| Serbia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest 2009 | ||||
| Country |  Serbia | |||
| Selection process | Beovizija 2009 | |||
| Selection date | 8 March 2009 | |||
| Competing entry | ||||
| Song | "Cipela" | |||
| Artist | Marko Kon andMilaan | |||
| Songwriters |
| |||
| Placement | ||||
| Semi-final result | Failed to qualify (10th) | |||
| Participation chronology | ||||
| ||||
Serbia was represented at theEurovision Song Contest 2009 with the song "Cipela" written byAleksandar Kobac,Marko Kon andMilan Nikolić. The song was performed by Marko Kon and Milaan. The Serbian national broadcaster,Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) organised the national finalBeovizija 2009 in order to select the Serbian entry for the 2009 contest inMoscow,Russia. The national final consisted of two shows: a semi-final and a final on 7 and 8 March 2009, respectively. Twenty entries competed in the semi-final where eleven qualified to the final following the combination of votes from a three-member jury panel and a public televote. The eleven qualifiers competed in the final which resulted in "Cipela" performed by Marko Kon and Milaan as the winner following the combination of votes from a three-member jury panel and a public televote.
Serbia was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 14 May 2009. Performing during the show in position 4, "Cipela" was not announced among the 10 qualifying entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. This marked the first time that Serbia failed to qualify to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest from a semi-final since its first entry in2007. It was later revealed that Serbia placed tenth out of the 19 participating countries in the semi-final with 60 points.
Prior to the 2009 contest, Serbia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest two times since its first entry in2007, winning the contest with their debut entry "Molitva" performed byMarija Šerifović.[1] Since 2007, all two of Serbia's entries have featured in the final. Serbia's2008 entry "Oro" performed byJelena Tomašević placed sixth in the final as the host country.
The Serbian national broadcaster,Radio Television of Serbia (RTS), broadcasts the event within Serbia and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. RTS confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest on 29 November 2008.[2] Since 2007, Serbia used theBeovizija national final in order to select their entry and along with their participation confirmation, the broadcaster announced the organization ofBeovizija 2009 in order to select the 2009 Serbian entry.[2]
Beovizija 2009 was the seventh edition of theBeovizija national final organised byRTS in order to select the Serbian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. The selection consisted of a semi-final featuring twenty songs and a final featuring eleven songs to be held on 7 and 8 March 2009, respectively, at theSava Centar inBelgrade.[3] Both shows were hosted byJovana Janković, Milena Vasić and Srđan Timarov.[4] The two shows were broadcast onRTS1,RTS Sat, inBosnia and Herzegovina onRTRS, via radio onRadio Belgrade as well as streamed online via the broadcaster's websiterts.rs.[5]
Artists and songwriters were able to submit their entries between 24 December 2008 and 24 January 2009. Both artists and songwriters were required to be Serb citizens, while songs were required to be submitted inSerbian.[6] At the closing of the deadline, 90 submissions were received. A selection committee reviewed the submissions and selected twenty entries to proceed to the national final. The selection committee consisted of RTS music editors Jelena Ilić, Ana Milićević and Jelena Vlahović.[7] The selected competing entries were announced on 30 January 2009.[8] On 11 February 2009,Nataša Bekvalac announced her withdrawal from the national final due to scheduled performances and private obligations. Her song "Bili smo najlepši" was performed byAna Nikolić instead.[9]
| Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Ana Nikolić | "Bili smo najlepši"(Били смо најлепши) | Marina Tucaković, Aleksandar Perišić Romario |
| Andrej Ilić | "Nemam te"(Немам те) | Dušan Alagić |
| Danijel andMilica | "H8ER" | Marina Tucaković, Aleksandar Perišić Romario,Marko Kon |
