CASC 09

CASC 09
The 9th Central-Asian Song Contest, often referred to as CASC 09, was the ninth edition of the Central-Asian Song Contest, a music competition based in and around Central Asia. After Turkmenistan's win of the previous edition with Abadan Halmedova and her song "Aldama", the contest was held in Ashgabat.

Ashgabat is both the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan and has a population of around 1 million. The city lies between the Karakum Desert and the Kopetdag mountain range.

Participating Countries
A total of 34 countries took part in the edition.

Returning Countries
All 28 regular countries that had participated in the previous edition returned in CASC 09. The edition also featured 6 guest countres with just one of them having participated in previous editions.

Debuting Countries
The edition featured 5 debuting countries. Those were the guest countries Bahrain, Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait and Oman.

Withdrawing Countries
A total of 4 countries withdrew from the competition. All 4 countries were guest countries and did not appear on the published list due to not being invited. These 4 countries are Egypt, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Yemen.

First Semi Final
The First Semi Final of CASC 09 featured 15 countries, out of which a total of 10 countries qualified to the Grand Final. Two additional countries got a ticket for the Wildcard Round. The table below shows all countries in their official running order.

These countries qualified for the Grand Final.

These countries qualified for the Wildcard Round.

Second Semi Final
The Second Semi Final of CASC 09 featured 15 countries, out of which a total of 10 countries qualified to the Grand Final. Two additional countries got a ticket for the Wildcard Round. The table below shows all countries in their official running order.

These countries qualified for the Grand Final.

These countries qualified for the Wildcard Round.

Automatic Qualifiers
CASC 09 featured four Automatic Qualifiers, which were pre-qualified for the Grand Final and therefore skipped the Semi Final stage. The Automatic Qualifiers included the host country, Turkmenistan. The table below shows the Automatic Qualifier's songs.

Wildcard Round
The Wildcard Round of CASC 09 featured 4 countries, out of which one additional country qualified to the Grand Final. The table below shows all countries in their official running order.

This country qualified for the Grand Final.

Grand Final
The Grand Final of the ninth Central-Asian Song Contest featured 25 countries and was won by Bangladesh. The winner Xefer and her song "Harbona (হারবো না)" received a total of 192 Points. The table below shows all countries in their official running order.