Introducing 2011: FYR Macedonia

by Marcus Klier 105 views

All songs for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 have been selected. During the weeks between the national final season and the actual Eurovision Song Contest, we will introduce all 43 entries in random order. We are half way through and part forty-one of the series is dedicated to the Macedonian entry.

Basic information

Performer: Vlatko Ilievski (�ла�ко �лиев�ки)
Song: Rusinka (ÐÑ�Ñ�инка – Russian girl)
Language: Macedonian & English
Music: Grigor Koprov, Vladimir Dojchinovski
Lyrics: Marko Marinkovikj-Slatkaristika, Jovan Jovanov
Draw:

11th in the second semi final

The song

Rusinka is an up-tempo pop rock song. The lyrics tells the love story of a Macedonian boy and a Russian girl:

�и кака�ин, ни камаjа
�а ни��о не �а �азби�ам,
� какa�ин, и камаjа,
�а неа �е �е на��ам!

Ð�аÑ� Ð�акедонеÑ�, а она ÐÑ�Ñ�инка
�а��е и во�ка, а мене �аки�а

No “kakalyn”, no ”kamaya”
No single word I understand
No “kakalyn”, no ”kamaya”
But you can teach me all the same

A Macedonian boy and a Russian girl
Vodka takes us high to a different world

The performer

Vlatko Ilievski became famous as part of the band Moral, which he had joined in 2000. In 2007, he started his solo career. His first hit single was Uste si mi and his debut album So drugi zborovi was released in 2008. A second album called Najbogat na svet followed two years later.

In 2008, he competed in the SkopjeFest, FYR Macedonia's national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, for the first time. He placed 13th with his song So drugi zborovi getting only one point. The year after he took part another time this time finishing sixth with Najbogat na svet. In 2010, he returned to the contest and managed to reach as many points as the winner Gjoko Taneski but he was placed second according to the tie-break rule. In 2011, he was fourth time lucky with Rusinka.

The songwriters

Rusinka was written by Grigor Koprov (music), Vladimir Dojchinovski (music), Marko Marinkovikj-Slatkaristika (lyrics) and Jovan Jovanov (lyrics). Jovan Jovanov has already composed the music to two Eurovision Song Contest entrie for FYR Macedonia: Life in 2004 (14th place) and Nesto sto kje ostane in 2009 (10th place in semi final).


The national selection

20 acts competed in the national final. The winner was chosen by a jury and 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 and 2009, the country would have made it to the final againbased on the televotes finishing tenth in the respective semi finals but was still eliminated as the jury wildcard was given to Sweden and Finland respectively. The best result in a final was a 12th place in 2006.

Statistics

This will be FYR Macedonia's eleventh participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. For the fifth time the country is represented by a male solo performer. Furthermore, it will be the seventh out of ten Macedonian entries to be performed at least partly in the national language. However, unlike in 2009 and 2010, the song also includes a few lines in English.

Rusinka is the 11th song to be performed in the second semi final. It is preceeded by the mid-tempo pop rock song from Bulgaria and it is followed by the dance pop song from Israel. Already in 2006, FYR Macedonia managed to qualify from that position in the semi final.

�м по�ак�ваме ��пе� на �ла�ко �лиев�ки во ���елдо�� и �илно п�е���ав�ва�е!


Videos

Live performance in the national final:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2kaXb1potk

The preview video:

2008 national final performance:

2009:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HO_OtmFdguU

Srekja, 2010:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAv9XoqI_kk

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

Previous parts of the series:

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