Always, Ukraine - Svetlana Loboda Be My Valentine!, Croatia - Igor Cukrov Lijepa Tena, Lithuania - Sasha Son Love, Moldova - Nelly Ciobanu Hora Din Moldova, Denmark - Brinck Believe Again, Estonia - Urban Symphony Randajad, Norway - Alexander Rybak Fairytale, Greece - Sakis Rouvas This is Our Night, Albania - Kejsi Tola Carry Me in Your Dreams.

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The show was broadcast live from the Olimpiyskiy Arena in Moscow. The theme of the second semi-final was that of modern people and comedy and irony. The atmosphere inside the arena was electric, an array of different flags and colours being waved in every corner.

Nine qualifying countries were picked by televoting, and a tenth finalist was selected by the national juries all over Europe.

They joined the winners of the first semi-final: Turkey - Hadise Dum Tek Tek, Sweden - Malena Ernman La Voix, Israel - Noa & Mira Awad There Must Be Another Way, Portugal - Flor-de-lis Todas As Ruas Do Amor, Malta - Chiara What If We, Finland - Waldo’s People Lose Control, Bosnia & Herzegovina - Regina Bistra Voda, Romania - Elena The Balkan Girls, Armenia - Inga & Anush Jan Jan, and Iceland - Yohanna Is It True?

The remaining five automatic finalists are: UK - Jade Ewen It’s My Time, France - Patricia Kaas Et S`il Fallait Le Faire, Germany - Alex Swings Oscar Sings! Miss Kiss Kiss Bang, Spain - Soraya The Night Is For Me, and Russia - Anastasia Prikhodko Mamo.

Itar-Tass