My Last Eurovision Thread (Go Armenia!)

At the last minute, Croatia has released a professional video for Moja Stikla.

Also, in the All Kinds of Everything poll, Bosnia and Herzegovina is ranked in first place:

Armenia is #12 in that poll.

An article from the BBC:

Choosing a song for Europe may be a frivolous affair for some countries, but in the Balkans it is a sensitive matter which can have serious consequences.

Serbia-Montenegro withdrew after a row over its contest to find a song

Let's face it. Most of Europe doesn't take it very seriously.

But as Aleksandar Tijanic, the powerful head of Serbian Television, reminded me: "It is difficult to understand if you don't understand the Balkans."

We are talking about the Eurovision Song Contest of course.

The first took place in Switzerland in 1956 and only eight countries took part.

Britain, Austria and Denmark were not represented because they failed to get their applications in on time.

What a difference half a century makes.

This year 37 countries will be jostling for the prize in Athens on 20 May and four of them, Macedonia, Bosnia, Croatia and Slovenia, will be ex-Yugoslav states who take the contest very seriously indeed.

And next year there could be three more of them: Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo.

Balkan odyssey

I began my Balkan Eurovision odyssey in Kosovo. The reason that they in particular take the contest so seriously is because they are not going.

Technically, Kosovo is a province of Serbia.

In fact, ever since the end of the war here in 1999, it has been under UN jurisdiction with security provided by Nato-led forces.

Kosovo has a population of some two million people, more than 90% of whom are ethnic Albanians.

They have consistently demanded independence, but this has been fiercely resisted by Serbia, which regards it as the cradle of its civilisation.

Some 100,000 Serbs remain in Kosovo, mostly scattered across the province in enclaves.

Rank treachery?

In theory, Kosovo Albanian bands could compete in Eurovision under the flag of Serbia and Montenegro.

Flakareshat would rather compete for an independent Kosovo

In reality, they would never be chosen and besides, no Kosovo Albanian would ever consider doing such a thing, which would be considered rank treachery by fellow Albanians.

So for the last few years, Kosovo Albanian groups such as energetic girl-band Flakareshat have gone to Tirana, the capital of Albania, to compete.

If they had ever won, they would have competed under the flag of Albania.

But no band from Kosovo has been chosen. Yet another reason, say Kosovo Albanians, why it needs independence.

In fact, talks have started on the future of Kosovo and it is quite likely that, despite resistance from Serbia, Kosovo will be independent in time for the Eurovision song contest in 2007.

Political points

Over the mountains to the West is Kosovo's neighbour, Montenegro.

Montenegrin band No Name won for the second time this year

In theory, this tiny republic of some 672,000 people is linked in a loose federation with Serbia.

In last year's Eurovision contest, a boy band called No Name represented the joint state in Kiev.

Much to the irritation of Serbs though, No Name draped themselves in the flag of Montenegro, not Serbia and Montenegro.

The Serbs thought that the band were abusing the contest to score political points.

In the Balkans it was understood that sporting the Montenegrin flag meant supporting independence from Serbia.

There was no political motivation Milica Belevic, Montenegrin judge

This year the contest to choose a band from Serbia and Montenegro took place in Belgrade on 11 March.

A few hours earlier the former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic had been found dead in his cell at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

When No Name won for the second year, the Serbs in the audience went berserk. They began chucking bottles at No Name and screaming: "Thieves! Thieves!"

"There was no political motivation," said Milica Belevic, one of the Montenegrin judges.

It is a claim that is widely disbelieved in Serbia.

Independence vote

As far as the Serbs were concerned the Montenegrins were desperate to get their boys back on stage in Athens strutting their stuff and flying the flag for Montenegro.

Montenegro is gearing up for a referendum on 21 May

Why the desperation? Less than 12 hours after the Eurovision contest, the polls open in Montenegro for a very different form of competition.

On 21 May, Montenegrins are set to vote in a referendum on independence from Serbia.

The Belgrade battle of Eurovision means that this year Serbia and Montenegro has had to withdraw from the contest.

Next year, depending on what happens in the referendum, they might be competing as separate states.

"Yugoslavia was divided with guns," laughed Sabrija Vulic of Montenegrin Television, "and Serbia and Montenegro will be divided by songs!"

In neighbouring Bosnia they will not actually say they are happy that Serbia and Montenegro have been forced to drop out of the contest but they are not exactly shedding tears about it either.

It means that the pool of potential votes for Bosnia has risen by several million.

Shrewd choice

Bosnia has chosen Hari - and his band Hari Mata Hari - to sing for them in Athens this year.

It's very important for morale, that at last we win here! Hari Mata Hari, Bosnian entry

It is shrewd choice. Hari was well known before Yugoslavia descended into war in the 1990s and he is still popular across the region.

The Eurovision Song Contest website calls Hari "the nightingale of Sarajevo". He told me he was "the nightingale of the galaxy".

But behind the humour, there is a steely determination to win.

Hari says that ever since the end of the war in Bosnia more than 10 years ago, Bosnians have felt as though they were "losing".

So, he says, "it's very important for morale, that at last we win here!"

And Hari is leaving nothing to chance.

