|
The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia made
its Eurovision debut in Birmingham and it's most memorable
contribution to that show was the points it gave to Dana
International and "Diva", to bring victory for Israel.
With five entries since then, the Macedonians are still waiting for
their first Top 10 result. However thanks in no small part to some
friendly neighbours, Macedonia is the only country to qualify from
all three Eurovision semi-finals.
This year Macedonian broadcaster MRT made it
clear that they want a song in their native language to represent
them in Helsinki. It was therefore no surprise when all fifteen
songs in the final staged in Skopje on February 24th were in
Macedonian. The pre-contest favourite was Karolina Goceva,
Macedonia's performer in the 2002 contest with the song "Mojot
Svet" and it was no surprising when she scored a runaway
victory with the regional juries.
Karolina Goceva was born on born April 28th 1980 in the town of
Bitola and she got her first big break at the age of eleven when
she performed at the children's festival "Si-Do" in her
hometown and later in the annual festival "Makfest 91" in
Štip with the song "Mamo, Pušti Me" ("Mum, Leave Me
Alone"). This kicked off a successful career and Karolina
became a regular participant in SkopjeFest, debuting in 1994 when
she performed the song "Koj Da Ti Kaže" (Who To Tell You).
In the following years she participated successfully, especially
when SkopjeFest was used to choose a song for Eurovision. In 1996,
Karolina participated with "Ma, Ajde Kaži Mi" (Come On,
Tell Me) and reached 9th place. In 1998, she participated with
"Ukradeni Noki" (Stolen Nights") and was more
successful, reaching 4th place with 10,454 televotes. In 2000,
Karolina joined the record label, Avalon Productions, who helped
her release her debut album "Jas Imam Pesna" (I've Got A
Song). From that album, Karolina released many singles including
"Sakaj Me" ("Love Me"), "Bez Ogled Na Se"("No
Matter What") and "Nemir" ("Restless"),
the latter of which she sang in a duet with Tose Proeski
(Eurovision 2004). With her first album released, Karolina took
part in the SkopjeFest Eurovision song selection. Karolina nearly
missed out coming in 2nd with song "Za Nas" ("For
us") from Darko Dimitrov, which managed to receive 916 points.
After promotion through concerts and festivals, Karolina
released her second album "Zošto Sonot Ima Kraj" (Why The
Dream Has An End) in 2002. Karolina gained more popularity in the
former Yugoslavia, by performing at Suncane Skale festival with the
song "Kazi Mi" (Tell me). Karolina released "Ti Mozes"
(You Could) and "Ke Bide Se Vo Red" (Everything Will Be
OK) as singles in Macedonia. 2002 became even more successful for
Karolina because she was crowned the winner of "Skopje
Eurosong 2002 with "Od Nas Zavisi" ("It Depends On
Us"), which allowed her to represent Macedonia in front of a
European audience. Some controversy surrounded Karolina's
participation and it dealt with the language of the song. MKTV
submitted the participation form with the performing language
selected as Macedonian. Karolina and her record label thought that
this would be a handicap and that Karolina should sing in English
so she could successfully compete with the other nations. MKTV
dragged out the incident, threatening to send another performer if
Karolina did not sing in Macedonian. At last MKTV offered Karolina
the possibility of performing the song in Macedonian and English,
but she eventually declined. The deadline for changes passed and
Karolina ended up going to Tallinn with the Macedonian version of
her song. At the Eurovision Song Contest 2002, she ended up in 19th
place and Macedonia was relegated. During 2002 she held numerous
concerts in Macedonia, including three in the "Univerzalna
sala" in Skopje.
On March of 2003 she released her third album "Znaeš Kolku
Vredam" (You Know What I'm Worth). Also she staged many
concerts during the "Ilinden" celebrations. Karolina
released several music videos and she was featured on many
television programs on TV stations in Macedonia. After 2003, her
career expanded to include Serbia and Montenegro, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Croatia, and Slovenia, where her CDs were also
released. Karolina went into the studios and recorded all of her
songs from her third album in the Serbian language so she could
appeal to a wider market.
In 2005, Karolina participated once again at Herceg Novi in the
Suncane Skale festival. Her song "Ruza Ruzica" ("Red
Rose") became an instant hit after placing her 4th in the
festival. Karolina also released her new song "Se Lazam
Sebe" (I'm Lying To Myself"), which was written by the
diva of Macedonian pop music, Kaliopi. At the end of 2005, she
released the album "Vo Zaborav" (In Oblivion). However
the promotion of the album started with prooblems when a Czech
based video company accused Karolina of unprofessionalism during
the shooting. The production company took Karolina to court and
sued for 100,000 Euros in damages. Karolina continued with her
career releasing the Serbian version of her album called "U
Zaboravu" and a special Croatian version, which contained song
sung in the Jekavski dialect. Karolina's music videos have been
rotating on MTV Adria. Shortly before going on summer break,
Karolina released the song "Umiram Bez Tebe" ("Dying
Without You"). Karolina recorded a successful duet with Aki
Rahimovski titled "Bela Pesna" ("White Song"),
which became a big hit in the Ex-Yugoslavian region. In early 2007,
Karolina released a duet with the popular Serbian group Flamingosi
called "Ti I Ja".
The songwriters behind "Mojot Svet" have previous
Eurovision experience. Composer Grigor Koprov, also composed the
first Macedonian entry "Ne Zori Zoro". Lyricist Ognen
Nedelkovski wrote the original Macedonian lyrics for the 2005
entry, but was not involved in the English version which competed
in Kyiv.
