Tonight Slovenia begins choosing their representative at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest.
How to watch
Semi-final 1 of EMA 2017 will air from 20:00 CET on the following channels:
- TV SLO1
- Live webcast via rtvslo.si
Tonight’s show
In total, 16 acts will perform in both semi finals. Eight will perform tonight, in the first semi-final, and then the last eight will perform tomorrow night, in the second semi-final.
Four acts in total will qualify from each semi-final, meaning there will be eight songs in the Grand Final on the 24 February. The acts will be chosen by a combination of televoting and jury voting. First, the two performers who receive the highest number of televotes will qualify. The jury will then select two further songs which will also be finalists.
Semi-final 1 participants
The participants and running order is as follows:
- KiNG FOO – Wild ride
- Nika Zorjan – Fse
- Tosca Beat – Free world
- Lea Sirk– Freedom
- Sell Out – Ni panike
- Zala Đurić Ribič – Lalalatino
- Alya – Halo
- Omar Naber – On my way
Five of tonight’s performers have previous Eurovision or Slovenian Eurovision experience. Nika Zorjan finished third in the Slovenian national in 2012, but also competed as backing vocalist for Tinkara Kovac in 2014 and Maraaya in 2015. Lea Sirk was also a backing vocalist for Tinkara Kovac, and has competed in EMA twice before in 2009 and 2010.
Zala Đurić Ribič is the daughter of Tanja Ribič, who represented Slovenia at the Eurovision song contest 1997.
Alya is one of Slovenia’s most successful pop singers. This will be her seventh attempt to represent her nation at Eurovision, her previous best result was third place in 2004.
Omar Naber represented Slovenia in Kyiv before in 2005. His self-penned song Stop did not qualify for the final. Omar has tried again to compete for Slovenia in 2009, 2011 and 2014.
You can listen to snippets of tonight’s songs below.
