The popular group Hari Mata Hari from Bosnia & Herzegovina is currently touring Australia and promoting their latest album. In an interview with SBS Serbian they talked about their album Cilim and a possible return to the Eurovision stage.

Hari Mata Hari, the group centered around artist Hajrudin “Hari” Varešanović, is back in full swing after a break of several years. The group from Bosnia & Herzegovina is among the most popular of the Balkan and, following their participation in the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest in Greece, they have expanded their fan base across Europe and beyond.

They are currently touring Australia, promoting their latest album Cilim (“Rug“), released in 2016. Cilim features eleven songs, including Jos me plasis (“I’m still afraid“), featuring Elena Risteska (Eurovision FYR Macedonia 2006), and Nema ljubavi (“No love“), a soulful duet with Jelena Tomasevic (Eurovision Serbia 2008). Hari Mata Hari talked about Cilim in an interview with SBS Serbian. Hari Varešanović says:

I have worked five years to bring out this CD and honestly I don’t know if so many musicians do that anymore. Today everything is fast-consuming and people consume songs that they actually can watch. But I don’t care for all that. I enjoy the process of making songs from scratch. And I do it.

Hari Mata Hari represented Bosnia & Herzegovina at the ESC 2006 in Athens, Greece, with the ballad Lejla, composed by Željko Joksimović (Eurovision Serbia and Montenegro 2004, Eurovision Serbia 2012). Eventually the group reached an honourable 3rd place in the Grand Final, earning 229 points, Bonia & Herzegovina’s best result in the Eurovision Song Contest to this day. Thanks to the success of Lejla, Hari Mata Hari gained international popularity, and it has often been speculated that the group would return to the Eurovision stage. About a possible return to Eurovision, Hari Varešanović  stated:

Why not, if the right song comes around (…) IF the song has the same charisma as ‘Lejla’ had. Because ‘Lejla’ didn’t just earned the third place in the contest, ‘she’ united the whole Balkan in the sweetest loving manner. It was a moment that brought out something nice from Bosnia – something besides all negative news stirring the region for years. With ‘Lejla’, for a moment, Bosnia and Sarajevo were again the place of good music that can unite all people of Former Yougoslavia and the region.

Would you like to see Hari Mata Hari return to Eurovision? Let us know in the comments!

You may read the original article here.

Enjoy Hari Mata Hari performing Lejla at the Grand Final of Eurovision 2006 once again, and also the official video for their latest song, Cilim: