Blast from the past

Blast from the past: Serbia 2017

We know a lot about Eurovision. We want to share our knowledge by highlighting former Eurovision songs in a blast from the past. Today: Serbia’s entry from 2017. Selection Serbian broadcaster RTS decided to ask its music editors to select a participant. On February 27th it became public that Tijana Bogićević was going to be the Serbian participant for the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev, Ukraine. She was going to sing a song written by the songwriters team Symphonix International. Borislav Milanov, Joacim Bo Persson, Johan Alkenäs and Lisa Ann-Mari Linder would take the challenge to write the song. Tijana Bogićević Tijana Bogićević was 35 years old when she was presented as the 2017 Serbian contestant. Her career started in 2001 when she sang as a backing vocal for Vlada Georgieva. In those days, she also sang in a band called Shanene. She did an earlier attempt to go to Eurovision, back in 2009. It was not a great success: her song “”Pazi šta radiš” did not get any votes in the semifinal of Beovizija, the Serbian national selection. Two years later, in 2011, she actually sang on the Eurovision stage: as a backing vocalist for Serbian representant Nina, who sang “Čaroban” to a place in the final. In too deep The song Symphonix International wrote for Tijana was called “In too deep”. It was a song about someone who madly fell in love. “Won’t somebody save me tonight? Feels like I’ve been sentenced to life. I’m falling so deep, I’m in too deep, I’m falling so deep”, she sings. On March 11th, the song was debuted on YouTube. For promotion, Tijana went to the promo concerts in Tel Aviv, Amsterdam and Madrid. Rehearsals in Kiev The rehearsals in Kiev went well. Tijana sang well; however, there was a problem. According to many people, the song was okay, but it did not really stand out. It would therefore not be an easy match for Tijana to get into the final. Half of the journalists, present in the press centre, predicted a place for Serbia in the final. The other half did not expect Tijana to make it. Results The same thing happened when the real jury had to vote: the juries were divided. The expert jury gave Serbia an 11th place, the televoters wanted the song to be in the final with a 10th place. The televoting juries from North Macedonia and Switzerland even gave it their 12 points. It was not enough. In the overall result, Serbia became 11th and thus did not reach the final. After Eurovision This definitely did not end Tijana’s career. She released her debut album “Čudo” in 2018. It contained many of the songs she released before. The follow up of “In too deep” was the song “Dodirni me“. After that, she scored a hit song in duet with Damir Kedžo, the man who was supposed to represent Croatia in the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest. Their song, “Hram“, became a hit in Croatia in 2021.

Blast from the past: Cyprus 1983

We know a lot about Eurovision. That’s why you’ll get a blast from the past every time. Today: the 1983 Cypriot entry “I agapi akoma zi”, sung by Stavros and Constantina. Introduction Cyprus debuted quite succesfully in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1981. The group Island reached a 6th place. A year later, when Anna Vissi was involved, they did even better: a 5th place. Expectations were high. Cyprus was the country to beat. CyBC (Cyprus Broadcasting Authority) had to look for another top song. Stavros Sideras It was no surpsise that CyBC selected Stavros Sideras to do the job. The 35 year old singer debuted in 1976 and released three full albums before he composed and directed the rock opera “The Archion“, together with Doros Georgiadis. In 1981, he wrote the aforementioned Cypriot debut entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, “Monica”, for the group Island. Sideras did not join the stage himself. As said, he wrote the 1983 entry “I agapi akoma zi”. Stavros kept on writing musicals and making albums. In the late nineties he wrote the musical “Pygmalion: the true story“. Constantina Stavros’ duopartner in Eurovision was Constantina or Dina. Her full name is Konstantina Konstantinou. She was born in Nicosia in 1963. When she and Stavros represented Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest she was 19 years old. She was quite unknown in those days. One year after the contest she released her debut album. It was the first of 19 albums up to date. Constantina worked together with Marinella, Anna Vissi, Constantinos Christoforou and many others. In 1997 she wrote the Cypriot Eurovision entry “Mana mou“. The song was performed by her sister Chara and brother Andreas Constantinou. They reached a 5th place. The song and performance “I agapi akoma zi” (Love is still alive) was written and composed by Stavros Sideras himself. The song was arranged by Michalis Rozakis. He was also the conductor for the duo at the contest in Munich. It was a simple love song. You can read the lyrics and translation here. The backing vocals all became (Eurovision) stars in a later time: Stelios Konstantinou was a backing vocal in 1988. Elena Patroclou (Eurovision 1991), Evridiki (Eurovision 1992, 1994 and 2007) and John Vickers (composer of the 1990 Cypriot entry) joined Stelios in the backings. Voting and results There was not much interest in the media for Cyprus, nor in the polls or at the bookmakers’. The voting became a big disappointment. Not even Greece gave points to the song. Seven countries voted for the song. Yugoslavia had the highest amount of points for the song: 6. A total of 26 points were enough for a 16th place.

Blast from the past: Estonia 1993

We know a lot about Eurovision! That’s why we take you back with a blast from the past! Today: Estonia 1993! Estonia’s first entry It was the first of january 1993, when several Eastern European countries joined the EBU. Among them Estonia. Finally, this young country (independent again since 1991) was able to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. Estonian TV (ETV) invited Janika Sillamaa to do the job. Janika was seven years old when she started working in the Childrens Musical Theatre Colombina. She played the main roles in a children’s musical and a children’s opera. In 1992, she played the role of Mary Magdalene in the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice musical “Jesus Christ Superstar”. The next step was the preselection for the Eurovision Song Contest. On february 20, Janika presented eight new songs, one of them to be selected as the Estonian entry: 1.Lootus (135 pts., 4th)2.Ma sule ütlen (129 pts., 6th)3.Jää hetkeks (111 pts., 7th)4.Unelaul (133 pts., 5th)5.Muretut meelt ja südametuld (193 pts., 1st)6.Laulumaa (100 pts., 8th)7.Aeg on laul (140 pts., 3rd)8.Tuhast tõuseb päev (180 pts., 2nd) Eurovision So “Muretut meelt ja südametuld” became the first Estonian entry. The song, which translates as “Sorrowless minds and flames of hearts” (the lyrics and translation can be found here), was one of the seven entries in “Kvalifikacija za Millstreet”, the Eastern European preselection for the 1993 Eurovision Song Contest. Janika Sillamaa traveled to the Slovenian capital Ljubljana to do the job. Three of the seven entries would make the step to the Eurovision stage in the Irish town of Millstreet. Unfortunately, Janika’s Estonian adventure ended in Ljubljana: she became 5th. 2nd try Most of the songs from the national final can be found on Janika’s debut album “Lootus”. Janika Sillamaa did a second attempt to represent Estonia in 1998, with the song “Viime valge kuu”. The song became 4th. However, the composer of the song, Koit Toome, won the contest as a singer. She was succesful, not only as a singer, but especially for her roles in numerous musicals in Estonia. Whatever she did after her tiny Eurovision adventure, Janika Sillamaa was the first Estonian representative. Even though she did never reach the Eurovision stage.