Introducing the 2009 entries: FYR Macedonia

by Marcus Klier 86 views

All entries in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest are known, but the actual contest is still two weeks away. As a warm-up, we introduce one of the entries every day in random order. Part forty-one is dedicated to the entry from FYR Macedonia.

Basic information

Performers: Next Time
Song: Nešto što kje ostane (Ð�еÑ�Ñ�о Ñ�Ñ�о Ñ�е оÑ�Ñ�ане, officially spelled Neshto shto kje ostane)
Language: Macedonian
Music: Jovan Jovanov, Damjan Lazarov (�ован �ованов, �ам�ан �аза�ов)
Lyrics: Elvir Mekic (�лви� �еки�)
Draw: 13th in thefirst semi final

The song

Nešto što kje ostaneis a rock song in a 1980s style. The lyrics are a declaration of love by singing another person's praise:

Yeah, yeah, и �адо�� и �ага
�икаа� било па �е помине
Yeah, yeah, но �и �и од �ога
�а�мило не��о ��о �е о��ане

Yeah, yeah, in happiness and pain
Everything will fade
Yeah, yeah, but you were sent by God
You will be the best that remains

The band

Next Time is a rock duo originating from Skopje that consists of of the twin brothers Stefan and Martin Filipovski. Martin is the lead singer and Stefan plays the guitar and provides backing vocals. While they have already been performing for years, they joined forces in early 2008 to perform under the name Next Time. In fact, they were discovered by composer Jovan Jovanov, who composed the FYR Macedonian entry in the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest.

Their first single Ne veruvam vo tebe was a huge success in their home country. With the song Me mislish li?, they won the Summer Hit of the Year Award at the Zvezdena nok music festival. Another award followed for their third single Me ostavi sam da zhiveam and their fourth song Bez tebe tivko umiram brought them a second place at the MakFest, a highly popular festival.

In late 2008, their eponymous debut album was released. In 2009, they competed in the FYR Macedonian national final for the Eurovision Song Contest and could win the selection. They are the first duo to represent the country and the first all-male act since 2005.

The nationalselection

For the first time, the televised national selectionincluded two semi final with 16 songs each.Eight songs out of each heat made it to the grand final,where Next Time were chosen as winners. The won the televote but were only seen fourth by the jury. However, they could still win as the jury favourites Kiliopi & Naum only finished fifth in the televoting.

FYR Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest

FYR Macedonia wanted to debut in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1996 but didnot make it past the internal semi final. They did not decide to take part in 1997 andtherefore had their debut in 1998. Their first three participationsall ended towards the bottomof the scoreboard and led to releagations in1999, 2001 and2003.Over the four years with one semi final, FYR Macedonia always qualified for the final, where it would finish outside the top ten again. In 2008, the country would have made it to the final againbased on the televotes finishing tenth in the second semi final but was still eliminated as the jury wildcard was given to Sweden. The best result in a final was a 12th place in 2006.

�м по�ак�ваме ��пе� на Next Time во �о�ква и �илно п�е���ав�ва�е!

Videos

National final performance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J26P_uh5TY

The preview video:

The video for Bez tebe tivko umiram:

The debut single:

Other parts of this series

  1. France
  2. Portugal
  3. Romania
  4. Denmark
  5. Netherlands
  6. Cyprus
  7. Latvia
  8. Ireland
  9. Malta
  10. Armenia
  11. Germany
  12. Serbia
  13. Belgium
  14. Greece
  15. Croatia
  16. Poland
  17. Czech Republic
  18. Iceland
  19. Moldova
  20. Switzerland
  21. Slovenia
  22. Andorra
  23. Ukraine
  24. Spain
  25. Sweden
  26. Montenegro
  27. Finland
  28. Lithuania
  29. Russia
  30. Turkey
  31. Azerbaijan
  32. Bulgaria
  33. Belarus
  34. Norway
  35. Israel
  36. Slovakia
  37. United Kingdom
  38. Hungary
  39. Albania
  40. Bosnia & Herzegovina

Tomorrow, we will take a look at the Estonian entry.