 Mija Martina Barbarić - Born in
Mostar (Herzegovina), April 26th, 1984. She got
her first victory at a children's song festival
when she was only three and a half years old.
Soon after followed festivals in Split, Mostar,
the Turbo-limach Show on Croatian Television and
then as a 16-year-old her first professional
performance at the Festival FORTE in Sarajevo.
This 18-year-old has garnered a lot of
experience: noticeable performances at festivals
in Mostar, two-time participation in Zagreb-fest,
Bihać Festival, music awards
"Davorin," twice at the BH Eurosong. At
the international Radio festival in Koper
(Slovenia) she received an award for the best
talent of the year. In addition to all the
festival performances, her appearances on TV and
Radio are also numerous. When she is not singing,
she prepares herself to graduate from high school
and music school. She plays the piano and the
flute, but admits she has not cultured them much
recently. Mija Martina also works as a journalist
and the host of a music show at HTV Mostar. She
brings a part of herself into every song and
comes up with the choreography and the look all
by herself.
 The three-hour-plus-long show was
the best national final Bosnia has ever had as
far as organization is concerned. Televoting was
supposed to be used exclusively to decide the
winner in two phases. Unfortunately, because of
an amazing response with 2.5 million calls being
received in the first 60 seconds after the phone
lines were open, the system crumbled. Instead, a
backup jury was used, which consisted of eight
members, which included, among others Alma
Čardžić (Bosnia-Herzegovina 1994 and 1997),
Maja Tatić (BiH 2002), Miša Molk (Slovene ESC
head) and Sabahudin Kurt (Former Yugoslavia
1964).
 Mija gave a powerful
performance full with intricate choreographies
helped by three dancers. At the end of the show
Mija could not help but cry while she said she
was proud to be able to represent Bosnia and
Herzegovina in Riga. Of course, this year is no
different so it is not free of speculation that
Mija only won because she is a Croat, but we will
never know. We now hope she earns Bosnia a good
placing in Riga and spares us trip to the
semifinal in 2004. Meanwhile, a lot of viewers
seemed angry about the fact that televoting
failed as they saw it to be a great sign of
improvement on national television.
The
complete results are as follows:
First
round of voting:
18. Edin Pašić - 44
17. Lea Mijatović - 46
16. Narcis & Cora - 49
14. Nataša Railić - 52
14. Nesib Delibegović - 52
12. Tinka Milinović - 53
12. Hana Jušić - 53
11. Lejla Ćatović - 54
10. "IF" - 55
07. Biljana Matić - 60
07. Minja Dugalić - 60
07. El Ženid & Frederique - 60
06. Selma Bajrami - 68
05. "Zabranjeno pušenje" - 70
04. Amila Glamočak - 78
03. Deen - 84
02. Mija Martina - 85
01. Igor Vukojević - 86
Second round of voting:
04. Amila Glamočak - 42
03. Igor Vukojević - 56
02. Deen - 58
01. Mija Martina - 72
Telephone voting
this year
Actors as hosts of the spectacle in Skenderija
hall
Final
filled with popular names
Dino Merlin special guest
 The man in charge of the
organizing, Senad Hadžifejzović promised us a true
spectacle, an
event that will bring forth the brightest and the
best of the Bosnian music scene to the arena to
battle it out for Eurovision. After two years of
closed studio production with no audience
present, the people at PBSBiH have decided to
venture back into the big hall that hosted the
Bosnian final in 1999. That year was
ground-breaking as it, for the first time saw
authors from all parts of Bosnia taking part and
this in front of a several-thousand-heavy
audience in Sarajevo. Back then, some of the
biggest names of Bosnian music took part - Hari
Mata Hara, Dino Merlin, Saša Lošić (who also
composed Slovenia 1997), Dražen Zerić,
"Seven Up." The tradition has continued
ever since: in 2001 "Punkt," Henda,
Elvira Rahić and Ružica Čavić all tried their
luck, but a newcomer won. A year later, the same
scenario: Maja Tatić, a virtual unknown came and
conquered, while Milic Vukašinović, Al' Dino,
Boris Režak and Dragana & Geronimo looked
on. Although these two years did feature some
prominent names in their line-up, never has a
Bosnian final had so many currently popular
artists take part, not since 1999, and it may
even rival that year.
The final is set to take place in
the sports/shopping/concert hall Skenderija (built for the purposes of
the 1984 Winter Olympics and virtually destroyed
in the 90s) in the center of Sarajevo on March
1st, which is
Bosnia and Herzegovina's Independence Day. It
seems symbolic enough in many ways that PBS would
choose this as the date of the final. Bringing
together artists from all over Bosnia and
including the people in it with televoting sends
a clear message of unity, the need to celebrate
our Independence Day together. In any case, the
event promises greatness. The organizers are
hoping for an audience of around 6000
people in
Skenderija (in 1999 there were around 2000 people
present). And as the last couple of years' voting
systems have brought a lot of negative feedback
to the organizers, they have made a choice to let the
viewers vote
for what they believe ought to be the winner.
 In hope to bring more
positive publicity to the preselection and to
generally make the event a prominent part of
Bosnian musical culture, more than it is already,
a CD will be recorded and
distributed to local radio stations to help advertise the
event and the songs themselves. PBSBiH will also,
for the first time, preview the 18
participating songs on BH Radio 1 and through radio
frequencies of RTVFBIH and RTRS, members of
PBSBIH on February 22nd. Also, through the
website of PBSBiH you wil be able to follow
the Bosnian final live as it happens in Sarajevo.