| Dušan Zrnić | "Tvoje drugo ime je greh"(Твоје друго име је грех) | Andrej Babić |
| Etar | "Sanjaj me"(Сањај ме) | Boban Janković, Katarina Popović, Etar |
| Ivana Selakov | "Moje odbrane"(Моје одбране) | Aleksandra Milutinović, Goran Radinović |
| Lejla Hot | "Čekajući princa"(Чекајући принца) | Lejla Hot, Ognjen Cvekić |
| Marko Kon andMilan Nikolić | "Cipela"(Ципела) | Aleksandar Kobac, Marko Kon, Milan Nikolić |
| Minja Samardžić | "Petak uveče"(Петак увече) | Marina Tucaković, Aleksandar Perišić Romario |
| Oskar andBeauty Queens feat.Đorđe Marjanović | "Superstar"(Суперстар) | Ognjen Amidžić, Saša Milošević Mare |
| ОТ Band | "Blagoslov za kraj"(Благослов за крај) | Snežana Vukomanović, E. Owen |
| Pozitivan Haos | "Glorija"(Глорија) | Marina Tucaković,Ljilja Jorgovanović, Aleksandar Radulović |
| Saška Janković | "Nauči me"(Научи ме) | Violeta Mihajlovska, Bojan Jeremić |
| SevdahBaby & Miki Element | "Previše reči"(Превише речи) | Milan Stanković, Oliver Katić |
| Sonja Bakić | "Ništa novo"(Ништа ново) | Snežana Vukomanović, Mirko Vukomanović |
| Tijana Bogićević | "Pazi šta radiš"(Пази шта радиш) | Đorđe Miljenović |
| Trio Passage and Katarina Sotirović | "Zauvek"(Заувек) | Bojan Jeremić |
| Vanja Mijatović | "Led i žar"(Лед и жар) | Nadica Janković, Miša Mijatović |
| Zbogom Brus Li | "Ha ha ha"(Ха ha ха) | Slavko Matić, Branislav Smuk, Kosta Sivački |
| Zemlja Gruva | "Svejedno je"(Свеједно је) | Zemlja Gruva |
The semi-final took place on 7 March 2009 where twenty songs competed. The ten qualifiers for the final were decided by a combination of votes from a jury panel consisting of Jelena Jovičić (actress), Jovan Maljoković (musician and composer) and Ivan Ivačković (rock critic), and the Serbian public via SMS voting. Eurovision contestantsRegina,Igor Cukrov andAndrea,Next Time,Andrea Demirović, andQuartissimo andMartina, which would representBosnia and Herzegovina,Croatia,Macedonia,Montenegro andSlovenia in 2009, respectively, were featured as guest performers during the show.[10]
Following the semi-final, "Moje odbrane" performed byIvana Selakov, which was initially announced as non-qualifiers during the show, was reinstated to the final due to technical errors in the public vote, where only votes cast during the first five minutes of the 10 minute voting period were counted.[11] Originally, "Bili smo najlepši" performed byAna Nikolić was also reinstated as a finalist, but Nikolić refused to participate in the final.[12]
| Draw | Song | J. Jovičić | J. Maljoković | I. Ivačković | Total | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Previše reči" | 7 | 7 | 2 | ||
| 2 | "Ha ha ha" | 5 | 5 | 0 | ||
| 3 | "Zauvek" | 0 | 0 | |||
| 4 | "Led i žar" | 0 | 0 | |||
| 5 | "Ništa novo" | 6 | 6 | 0 | ||
| 6 | "Cipela" | 6 | 1 | 7 | 1 | |
| 7 | "Nemam te" | 5 | 6 | 11 | 4 | |
| 8 | "Sanjaj me" | 3 | 3 | 0 | ||
| 9 | "Čekajući princa" | 3 | 7 | 10 | 3 | |
| 10 | "Tvoje drugo ime je greh" | 7 | 5 | 4 | 16 | 6 |
| 11 | "Petak uveče" | 0 | 0 | |||
| 12 | "Superstar" | 2 | 8 | 8 | 18 | 8 |
| 13 | "Bili smo najlepši" | 0 | 0 | |||
| 14 | "Moje odbrane" | 0 | 0 | |||
| 15 | "Glorija" | 12 | 4 | 16 | 7 | |
| 16 | "H8ER" | 10 | 10 | 3 | 23 | 10 |
| 17 | "Svejedno je" | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| 18 | "Nauči me" | 4 | 1 | 10 | 15 | 5 |
| 19 | "Blagoslov za kraj" | 8 | 12 | 12 | 32 | 12 |
| 20 | "Pazi šta radiš" | 0 | 0 |
| Draw | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote | Total | Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | Points | ||||||
| 1 | SevdahBaby and Miki Element | "Previše reči" | 2 | 360 | 0 | 2 | 12 |
| 2 | Zbogom Brus Li | "Ha ha ha" | 0 | 511 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| 3 | Trio Passage and Katarina Sotirović | "Zauvek" | 0 | 262 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| 4 | Vanja Mijatović | "Led i žar" | 0 | 418 | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| 5 | Sonja Bakić | "Ništa novo" | 0 | 662 | 2 | 2 | 13 |
| 6 | Marko Kon andMilan Nikolić | "Cipela" | 1 | 1,289 | 7 | 8 | 6 |
| 7 | Andrej Ilić | "Nemam te" | 4 | 371 | 0 | 4 | 9 |
| 8 | Etar | "Sanjaj me" | 0 | 658 | 1 | 1 | 14 |
| 9 | Lejla Hot | "Čekajući princa" | 3 | 301 | 0 | 3 | 11 |
| 10 | Dušan Zrnić | "Tvoje drugo ime je greh" | 6 | 314 | 0 | 6 | 7 |
