Serbia: RTS opens call for songs for Eurovision 2019

by Stratos Agadellis 845 views

Following the confirmation of their participation in next year’s Eurovision Song Contest, the Serbian national broadcaster RTS is now kicking off their preparations for the selection of their representative for the 64th edition of the contest.

With an official announcement earlier today, RTS opened a call for songs that are going to fight for the 12th Serbian Eurovision ticket. The broadcaster’s invitation for song submissions will be open until 1 November and subsequently all received entries will be evaluated by a special comittee, made up of music experts working for RTS.

In addition, the broadcaster points out that the evaluation procedure will take place anonymously and the only criteria of the appointed jury panel will be the artistic quality of the compositions. It is also highlighted that if any of the submitted songs do not meet the broadcaster’s requirements, RTS keeps the right to independently select their representative for Israel.

All chosen entries will partake in a televised national final show, where both a jury panel composed by acclaimed music producers and the public will each have a 50% say on the final selection of next year’s Serbian hopeful. The name of the nation’s selection mechanism for 2019 will be announced at a later date.

The compositions may be sent at the following address: JMU, Radio-Television of Serbia, Entertainment program, Music editor, Takovska 10, 11000 Belgrade, with an indication of “Eurovision Song Contest 2019”.

Here you may have a look at the rules and regulations of the Serbian national selection for 2019 (in Serbian).

Serbia in Eurovision

The former Yugoslav country debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest as an independent state in 2007, and surprisingly won the competition with Marija Šerifović and her powerful ballad Molitva. This has been the only victory for Serbia to date. The country has been participating every year since, with the exception of 2014.

Serbia has seen mixed fortunes since their debut, with 3 more Top 10 placings (2008, 2012, 2015) and 3 eliminations in the semi-finals (2009, 2013, 2017). Throughout the years, the country has used various formats in order to select their Eurovision entrants and songs, with both internal selections and national final events.

In 2018, the country’s broadcaster RTS decided to bring back their national selection show Beovizija, which had most recently taken place in 2009. In a national final with 17 competing entries, the overall winners of the night were Sanja Ilić & Balkanika, thus earning the right to represent the country in Lisbon’s Eurovision edition, with their song Nova deca.

In May, the Serbian hopefuls took part in the second semi-final and managed to progress to the Grand Final on 12 May, where they eventually finished 19th, with a total of 113 points.

Who would you like to see representing Serbia next year?