Maja Slatinsek, the Slovenian artist that wants to represent Ireland in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest 2008 has spoken to esctoday.com about her plans, her life, her song and what exactly happened and she turned down the Romanian selection for the Irish one.
1. First of all tell us something about your life and your music career.
"I'm Maya, I'm 22 and I come from a small village Bodrisna vas in the East of Slovenia. I have an older brother and a lovely niece. At the moment I'm finishing my music pedagogics studies at the Music Academy of the University of Ljubljana where I’m in year four and just a couple exams away from becoming a music teacher.
My music career started when I was five. I would always be running around the village, singing and dancing. Later on I started performing at several international festivals, on TV, and in 2004 at EMA for the first time. In the same year I won HIT Festival, which was a great impetus for me. After that I’ve performed at several festivals, sang backing vocals, performed with symphonic orchestra, big bands and a pop rock band.I’m not some kind of a big star.
I just love music, I love to sing and I’m very happy for any positive feed back I get – be it a best performer award or an honest hand-shake and congratulations from a fan at a concert. I’ve never had much publicity, beside being called “a talent”. And publicity wasn’t what I searched for either.
Of course, there were times when I just wanted to quit due to all the expenses, renouncements that are not a piece of cake for a student like me, with no budget, no manager, no record company. But my love for music was too strong. To see tears in the eyes of my listeners knowing that it’s me who has brought joy to them just makes it worth continuing.
2. How the idea about participating to the Eurovision Song contest came and how much do you think that the Eurovision will contribute to your career?
"I’m a big Eurovision fan. Although in the last years with all the show and bloc voting Eurovision has lost some of its charm that enchanted me as a little girl, it’s still my dear contest I watch every year. And I can’t forget the feelings when I was standing on stage as the backing singer for Anzej Dezan’s Mr. Nobody back in 2006, in front of 16.000 people and millions more in front of the TV. It’s a life time experience.
Anyhow, to perform even at a National Selection is a great feeling and I don’t think I’ll ever get a chance to stand on Eurovision stage again.I don’t think it’s necessarily a big impact for one’s career but it gives you a chance to do your best and try make millions of people happy with your performance".
3. The song is called "Time to Rise" and it is in English. Tell us something about the song.
"It is a song co-written by my good friend Ziga Pirnat. He co-wrote the music and did the English lyrics and arrangement. Ziga’s also a student, 24-year old and this is his first released song! So the team is very young, but I nevertheless think we’re very enthusiastic, dynamic and eager about the project.The song itself is a mighty pop symphonic ballad I’ve been probably waiting for years. We tried to write it “for my voice” and it was the first time I took part in songwriting.
Ziga and I speak quite some languages, so the song will be released in more languages. Beside the English version we have already recorded a Slovenian and a Serbian/Croatian one. There’s a lot of interest to record a Romanian one and if Ziga’s dream comes true, we’ll all also record an Irish one. I’d be really happy to sing in the Celtic language but at the moment we’re still looking for a lyricist.Otherwise, a video for the song has already been recorded – it’s only the second video in my career. A sponsor contacted me and offered to cover a high budget production I could only dream of two weeks ago.
The video was recorded by VPK productions in the wonderful castle Grad Mokrice and its surroundings, in the Celtic part of Slovenia where there are several sites of our Celtic ancestors. It was a wonderful experience for me, since the director decided for a medieval, mysterious, symbolic plot line with many Irish-Slovenian connections in the background.Time to Rise really turned my life upside down; the video will namely be released after the Eurosong, beginning with TV stations in Slovenia and on MTV Adria – a subsidiary of MTV which broadcasts in Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and FYR Macedonia".
4. Your song has been initially submitted to the Romanian preselection and passed. What made you change your mind and finally compete to the Irish selection?
"I was sad to read in some media that I went to Ireland because of better chances to win. I think your website also published that. I’ve never said that nor has Ziga, the composer. The song was initially submitted to Slovenian selection. After we didn’t get accepted we sent the song to two other national finals. Beside Romania which was suggested by Ziga’s friends also to Ireland, my dream country. But we were absolutely certain that a song from two poor students, foreigners, doesn’t stand a chance among dozens of high-budget production songs.
Our application was more a desperate act.When we got the news from Romania it was the happiest day of our lives. We started planning all the trips to Bucharest and of course searching for sponsors, because this project was way too big for both of us. And then a week later the call from Ireland came. And we needed to withdraw from Romanian selection to be allowed to perform in Ireland. It was a terrible dilemma and I still feel bad about it. You can’t imagine how hard it was to call our Romanian friend on TVR who gave us the opportunity and now we were letting them down. We had really made friendly ties and I felt horrible.But on the other side it was Ireland.
My dream land, a country I’ve always dreamed about and adored their music and culture. A country that won Eurovision seven times and now I’d been selected among only six performers in Ireland. That was probably the top of my career and I would have regret it for the rest of my life if I had said no.I was really sad about the comments that I chose Ireland over Romania because I stand better chance of winning there. All my friends can tell you I never have high expectations.
I’m really angry about people saying “Wow, Ireland will get 12pts from Slovenia and ex-Yugoslav countries for sure with you representing them”. I don’t think I stand many chances as a foreigner in Ireland with performers such as Marc Roberts who holds 2nd place from the ESC. For god’s sake – I already have sixth place guaranteed in Ireland and that’s the greatest success of my life already. On the 23 February I just want to sing, enjoy the most beautiful evening in my life and try to do my best performance so far. If I do that, my goals will be fulfilled.
5. Have you thought of the presentation of the song? Have you thought of some kind of stage performance? Any gimmicks or tricks on stage?
"The staging of the song is nearly complete. We’ve got a lot of help from the RTÉ but it’s still a great financial burden for a student like me. We’re staying with my composer at 6 other students in a house in Dublin at the moment to save some money and there’s hours of hard work by both of us and many others for this performance.My Irish team is wonderful – we’re practicing with the choreographers Daryn Crosbie and Debbie Kiernan and there will be four dancers on stage, who all come from Ireland. We’ll concentrate our act on the song and vocal performance but we want to make it visually attractive as well."
6. What are your plans for 2008 besides Eurovision song contest? New songs, an album?
"y plans remain unchanged. First I want to graduate and become a teacher. I don’t have some firm plans regarding my music career yet. My priority is not to hurry, but rather to build slowly, find good songs and enjoy."
7. Are you influenced by any artist that you admire?
"There are so many. It’s really hard to put out just one. I like different styles in music and singers of different genres who all have great voices. To list just a few: Gloria Estefan, Tose Proeski, Celine Dion, Marija Serifovic, Johnny Logan, Josh Groban, Whitney Houston, Enya, Nusa Derenda, Darja Svajger, Alenka Godec, Aretha Franklin, Cranberries, Christina Aguilera, Sertab Erener".
8. Who is your favourite Eurovision artist?
Again it’s hard to expose just one. There is a special place in my heart for all the performers of the great Irish ballads that once ruled Eurovision. Among the artists from the recent years let me list Sertab, Marija Serifovic, Brian Kennedy, Sertab Ener, Zeljko Joksimovic, Hari Mata Hari, Carola"
9. Do you have any messages to the readers of esctoday.com?
"I think that with the last year’s victory of a great song and singer, we’ve all seen that Eurovision spirit is still alive and hopefully it will be alive for decades to come. I wish all of you a great contest in Belgrade and a lot of fun with all Eurovision related stuff".
We want to thank Maja for the interview and wish her good luck to the Irish selection.
