#esc montenegro

[demi-eurovision]

Come into me from within

We can be as one in the sin

Slavko is such a legend! Does anyone know if he met Käärijä during the Eurovision cruise recently?

[escgaloreph]

Wishing a happy birthday to Mikolas Josef (Czechia, 2018) & Slavko Kalezić (Montenegro, 2017)! 🎉🎂✨🍰🥳

May your voices always be filled with passion and your respective journey succeed. Keep singing and keep on shining.

[eurovision-facts]

Eurovision Fact #790:

The artists taking part in Montesong 2025 have been announced and 10 out of 16 artists are Montenegrin, which the contest director was pleasantly surprised by since "the competition was open to authors from all over the world."

The complete list of artists and songs is as follows:

Anastasija Koprolčec - "Kraj" Bend "9" - "Stop War" Boban Rajović - "Suze" Dolce Hera - "Repeat" Đurđa - "To Ljubav Je" Glumci Bend - "San" Isak Šabanović - "Ljeto, Ljeto, Ljeto" Kejt - "Obala Raja" Luka Perazic & Rade Vukčević - "Dva Srca" Luka Radović - "Kada Dođe Maj" Milena Vučić - "Škorpija" Nemanja Petrović - "Među Zvijezdama" Neonoen - "Clickbait" Nina Žižić - Dobro Došli Tina Džankić - Nova Verica Čuljković - Čuješ Li

[Source]

"Montenegro 2025: Artists announced for 'Montesong'," Eurovision.tv.

[vintageurovision]

Debuting countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004

Albania: Anjeza Shahini - The Image Of You [x]

Andorra: Marta Roure - Jugarem A Estimar-nos [x]

Belarus: Alexandra & Konstantin - My Galileo [x]

Serbia & Montenegro: Željko Joksimović - Lane Moje [x]

[eurovision-revisited]

Eurovision 2004 - Number 7 - Željko Joksimović - "Lane Moje"

He's here. The man who's written five of the all time Eurovision greats. The man who's done more to popularise the concept of the Balkan Ballad than any other artist in Eurovision. It's Željko.

Željko is a name that's going to be appearing regularly in my blogs over the next few years, so let's get to know the man. He's multi-instrumentalist. Starting with the accordion at a young age, he was named First Accordion in Europe at the age of 12 at a Europe-wide competition. His singing and playing began to conquer first his home country of Serbia then further into the Balkans. He had a number one in the charts with 7 Godina (7 Years). Between 1999 and 2003 he released three big studio albums with his first major recording contract.

To top it all, his song-writing was becoming even more impressive than his singing. He wrote Čija si (Whose Are You?) the song with which Toše Proeski won the 2003 edition of Beovizija and which would have gone to Eurovision in that year if the EBU had organised itself a bit better.

That gets us to 2004. He and song-writing partner Leontina Vukomanović both entered Evropesma 2004, the new competition to select Serbia & Montenegro's debut/return entry for Eurovision. For that honour Lane Moje (My Darling) was created. It's in the style of an ethno/Balkan ballad, using traditional instrumentation and modes to create an atmosphere of devastating melancholy. A lover is so disconsolate that he asks his devoted partner to leave him. He wants nothing but happiness for her, he loves her dearly, but he feels that he cannot give her anything in return. He dare not love any more, even if that devotion is returned. He is a broken man.

Huge props must go to Leontina for the lyrics to this song. They are hauntingly beautiful. Just the translation of the first verse:

When I think of you I'm afraid of loving you again I sink my teeth into my blue lips To forget the real pain

Wow. And Željko not only sings this beautifully, but he sells that indigo brooding perfectly. Of course it won Evropesma. It won by a mile, getting almost double the score of second place. Going to Eurovision this year for Serbia & Montenegro was a big thing. It was a huge moment. The return of the last former country of Yugoslavia, representing not only national pride and confidence but also a healing of wounds on behalf of all the other former Yugoslav countries as well as Europe as a whole - even if there will be another fracturing in three years time. In Željko and Lane Moje, they had the perfect representative and song to take Europe's hearts.

It cruised through the new semi-final, topping that scoreboard winning Željko millions of new fans outside his home region. In the final he was just pipped by another country who were going to become their own force of nature of Eurovision - but this moment in 2004 welded Serbia back to Eurovision permanently and Željko now has a place among the pantheon of greats and his songs are among the best to have ever appeared at Eurovision.

He'll be back.

[aijamisespava]

BREAKING: Montenegro Releases Their National Final Songs!

Montenegro has already made headlines by announcing that they are making a return to Eurovision. And they certainly want to be on the list of "First Released/Announced Eurovision Songs" this year. Pending any internally selected songs we may not know about (we know Theo Evan's song for Cyprus will likely be released around February/March 2025), they could very well do it!

Today, Montenegro released the 16 songs that will perform in their National Final "Eurosong" on the 27th of November. So, in a little over 2 weeks, we will have our first Eurovision song of the year!