He has already started a gruelling promotional tour across the former Yugoslavia and in parts of the rest of Europe with a significant diaspora from the former Yugoslavia.

Bosnia and Serbia may be slugging it out these days at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, where Bosnia is pursuing its claim that Serbia tried to commit genocide in Bosnia, but none of that is going to stop former Yugoslavs voting for one another in Athens on 20 May.

"The state still exists, it seems," says head of Serbian TV Aleksandar Tijanic, referring to the Yugoslav ghost.

"You can't erase 70 years of a joint state despite all the wars."

1	Spain	Az�car Moreno - Bandido	mp3	vid
2	Greece	Christos Callow - Horis skopo	mp3	vid
3	Belgium	Philippe Lafontaine - Mac�domienne	mp3	vid
4	Turkey	Kayahan - G�zlerinin hapsindeyim	mp3	vid
5	Netherlands	Maywood - Ik wil alles met je delen	mp3	vid
6	Luxembourg	C�line Carzo - Quand je te r�ve	mp3	vid
7	United Kingdom	Emma - Give A Little Love Back To The World	mp3	vid
8	Iceland	Stj�rnin - Eitt lag enn	mp3	vid
9	Norway	Ketil Stokkan - Brandenburger tor	mp3	vid
10	Israel	Rita - Shara barkhovot	mp3	vid
11	Denmark	Lonnie Devantier - Hallo, Hallo	mp3	vid
12	Switzerland	Egon Egemann - Musik klingt in die Welt hinaus	mp3	vid
13	Germany	Chris Kempers & Daniel Kovac - Frei zu Leben	mp3	vid
14	France	Jo�lle Ursull - White & Black Blue	mp3	vid
15	Yugoslavia	Tajci - Hajde da ludujemo	mp3	vid
16	Portugal	Nucha - H� sempre algu�m	mp3	vid
17	Ireland	Liam Reilly - Somewhere In Europe	mp3	vid
18	Sweden	Edin-�dahl - Som en vind	mp3	vid
19	Italy	Toto Cutugno - Insieme 1992	mp3	vid
20	Austria	Simone - Keine Mauern mehr	mp3	vid
21	Cyprus	Haris Anastasiou - Milas poli	mp3	vid
22	Finland	Beat - Fri?	mp3	vid

Here is the music video for Croatias entry, Moja Stikla

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3wMLZlICR4&search=euroso ng%20croatia

Romania has sent a few great singers. Last year, this Gypsy woman... just about took my breath away. I loved her so much!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiV5QtEy4FA

Isn't she? I always thought she was Roma.

01. Russian Rehearsals
02. Turkish Rehearsals
03. Ukrainian Rehearsals
04. Finnish Rehearsals
05. Dutch Rehearsals
06. Lithuanian Rehearsals
07. Portuguese Rehearsals
08. Swedish Rehearsals
09. Bosnia & Herzegovina Rehearsal

Hari Mata Hari, second rehearsal for Lejla:



And a review from "All Kinds of Everything":

"This was amazing, shivers down your spine kind of stuff. The routine such as it is remains the same. Hari walks forward, the "slepping" backing musicians slowly come to life and play their instruments and the all walk slowly towards the front of the stage at the end. Hari is in a beautiful white suit with a long jacket and while I didn't get to see him close up on camera he did look better than Friday. This clashed with Carola's Press Conference, but still drew a huge crowd of people who really appreciated it. This is sailing into the final, and is in a three way race with Sweden and Russia to win the semi. My only worry is that it may take votes from Ireland."

Woohoo! SRETNO LEJLA!

Originally posted by Mila Coverage of Iceland's entry... I LOVE her... Would she or wouldn't she? The sound checks kicked off as the audience waited to know wether Silvia was all mouth or if she would go through with her risqu� lyics. As the song came on Silvia launched into her performance with great gusto and sang loudly and clearly "The vote is in, I f**king win!" with a middle finger up, to a cheer from the half of the spectators and shocked faces from the other half. As Silvia launched herself down the stiletto slide, she hit the bottom rather too quickly, which caused a brief cut in the vocals. From bad girl to worse girl As a second run through comenced Silvia's problems did not stop there. Her mic box came loose and fell clattering to the floor, silencing her vocal. The track was stopped and a technician rushed over to help her, to which she replied "F**king amateurs! I have to do everything my f**king self!" before grabbing the box back and fixing it back on. She promptly marched back to the stiletto shoe and commanded "Play!" to the floor manager. He in turn demanded of her "Play please", to which she, with little to lose by now, replied "F**k off!". He capitulated, and the track was restarted, and she made it through the first full run-through. The split audience granted Silvia a mixture of applause and booing following this. Feisty as ever, Silvia turned on them next, calling them "f**king retards", to gasps and unbelieving laughter. She seemed to settle down for the next couple of run-throughs, which may have had something to do with being threatened by a 'chat' from the floor manager. After being taped twice, her rehearsal was over, and she left proclaiming "They love me! I was so good. I was perfect!"

see  http://www.silvianott.com/

Bosnia's own Tinka Milinovic, part of the band representing Switzerland, first rehearsal: