Croatia: HRT confirms Dora for 2021 : Damir Kendzo will not go to ESC

by Sanjay (Sergio) Jiandani 1,241 views

HRT, the Croatian national broadcaster,  has announced today that the 2021 Croatian representative and entry will be determined via Dora 2021. Thus the 2020 Croatian Eurovision hopeful Damir Kendzo will not represent Croatia at the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam.

Dora 2021 will be held in Opatija next February as intially planned. The winner of Dora 2021 will fly the Croatian flag at Eurovision 2021.  Thus Croatia joins the list of countries who have confirmed their participation at Eurovision 2021 and opted to select a new singer for ESC 2021 via their traditional national selections.

HRT has not extended an invite to Damir Kendzo for flying the Croatian flag at Eurovision 2021, hence if the artist wishes to represent the country in Rotterdam next year, he has to compete in the Croatian national selection and win Dora 2021.

Ms. Ursula Toj the Croatian Head of Delegation will be in charge of Dora 2021.

HRT is very grateful and thankful to Damir for his dedication and hard work during the 2020 Eurovision season despite the cacellation of the event.

Damir Kedzo posted the following message via his official Facebook account:

The whole DORA 2020 experience was a full circle. From happiness to sadness, from winning Dora to cancellation of Eurovision because of Covid 19 and at the end canceling me as a direct representative for Rotterdam 2021.

Thank you everyone, my band, my girls who shared the stage with me in Opatija and a virtual one while we sang “Divlji vjetre” online to people all over Europe and the world. Huge thank you to all the people from my team and all of those who gave their hearts and souls in these few months with the intention that our song and performance is seen and heard in the best possible light. We solely wanted to represent our music and country the best way we knew.

Thank you all for your support and support in the last 24 hours since we know that HRT decided to have a new competition and that i will not directly represented Croatia in Rotterdam in 2021. This roller coaster of emotions and change is not easy to survive, so thank you all once again. I’m happily waiting to go with you through everything that the future will bring us. You can expect the best possible music and emotions that I will bring to you, and I belive you will be with me. I don’t need anything else. I love you people.

Damir Kedzo was set to represent Croatia at Eurovision 2020 with his entry Divlji Vjetre after winning Dora 2020,  but the event got cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Croatia in Eurovision

Croatia debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1993 with the six member group Put and their entry Don’t ever cry, and is yet to win the event. The Balkan country’s best results in the competition were achieved in 1996 (Maja Blagdan) and 1999 (Doris Dragovic), when it placed 4th in the Grand Final.

The country has competed 25 times in the contest and has not been very lucky in the competition in recent years, with its last top 10 finish in 2001.

Source: HRT