Philippines' Carmelle wins first Eurovision contest in Asia with 211 points in Bangkok

The Philippines' singer Carmelle Collado has won the first Eurovision song contest staged in Asia. At the grand final held on Saturday night at the One Bangkok Forum in Thailand's capital Bangkok, her pop and rap song Sobra-Sobra received the most votes and took the title.

Known by the single name Carmelle, the singer is 19 years old. She finished the final with 211 points, 41 clear of hosts Thailand. Vietnam came third. Carmelle received the most votes from both the national juries and the public ballot.

Carmelle grew up beside the railway tracks in the Bicol region of south-eastern Luzon in the Philippines. She has been competing in televised talent contests since she was 12.

Her winning song Sobra-Sobra mixes pop and rap with the traditional Philippine instruments kubing and kulintang, and is sung in Tagalog and English.

After her victory, Carmelle said her song celebrated female empowerment and was a tribute to all Filipino women. "I made history, since this was the first time," she said. "It's such a big responsibility for me, because this one is a global stage, so thank you everybody who voted for me."

Before the final she had said the song describes how unapologetic, independent and strong Filipinas are — not just her, but all Filipinas.

Eleven countries competed in this first regional edition of the contest staged outside Europe. The show ran for two and a half hours including advertising. It opened with a routine celebrating the host country, in which Muay Thai fighters shared the stage with performers on street food carts. The 11 acts were then driven on in tuk-tuks, each carrying their national flag.

Vietnam's Toc Tien, a star at home for more than 20 years, performed first, among dancers costumed as lotus leaves. Mang and Daou represented Thailand, a duo assembled for the contest who performed a duet staged like a musical number. Nepal's Pratik Himal Rai sang a rock ballad, Ananta Maya, with fire imagery and a large heart-shaped structure behind him.

Pratik ended his performance by appealing for support for his country, which he said was going through a very hard situation. More than 1,500 people were killed and more than 5,000 reported missing after a rock and ice avalanche near the Chinese border triggered catastrophic flash floods in August.

Bangladesh's Beatmosphere sang without a single instrument. Three members of the nine-member a cappella and beatbox group were left out of the final because a rule caps each act at six performers on stage.

Nyendra from Bhutan sang dressed in the gho, his country's national dress for men, against a backdrop of Himalayan peaks. Mongolia's Beck performed in a reinterpreted deel, also a national costume.

Half the result was decided before the show began. The 11 national juries voted at a dress rehearsal on Friday night and put the Philippines top with 93 points, ahead of Vietnam and Malaysia. The other half came from viewers around the world, who could vote online but not for their own country; each was given eight free votes and the option to buy 10 more.

Laos's entrant Thinla was unable to hear her own music during her performance, and her dress rehearsal was aired once all live performances were over. She finished fifth, with the night's third-highest vote, it was reported.