This year, Montenegro has a wide selection of songs of different genres. Bend "9" and Baryak bring rock to the table with their songs "Stop War" and "Dva Srca," respectively. We also have some fun pop songs like "Nova" by Tina Džankić. And for fellow ballad fans, we have our fair share of those including "Kraj" by Anastasija Koprolčec, "Obala raja" by KEJT, and my personal favorite of the selection "To ljubav je" by Đurđa.

[neprebolni-gorki-sat]

Absolutely losing my mind over the fact that a decent chunk of the ESC finals this year is just a reunion of Balkan and/or ex-Yu countries peace and love on planet Earth

[anotherescsite]

Decade of Success and Failure - Semi final edition: Montenegro

Lowest in the average score and average placings is Montenegro. Only two qualifiers to the final in the last ten years. They were absent for a few as well.

[betweenthetimeandsound]

Jelena Tomašević -- Jutro (Evropesma 2005)

"Hej, suzice, brojanice more ti je postelja prošao si sve stanice, samo meni više doći nećeš..."

"Hey, little tears, my rosaries, the sea is your bed now, you have passed all the stops, but only to me you will never come..."

If you remember my 250, you might recognize Jelena with her song Oro in 2008. It's a haunting, melancholic gem, with beautiful imagery and sadness about Jelena's lost love. I thought I would be put off it, but it grew on me, and became my winner.

Jutro, on the other hand, was love at first listen.

Using oceanic elements instead of those based on wheat, it's a lament about a lost love. From the flow of the melody, it feels like Jelena was waiting for her love to come, before realizing her lover has drowned in the waves, and probably died herself "my breasts hurt like sails/for my life has come to an end". (Strange imagery, but it gets at the angst.) Combined with Zeljko's composition, it makes for a heart wrenching tale.

Jutro was also involved in one of the most controversial NFs ever (every Evropesma ever), in which Zeljko might have gotten too cocky and planned a party prior to the final, both sides accused the other of blanking songs from the other broadcaster, and it ended up a total mess which would mark the beginning of the end of Serbia-Montenegro as a country.

The winner, Zauvijek Moja, came in seventh at Eurovision 2005 (and became the basis of Love Love Peace Peace's melody eleven years later!). However, I think Jutro has a bit more power to elevate the country to the top five again, though I'm not sure if it would've won. Especially in a year filled with ethno-influenced music in 2005.

But, who knows?

[eurovision]

Montenegro regresará a Eurovision en 2025

La RCTG (televisión pública montenegrina) ha informado de que volverá al show musical europeo el próximo año con "Montesong" su propia preselección nacional.

Recordemos que Montenegro debutó en 2007 tras la independencia de Serbia. Su última participación fue en 2022 con Vladana y "Breathe".

Encabeza la noticia Andrea Demirovic y "Just get out of my life", su participación en 2009 donde no pudo clasificarse en la final.

[bisexualmothman-br]

Would you look at that, time for another personal top 10, today being for the 2022 contest.

Disclaimer: As i share my takes on my top 10s it should be obvious i only rank years based on the studio version of the entries (it's always the version i listen to everyday, rarely will the live performance of a song affect its placing to me).

10th 🇲🇪 Vladana - Breathe: Georgia 2023 took notes from this one, but damn did Montenegro return for a one-time bop and immediately withdraw again. Lyrics are simple so they're fun to sing along to, but girl really got herself an english dictionary (the italian bridge and chorus on the live was unnecessary but that's irrelevant for now).

9th 🇨🇭 Marius Bear - Boys Do Cry: Listen listen, i have a soft spot in my heart for calm male swiss ballads (Watergun is my 12th this year and the 2020 and 2021 top 10s will let you know my opinion on Gjon wink wink), and as much as Marius is unlikeable, i can't deny his entry fits that model and i love its message.

8th 🇦🇱 Ronela Hajati - Sekret: I have to admit 2022 was my 2nd time following a contest and with Albania revealing their entry that early i kinda have a soft spot for Sekret. It is a banger (pre-revamp, as i almost always rank albanian entries) and definitely a girlbop. Ronela our sammarinese albanian crybaby, please change your ways, i love your entry.

7th 🇱🇻 Citi Zēni - Eat Your Salad: I used to hate that song but then the more i listened the more i got its hype, i love Latvia's 2016-2023 streak so far and, as much as i wasnt expecting a qualification, it kinda stung a bit not seeing it go to the final.

6th 🇵🇹 Maro - Saudade, Saudade: We stan a portuguese sadgirl, and even the english parts were great, just overall a very good chill entry with portuguese bias added of course.

5th 🇷🇸 Konstrakta - In Corpore Sano: biti zdrava, biti zdrava, biti zdrava, biti biti biti biti zdrava, biti zdrava, biti zdrava, može može može

4th 🇲🇰 Andrea - Circles: Underrated entry alert, this definitely deserved to qualify, her voice is so strong and her song is so catchy, girl tested her limits but europe didn't listen.

3rd 🇫🇷 Alvan & Ahez - Fulenn: Diwanit Bugale pales in comparison to this, the studio version is so good and breton is such an interesting language (god help anyone who wants to learn any celtic language). Too bad the live was so jarring, that entry had so much potential but now France may be reluctant on sending more entries in languages like breton or corsican after seeing the result (even though it is such a banger).

2nd 🇱🇹 Monika Liu - Sentimentai: Lithuania and Slovenia are the only countries i didn't change at all in my first and latest 2022 rankings (Austria went from 3rd to 21st lmao) and deservedly so, i'm a sucker for the more unused languages in ESC (please Azerbaijan, send azeri already) and lithuanian was certainly top of the list to do a comeback. Sentimentai is such a classy entry and Monika is hella charismatic, 13th in the final is good by Lithuania's standards but cmon, we all know this should've been their new best result, they need a better "best result".

1st 🇸🇮 LPS - Disko: Already expressed my love for this entry on my blog but long story short THAT'S MY FAVORITE ESC ENTRY EVER I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT IT AND WHY THE FUCK DID IT GET LAST I LITERALLY CANT SEE WHAT WAS SO WRONG ABOUT IT TO DO WORSE THAN PIA MARIA'S VOCAL "PERFORMANCE". Cahem, yeah, we stan those boys.

[eurovision-facts]

Eurovision Fact #734:

Montenegro will be participating in Eurovision in 2025. The nation will be using a new format called Montesong to pick their contestant. Those seeking to enter must hold a Montenegrin citizenship.

During Montesong, an internal committee will select 16 songs to participate, but if none of the submitted songs meet a pre -established quality threshold, the song will be selected internally.

However, if an internal selection is not required, the winner will be selected via a vote by the jury and the public, each holding a 50% stake in the vote.

[Sources]

"Montenegro: RTCG confirms participation at Eurovision 2025," ESCToday.com.

"Montenegro is back: Eurovision 2025 participation confirmed," Eurovisionworld.com.

[sauolasa]

In Montenegro Djukanovic esce di scena dopo 32 anni alla guida

Vince il giovane economista Milatović che promette di accelerare sull'adesione all'Unione europea e di completarla entro cinque anni

[betweenthetimeandsound]

Ladies and gentlemen, the best Yugoslav entry at Eurovision ever!

Now vote for it on the next ESC250 come November. Hehe.

Danijel - Džuli

[eurovision-revisited]

Eurovision 2005 - Number 35 - No Name - "Zauvijek Moja"

Oh dear. More controversy and I have a feeling this particular issue is going to continue smouldering in the future. Perhaps in 2005 the problem was evident from the outset, with the change in national final structure. Rather than a single event as in 2003 and 2004, there were two. Beovizija for Serbia and Montevizija for Montenegro. Each regional contest would send songs to a final: Evropesma-Europjesma. That final was 50/50 jury and televote, with the jury being four judges from RTS in Serbia and four from RTCG in Macedonia. You can sense the trouble approaching with how even-handed it all appears to be.

No Name won Montevizija 2005. Being Montenegro's champions they went into the united final with the hopes of Montenegro riding on their shoulders. Zauvijek Moja (Forever Mine) is a stately procession of a devotional song. They're in love with someone (or possibly somewhere). To the accompaniment of bells, the band declare their everlasting commitment to 'she' who he will take to his old house in the hills, where the river meets the sea and stay there forever.

It's not entirely clear (at least in the English translation I'm reading) if the she in question is a person or the land on which these things occur. Given the references to rivers meeting the sea and frequent mentions of dawn - the national anthem of Montenegro, adopted the year before, prior to independence - is Oj, svijetla majska zoro. A traditional folk song the title of which translates to O, Bright Dawn of May. Incidentally it's only national anthem I know of which mentions gravel in the first verse.

It's a slight understatement to say that Evropesma-Europjesma was stacked. Up against No Name were Viktorija, a huge star who represented Yugoslavia at Eurovision in 1982 as part of the band Aska, Montenegro's future 2009 Eurovision representative Andrea Demirović, Montenegro's future 2007 Eurovision representative Stevan Faddy, Serbia's future 2007 Eurovision winner Marija Šerifović and most importantly, the winner of Beovizija and future 2008 Eurovision representative of Serbia, Jelena Tomašević. She's singing a song by Serbia and Montenegro's Eurovision second place singer, the one and only Željko Joksimović. Her song was the favourite. It was a successor to Lane Moje, and has won Beovizija by a wide margin.

In the final, the four Serbian judges gave moderate points to No Name and almost a maximum to Jelena. The four Montenegrin judges gave maximum points to No Name - and absolutely nothing at all to Jelena. An instant and obvious massive scandal. Everyone in Serbia seems to have been upset. The one saving grace was that the televote was substantial in favour of No Name, so even if the Montenegrin jurors had given Jelena some points, it's unlikely she would have been able to overhaul No Name.

That didn't stop anyone complaining of a fix though. I hope they sort it all out for next year...

No Name travelled to Kyiv with a pass straight through to the final, thanks to Željko's performance last year. They acquitted themselves well, with a seventh place finish and Serbia and Montenegro had a place in the final for 2006.

The band stuck together and had another go at qualifying for Eurovision in 2006 - more on which next year (probably). They split up in 2008 after the controversies and with Montenegro an independent country. No Name remains one of the most inadvertently political Eurovision acts ever alongside Paulo de Carvalho from Portugal in 1974.