| 11 | Minja Samardžić | "Petak uveče" | 0 | 366 | 0 | 0 | 19 |
| 12 | Oskar andBeauty Queens feat.Đorđe Marjanović | "Superstar" | 8 | 3,495 | 10 | 18 | 2 |
| 14 | Ivana Selakov | "Moje odbrane" | 0 | 803 | 4 | 4 | 10 |
| 15 | Pozitivan Haos | "Glorija" | 7 | 2,065 | 8 | 15 | 4 |
| 16 | Danijel andMilica | "H8ER" | 10 | 1,215 | 6 | 16 | 3 |
| 17 | Zemlja Gruva | "Svejedno je" | 0 | 589 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| 18 | Saška Janković | "Nauči me" | 5 | 761 | 3 | 8 | 5 |
| 19 | ОТ Band | "Blagoslov za kraj" | 12 | 12,328 | 12 | 24 | 1 |
| 20 | Tijana Bogićević | "Pazi šta radiš" | 0 | 430 | 0 | 0 | 17 |
The final took place on 8 March 2009.[5] The winner, "Cipela" performed byMarko Kon andMilan Nikolić, was decided by a combination of votes from a jury panel consisting ofŽeljko Joksimović (representedSerbia and Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004),Kornelije Kovač (musician and composer) andBiljana Krstić (musician), and the Serbian public via SMS voting.[14] Former Eurovision contestantsSirusho, who representedArmenia in 2008,Boaz Ma'uda, who representedIsrael in 2008, andJelena Tomašević, who representedSerbia in 2008, were featured as guest performers during the show, performing together "Time to Pray", composed by Israeli President andNobel Peace Prize winnerShimon Peres.[15]
| Draw | Song | Ž. Joksimović | K. Kovač | B. Krstić | Total | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Superstar" | 2 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 2 |
| 2 | "H8ER" | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| 3 | "Ništa novo" | 0 | 0 | |||
| 4 | "Nauči me" | 3 | 5 | 3 | 11 | 3 |
| 5 | "Tvoje drugo ime je greh" | 6 | 12 | 6 | 24 | 8 |
| 6 | "Cipela" | 12 | 6 | 12 | 30 | 12 |
| 7 | "Blagoslov za kraj" | 4 | 7 | 7 | 18 | 5 |
| 8 | "Nemam te" | 10 | 4 | 5 | 19 | 6 |
| 9 | "Sanjaj me" | 8 | 10 | 10 | 28 | 10 |
| 10 | "Glorija" | 7 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 4 |
| 11 | "Moje odbrane" | 5 | 8 | 8 | 21 | 7 |
| Draw | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote | Total | Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | Points | ||||||
| 1 | Oskar andBeauty Queens feat.Đorđe Marjanović | "Superstar" | 2 | 7,696 | 10 | 12 | 5 |
| 2 | Danijel andMilica | "H8ER" | 1 | 2,630 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 3 | Sonja Bakić | "Ništa novo" | 0 | 672 | 1 | 1 | 11 |
| 4 | Saška Janković | "Nauči me" | 3 | 1,014 | 3 | 6 | 10 |
| 5 | Dušan Zrnić | "Tvoje drugo ime je greh" | 8 | 944 | 2 | 10 | 7 |
| 6 | Marko Kon andMilan Nikolić | "Cipela" | 12 | 3,955 | 7 | 19 | 1 |
| 7 | OT Bend | "Blagoslov za kraj" | 5 | 28,521 | 12 | 17 | 2 |
| 8 | Andrej Ilić | "Nemam te" | 6 | 614 | 0 | 6 | 9 |
| 9 | Etar | "Sanjaj me" | 10 | 1,156 | 5 | 15 | 3 |
| 10 | Pozitivan Haos | "Glorija" | 4 | 5,215 | 8 | 12 | 4 |
| 11 | Ivana Selakov | "Moje odbrane" | 7 | 1,133 | 4 | 11 | 6 |
Following the final ofBeovizija 2009, controversy arose as the televoters' favourite, OT Bend, only came second despite taking in more votes than all ten remaining finalists combined. The announcement of Marko Kon and Milan Nikolić as the winners was met with booing by the audience in the venue, whileOGAE Serbia published an online letter after the competition in which they questioned the "almost diametrically opposed" jury results between the semi-final and final, alongside the votes of final juror Željko Joksimović, who awarded the least points to OT Bend in comparison with the other two members.[16][17] Joksimović subsequently responded that he had voted according to his conscience, adding that people have different tastes and performers have their fans.[18]
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top nine songs from each semi-final as determined by televoting progress to the final, and a tenth was determined by back-up juries. TheEuropean Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 30 January 2009, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals. Serbia was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 14 May 2009.[19][20][21] The running order for the semi-finals was decided through another draw on 16 March 2009 and Serbia was set to perform in position 4, following the entry fromLatvia and before the entry fromPoland.
