Introduction

Like last year there has been an internal selection finding the representative for F.Y.R. Macedonia by the broadcaster MKRTV. The singer Tijana Dapčević has been announced earlier this year, but the song title has been released in February. There were more than 50 songs to choose from and Tijana decided herself which one she mostly liked.

Tijana was born in Skopje in 1976, formerly Yugoslavia, now FYR Macedonia. Tijana is playing Cello since the age of seven and won many awards. She was even playing in the Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra. Later she worked as theatre actress and radio announcer. When she moved to Belgrade she also began to record her first album, she is singing in several languages such as Serbo-Croatian, Slovenian and Macedonian, she participated in a lot of festivals like the Budva Music Festival and released five albums. In 2006 she entered the Beovizija (the national final in Serbia-Montenegro) with the song “Greh” (sin) which came 8th.

Her music can be described as Yugo nostalgic with lots of Balkan elements, but also modern pop tunes. The entry for Eurovision is a real pop song without any nostalgic elements. The song will be sung in English. The attractive singer will definitely be a top act in Copenhagen, due to her energy, stage experience and positive attitude. The only disadvantage for her is that there is only Slovenia as a Balkan country to vote for FYR Macedonia in the second semi final, as Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina have withdrawn and Montenegro can only vote in the first semifinal.

History

Participations: 14

Debut: 1998

Biggest success: 1x 12th place “Ninanajna” by Elena Risteska in 2006

The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) is participating for the 14th time this year. The debut entry “Ne Zori, Zoro” by Vlado Janevski in 1998 came 19th in the final in Birmingham.

The former Yugoslavia took part 27 times and the debut was made in 1961. In the first years FYR Macedonia always qualified for the final. This was also due to the fact that the neighbour countries helped with votes. But this has changed, since 2008 Macedonia did not make it to the final anymore. The last time FYR Macedonia could reach the final, was Kaliopi with “Crno I Belo”, she even reached the 13th place in the final. The reason for the non-qualifying years had probably more to do with songs which were not preliminary made for an international audience and therefore did not met the European taste.

Macedonia never made a top 10 place also, nevertheless the best songs were: “Od Nas Zavisi” by Karolina in 2002 (19th), “Life” by Tose Proseki in 2004 (14th) and “Ninanajna” by Elena Risteska in 2006 (12th).