Karolina Goceva has concentrated her promotional activites on
the former Yugoslav states including recording a special
promotional video which was completed too late for the Eurovision
preview shows.
However despite doing reasonably well in internet polls, the
song is rated as an outsider for Helsinki and renewing the problems
which dogged Karolina first Eurovision entry in 2002, MRT requested
to perform part of the song in English but initially the EBU
refused to alllow it. It now appears that a compromise has been
reached and the last verse will be in English.
|
|
|
BROADCASTER |
MEDIA CENTRE |
|
|
Audio |
Live performance |
 Promtional video |
LAUNCH PAD
- Karolina
Goceva's website
- Macedonian
television's website
- The song's lyrics (from Diggiloo.net)
- Information
on the Macedonian final
- OGAE
Macedonia
- Karolina
Goceva's Cyberspace
- Karolina
Goceva's fansite
|
WEBMASTER RATING : |
AKOE VISITOR RATING :
 |
| BEST BETTING ODDS :
66/1 |
| METHOD OF SELECTION :
The Macedonian entry was chosen by regional juries in an
fifteen song
national final on February 24th. |
|
WEBMASTER REVIEW : While I don't
actively
dislike this song, it just leaves me completly cold. For me it's a
pretty girl singing a disjointed song with little melody and no
obvious hook. With no English and little appeal outside the Balkans, for
the first time I think Macedonia's Eurovision will end in the
semi-final. ____________________________________
YOUR REVIEWS:
|
| "A good song and
good to see Karolina back again. Will surely be in the final." -
Diarmuid Murphy (Ireland) |
| "Another known
face at the ESC 07, Karolina Gocheva represents Macedonia the
second time : this year with a much stronger entry.
"Mojet Svet" is a emotional song with lots of Balkan
soul, which she even mentions in the lyrics ( no borders,no
religion, just music and one Balkan soul ). So we shouldn`t be
surprised if Karolina gets many points from the Balkans and
escpecially the former Yugoslav countiers. Not because of
simple neighbour votes, but because of a message everyone in
the regions understands. I think its simply the best
Macedonian entry ever and this time reaching the final would
be deserved for sure. One of the better songs this year.." -Paul
Hutter (Germany) |
| "Sexy Karolina
gives a good performance. I love this song but sure I've heard
it all before" -Mark Watson (UK) |
| "Another decent
song, but a step down from "Ninanajna" last year.
Probably will still make the final, but won't do well there." -
Sean Casey (USA) |
| "I really liked her
song in 2002, but this is very ordinary, it's miles better in
English and if they have any sense they'll switch at least
some ogf the song. Macedonia could sing the phonebook and
qualify, so this should make it without much trouble" -
Ian Carson (Ireland) |
| "Quite nice East
European tune. There's just one problem, we already have two
better Balkan ballads from Bosnia and Serbia. So Macedonia
will do as ever, qualifying but failing to make the Top Ten.." -Thorsten
Beckmann (Germany) |
| "Pleasant ethnic
song with a good beat. Seems awfully familiar though." -
David Berlinger (Israel) |
| "It's Macedonia, so
a certainty to make the final, but sadly just isn't the power
entry that we would expect from Karolina." - Andrew
Hordern (Australia) |
| "I think Macedonia
just sends the same entry every year, just with a different
singer, or in this case, the same singer. Outside of the
Balkan bloc, this will get zero votes and ruin Macedonia's
perfect record of making the final. yawn." - Ben
Kaspar (Australia) |
| "Karolina is hit
here,so of course we must like it,defenetly one of best
EX-Yuga songs." - Denis Milovic (Serbia) |
| "Not quite sure
what to make of this one to be honest. The beat in the chorus
is really strange but she's a great singer and sings this
really well. The start of the chorus reminds me of
"Because The Night" by Patti Smith but that's
probably because I'm old enough to remember it!. Think it
might make the final because they seem to manage it every year
and this is definitely not the worst song they've entered over
the last 4 years." - Jimmy Kempson (Ireland) |
| "I groaned inwardly
on hearing that Karolina had won the final again, not being a
fan of her 2002 entry. However, her song for 2007 is a much
classier affair with a memorable chorus. In a field of 28
songs though, and even with neighbourly voting, this may only
qualify for the final by the skin of its teeth, if at all." -
David Bridgeman (UK) |
| "Well, surprisingly
this song is very good, maybe the best they have sent. I am
not sure anyway they qualify because the style of it is not
much into Eurovision, but, yes, it´s nice." - Juan-Antonio
Fernandez (Spain) |
| "This is another
great song. FYROM has been trying hard and my guess is that
this year they will definately qualify (they managed to
qualify even with "Make my day") and they can
achieve a top 10 (even top 5) position. Please, though, don't
sing it in English!" - Athan (Greece) |
| It's great to see
Karolina back to Eurovision with a stronger song. Her 2002
effort was appreciated but this new song is more catchy and
powerful. Great intro but the chorus is not that effective. It
will qualify cause Macedonia always gets a chance to perform
in the final." - Ruth Micallef (Malta) |
| "It’s Karolina
again, looking exactly as she did back in 2002. I can’t make
up my mind about this song. It’s very nice in its own way,
and again its very Balkan in feel and mood. However its just a
bit too slow in the verse, and overall it is lacking
something. This is one song where singing in English would
have been a much better idea than singing in Macedonian."
- Dermot Manning (Ireland) |
|
![[]](images/mk.gif)
FYR MACEDONIA @ EUROVISION