Previously part of Yugoslavia, Slovenia first
entered the Eurovision Song Contest in 1993 in Millstreet. Despite
having a thriving music industy, Slovenia hasn't done exceptionally
well in the contest and is still waiting for its first Top 5
result. Since the introduction of the semi-finals in 2004, Slovenia
has failed to qualify on all three occasions.
This
year Slovene broadcaster RTVSLO chose to have a selection spread
over the first three nights of February, with two semi-finals and
final staged in Ljubljana on February 3rd. Fourteen song competed
in the final and after years of controversial results involving
juries, it was decided to allow the public alone choose the winner.
Over two rounds of voting, the Slovene people chose "Cvet z
Juga" (Flower From The South) performed by Alenka Gotar.
Opertatic
soprano Alenka Gotar was born in Ljubljana in 1977. After finishing
elementary and junior musical school, where she learned to play the
piano and guitar, she then entered Secondary School Poljane and the
Secondary Musical and Ballet School in Ljubljana, where she studied
soloist singing under the tutelage of Prof Marcos Bajuk. In 1996,
Alenka graduated from both schools and was immediately admitted to
the Musik Akademie der Stadt in Basel, Switzerland, where she
studied singing.
In 1999, she moved to Mozarteum
in Salzburg, where she was invited by the distinguished musical
expert Prof Lilian Sukis. Alenka graduated in 2000 and continued
her postgraduate studies in singing and opera performance. Alenka
received her M.A. in singing and theatre sciences in 2006. She
enriched her singing education and experience in Rome and by
attending seminars on singing. In 1996, Alenka was awarded the
first prize at the state competition for young musicians of the
Republic of Slovenia and also the prize for the best interpretation
of Slovene solos.
In 1999, she was awarded 3rd
prize at the International Singing Festival "Feruccio
Tagliavini" in Deutschlandsberg, Austria. Since 2000,
Alenka regularly appears at SNG Opera in balet Ljubljana,
where she sings numerous prominent operatic roles. At the
Europäische Musikmonat Festival 2001 in Basel, Alenka sang soprano
in the multimedia opera Skamander by the Swiss composer Beato
Gysin, which was performed there for the first time.
In
2003, Alenka won the special award from the Klagenfurt Theatre for
the best world stage person, where a whole host of the worlds
leading opera singers also took part. In the 2004 and2005 season,
she was a permanent member of the ensemble of soloists at the SNG
Opera in Balet Ljubljana. At the moment, she has regular guest
appearances at the Maribor Opera. She is also a solo singer in
Salzburg and at the SNG Opera in balet Ljubljana.
Today
Alenka Gotar is a renowned concert solo singer. Up to now, she has
performed with various orchestras and chamber groups in Slovenia,
Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Croatia and Scandinavia.
Songwriter
Andrej Babic hails from Croatia has expressed his love of music
from a young age. After finishing primary and secondary musical
school, he began to compose in earnest. Andrej immediately reaped
success with the group Teens. His songs gainedf gold sales, and
also reached top of the charts.
When the
group split up in 2001, Andrej continued to collaborate with one of
the group members, Claudia Beni. In 2003, he wrote "Više
Nisam Tvoja" for Claudia, who represented Croatia at the
Eurovision Song Contest. After this success, Andrej worked with
numerous Croatian singers and singers from other countries. In
2005, he wrote "Call Me" for the group Femminem, which
represented Bosnia & Herzegovina at the Eurovision Song Contest
in that same year. Now Andrej is trying his luck with a third entry
for a third different country.
Since being chosen
to represent Slovenia in Helsinki, Alenka has promoted her entry in
several countries. Slovenia was one of the countries which drew a
"wildcard" and seleted its own draw position, near the
end of the ruinning order in the semi-final and has a preview video
that has added to the song's appeal for many people. Slovenia has
done relativly well in internet polls and is one of the songs which
bookmakers are seeing reaching the final in this year's contest.
![[]](images/si.gif)
SLOVENIA @ EUROVISION