After entering their first Eurovision entry as
an independent country in Millstreet in 1993, Bosnia-Herzegovina
scored its best ever result in the contest in Athens in 2006, when
Hari Mata Hari finished in 3rd place with "Lejla". That song was chosen in an internal selection
by Bosnian television, so it came as little surprise when at the start
of the year, it was decided that the formula would be repeated for 2007.
However this year's choice by the Bosnian
broadcaster is quite different from last year's entry. In 2006,
Bosnia selected one of the country's most experienced singers and
songwriters who already had a proven record in the Eurovision Song
Contest. This year, Bosnia is going for a relative newcomer as its
performer and songwriters without Eurovision experience.
Marija
Šestic was born on May 5th 1987, in Banja Luka, the capital city
of the Bosnian-Serb territory. Her father, Dušan Šestic,
composed the national anthem of Bosnia and Herzegovina. She started her music career when
she was only six, performing at various children music festivals,
and winning numerous prizes for her performances. At the
"Young Talents Festival" in Zenica, she won first prize
for her performance for three years in a row. She participated at
various children music festivals and regularly won prizes: -
"St Georges Festival", Banja Luka 1995 (3rd place)
"St Georges Festival", Banja Luka 1996 (winner)
"Naša radost", Podgorica 1998 (special award) and
"Zlatno zvonce", Novi Sad 1999 (winner).
At
the age of thirteen, she started her piano studies at the Music
Academy in Banja Luka. In 2000 she performed at the MTV Europe in
Berlin, as the first singer from the former Yugoslavia, and
released her debut album. In 2003 at the Banja Luka international
pop music festival she won the prize for the best newcomer. In
2004 she participated at "The Golden Star" international
festival in Bucharest (Romania) and won the first prize for
performance, claiming a diploma.
In 2005 she
participated at the International music festival in Banja Luka and
won the second prize. At the Bosnian Eurovision selection in 2005
she participated with the song "In this World",
fininshing fourth behind Feminnem. Marija graduated on the piano
at the Music Academy as the youngest student ever at the Art
Academy in Banja Luka. She also achieved remarkable results at
international contests for young pianists. Currently, she’s
working as a piano professor at the Music academy in Banja Luka
and is working on her magisterial.
Composer
Goran Kovačić is one of the youngest songwriters in this
year's eurovision Song Contest, being born in 1982 in Banja Luka. At
the age of nine he began with his music education at the “Vlado
Milošević” music school. In1995 he continued his education
in Belgrade, where he completed basic and high music school.
Currently he’s close to completing his studies at the Music art
academy in Belgrade. He won many prizes at international and
domestic guitar contests.
In the last three years he has been active in
the world of pop music as a composer, lyricist, music arranger and
producer. He has worked with locally famous stars like Aleksandra
Radović, Jelena Tomašević, Željko Joksimović and
many others.
He played all the guitar sequences on
"Lejla", which represented Bosnia at last year’s Eurovision.
Since 2005 he has worked Aleksandra Milutinović. Jointly, they
composed the song, which will be representing Bosnia and
Herzegovina at the Eurovision Song Contets 2007 in Helsinki.
Aleksandra Milutinović was born in 1980 in
the Serbian capital Belgrade. As a little girl she showed her
talent playing on a guitar and composing. She completed basic and
high music school and like her co-songwriter she is currently close
to completing her studies at the Music art academy in Belgrade.
She released her first compositions as a member
of a pop-rock band "Sedmi Dan". At the age of eighteen
she was the songwriter and arranger on one of the best-selling CDs
in the former Yugoslavia – Goca Tržan's debut release. From that
moment on she has been successful at various music festivals,
cooperating with many musicians and the most important producers
from the former Yugoslavia. She worked together with Goca Tržan,
Aleksandar Radović, Toše Proeski, Sergej Ćetković,
Željko Joksimović, Jelena Tomaševič, Maja Tatić,
Boris Režak, Žarko Houdek and others. Among the many prizes won
by Aleksandra were the first prize at the "Budva 2006"
festival with Incanto band and the song "Spavaj" and the
prize for the best lyrics at the "Radio Festival 2005"
for the composition "Karta za jug", performed by
Aleksandra Radović.
This is not the first time that she has tried to
get to Eurovision. In 2005 she won first prize at the Serbian
"Beovizijia 2005" festival as the lyricist on
"Jutro" performed by Jelena Tomašević, with music
written byŽeljko Joksimović, however in the Eurovision
selection "Jutro" lost out controversially to the
Montenegrin band No Name.
The Bosnian entry was unveiled on a special
Eurovision show on Bosnian television on March 4th and since then Marija
Šestic has concentrated her promotional activity on former
Yugoslavia. The song has also been recorded in English and Russian,
but will stay in Bosnian in Helsinki In the draw for the running
order, Bosnia was given the honour of opening the final, however
the song has failed to make much impression on wither internet
polls or the bookmakers, suggesting that a repeat of the 2006 in
unlikely.
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BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA @ EUROVISION