#evropesma 2005

[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-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.

[eurovisionru]

Сербия, Елена Томашевич: Политика в песнях

Елена Томашевич: не женщина, а огонь Елена Томашевич (Jelena Tomašević) родилась в Крагуйеваче в 1983 году. Она - студентка отделения английского языка и литературы на факультете филологии. В 8 лет Елена начала успешную карьеру в качестве вокалистки. Выступала на многочисленных престижных фестивалях в Сербии и за рубежом, таких как Zrenjaninski festival (2002), Beovizija (2004), Beovizija (2004 - победитель), Evropesma (2005 - второе место), фестивалях в Болгарии, Чехии и Беларуси. Конкурс «Ев... Читать дальше »

[eurovision-revisited]

Eurovision 2005 - Number 20 - Ogi - "Hajde Cico"

Returning to the heart of the controversy in Serbia & Montenegro, Ogi is Ognjan Radivojević, folk singer and composer from Niš who has already toured the world. Within the world of Serbian folk music, Ogi is a very well known figure. He's been playing alongside perhaps the best know Balkan folk musician, Goran Bregović, since 1992 and the year prior to this, Ogi played with the band of Zdravko Čolić, the Serbian Tom Jones.

This is Ogi's one and only appearance in any Eurovision national final, although he has performed on other tracks - maybe his decision to take part was down to the song. Hajde Cico (Come On Sister) is written by Ogi himself alongside Marina Tucaković. Marina is one of the most well-known and prolific Serbian song-writers. She will go on to write four Eurovision entries including writing for Željko Joksimović in 2012. Altogether she has an astonishing 1,540 writing credits listed on Discogs, which boggles the mind. She has a discursive writing style with lots of interjections, idioms and colloquialisms. Songs that mirror natural conversations and speech.

Hajde Cico is just like that. It's a song about dithering. Ogi spends the song encouraging his sister to just get on with things when she's starting and stopping; facing some barrier to progress. Ogi just wants her to go for it and his gravelly vocal is a mixture of encouragement and exasperation. It's a gently humorous song filled with soft Balkan brass, and Ogi's own kick drum accompaniment. It sounds like an authentic folk song even if it's new composition. I love it.

So did Serbia. In Beovizija, Ogi finished second. It's authenticity and pan-Balkan appeal meant it headed into Evropesma-Europjesma as one of the two favourites, alongside the winner from Beovizija, Jelena Tomašević. Then of course there was the incident. The Serbian judges gave Ogi the same number of points as Jelena. The Montenegrin judges gave him absolutely nothing. He ended up in third place overall with a bitter taste in his mouth.

He went straight back to composing, song-writing and touring. Ogi himself has over 150 writing credits on Discogs. He's also released two solo albums since. He remains a well-known figure in the Balkan music scene.