The two semi-finals and the final were broadcast in Serbia onRTS1 andRTS Sat with commentary for the first semi-final by Dragan Ilić and commentary for the second semi-final and final byDuška Vučinić-Lučić. The Serbian spokesperson, who announced the Serbian votes during the final, was co-Presenter of the2008 Eurovision Song ContestJovana Janković.
Marko Kon and Milaan took part in technical rehearsals on 4 and 7 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 11 and 12 May. The Serbian performance featured Marko Kon in a yellow jacket and Milaan in a black leather costume performing together with three male pantomimes and a female dancer in a white tulle dress, who was lifted up in the air and dropped to the floor during the performance. The background LED screens displayed pixelated sketches of the performers' faces.[22][23] The director of the Serbian performance was Mojca Horvat and the choreography was completed by Milan Gromilić. The three pantomimes that joined Marko Kon and Milaan on stage were: Ljubiša Dinčić, Igor Knežević and Jovan Sejnjanović. The female dancer was Katarina Gromilić.[24]
At the end of the show, Serbia was not announced among the 10 qualifying entries in the second semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. This marked the first time that Serbia failed to qualify to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest from a semi-final since its first entry in2007.[25] It was later revealed that Serbia placed tenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 60 points; and whilist it would have been enough to qualify in previous years, in 2008 and 2009 only the top nine places qualified automatically and the tenth place was decided based on the votes of the backup juries, and this time, juries choseCroatia to qualify over Serbia.[26]
Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently.
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Serbia and awarded by Serbia in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:
| Score | Country |
|---|---|
| 12 points | |
| 10 points | |
| 8 points | |
| 7 points | |
| 6 points |  Netherlands |
| 5 points | |
| 4 points |  Cyprus |
| 3 points | |
| 2 points | |
| 1 point |
|
|
The following members comprised the Serbian jury:
| Draw | Country | Results | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jury | Televoting | Combined | |||
| 01 |  Lithuania | ||||
| 02 |  Israel | 4 | 4 | ||
| 03 |  France | 6 | 6 | 3 | |
| 04 |  Sweden | ||||
| 05 |  Croatia | 1 | 7 | 8 | 5 |
| 06 |  Portugal | 3 | 3 | ||
| 07 |  Iceland | 2 | 2 | ||
| 08 |  Greece | 8 | 8 | 6 | |
| 09 |  Armenia | 2 | 2 | ||
| 10 |  Russia | 4 | 4 | ||
| 11 |  Azerbaijan | 6 | 6 | 4 | |
| 12 |  Bosnia and Herzegovina | 7 | 12 | 19 | 12 |
| 13 |  Moldova | 1 | 1 | ||
| 14 |  Malta | 10 | 10 | 7 | |
| 15 |  Estonia | 3 | 3 | ||
| 16 |  Denmark | 5 | 5 | 1 | |
| 17 |  Germany | ||||
| 18 |  Turkey | ||||
| 19 |  Albania | ||||
| 20 |  Norway | 8 | 10 | 18 | 10 |
| 21 |  Ukraine | ||||
| 22 |  Romania | 5 | 5 | 2 | |
| 23 |  United Kingdom | 12 | 12 | 8 | |
| 24 |  Finland | ||||
| 25 |  Spain | ||||