Detailed information will be available soon.
 There will be three hosts of the show. Ana Vilenica and Enis
Bešlagić are
both actors while the third host, Ognjen
Blagojević is
from FTV. The director of the show will
be the
renowned Bosnian director Dino
Mustafić
whose movie "Remake" is currently
making rounds at European film festivals such as
those in Rotterdam and Göteborg and has also
been invited to Paris, Sofia, Salerno, Houston,
Sao Paolo.... Tickets for the show go on
sale on February 12th at 10KM (5€) and 15KM
(7€). It has
been reported that the highest government
officials in Bosnia, including all three members
of the Presidency and the High Representative of
international community, are to attend the event.
 This is the first time that
the three telecommunications companies are
working together in Bosnia. BH Telecom, Telekom
RS and HPT Mostar will be receiving calls from
viewers. In case televoting fails for some
reason, the organizers will have an 8-member jury
standing by. Cost
of each call is 20 pfenings (0.10€) and the
money eardned will be split between PBS and the
three telecom companies. Televoting
itself will be split into two rounds. The first part will last
for 15 minutes and the number of calls per
household will be reduced to 3. At this
time, top 4 of the first round will enter the
second part "Super finale." Televotes from the first
round will be deleted and the top 4 will perform
again in the same order as in round one followed
by a new 10-minute televoting period ending with
the announcement of the winner.
Special guest in Skenderija will be
Dino Merlin
who represented Bosnia and Herzegovina in
Jerusalem in duet with Beatrice singing Putnici
and achieving Bosnia's best position to date.
- many thanks to Davor for the list of performers
and songwriters
The
18 finalists for the Bosnian final are:
1. Amila Glamočak - Mač
sa oštrice dvije (Double-edged Sword)
 - music: Marin Meštrović, lyrics: Sanja Bošnjak,
arrangement: Marin Meštrović
We know her, of course, from the 1996 Eurovision
where she sang Za našu ljubav. In
Skenderija she will have her new band
"Outstreet" accompany her on stage. She
has recently advertised her new image with which
she hopes to have a sort of a comeback into the
Bosnian music scene. Amila has been recording her
new CD "Sunce" last year and is
expecting to release it in the spring. She took
part in the 2001 Bosnian final with Ljubi me
sad with which she achieved joint 5th place.
You can read Amila's short biography here.
2. Mija Martina - Ne
brini (Don't Worry)
- music: Ines Prajo, lyrics: Arjana Kunštek,
arrangement: Tihomir Preradović
Mija was also there in the Bosnian final in 2002
and also in 2001 (11th). In 2002, she was the big
surprise coming second in the second round of
voting with her catchy pop number Nemoj danas.
3. Hana Jušić -
Ljubav ne bira (Love Does Not Discriminate)
- music: Hana Jušić & Samir Pašalić, lyrics: Hana Jušić,
arrangement: Samir Pašalić
Hana is an unknown name to me, probably just a
debutant trying her luck and getting some
exposure.
4. Lea Mijatović - Ja
sam se zaljubila (I Have Fallen In Love)
 - music: Lea Mijatović, lyrics: Lea Mijatović,
arrangement: Duško Mandic & Marko Tomasović
Another unknown. Marko Tomasović is a well-known
Croatian composer; here he has only arranged
Lea's song. He is also in the Croatian final this
year.
5. El Ženid &
Frederique - Nema problema (No Problem)
- music: Enes Zlatar, lyrics: Enes Zlatar, arrangement:
Enes Zlatar & Igor Camo
These two are total unknowns and look like
amateurs who are trying to get into the scene.
Enes Zlatar is the lead singer of the popular
punk-rock-rap band "Sikter." You can
visit the website of his band at http://www.sikter.com.
6. Nataša Railić - Trenutak (A Moment)
- music: Mladen Matović, lyrics: Mladen Matović,
arrangement: Lado Leš
Yet another debutant here. She has been a member
of various renowned musical choirs in Banja Luka.
Natasa describes the song as a
"singable" two-part half-ballad,
half-rhythmic number. She was interviewed by
Banja Luka newspaper "Nezavisne"; you
can read the translated article here. Mladen Matović and Lado Leš also
wrote and arranged last year's song Kapije
bola sung by Slađana Mandić which with 53
points came 8th.
7. Narcis Vučina & Cora
- Easily
 - music: Narcis Vučina, lyrics: Narcis Vučina,
arrangement: Claes Cornelius
These two were also together in 2001 where they
sang Freedom and came joint 13th. Narcis
is a veteran of the Sarajevan music scene who has
been living in Denmark for the past years and
recording for a record company there. He has also
taken part in ex-Yugoslav national finals of 1988
and 1990. Cora is Danish and is a guest on many
tracks on Narcis' new album, singing in
impeccable Bosnian.
8. Tinka Milinović - I'm
Never Gonna Fall
 - music: Ivan Barbalić, lyrics: Ivan Barbalić,
arrangement: Almir Komarica & friends
Tinka made her first public appearance at the
2002 national final where she gave a very
provoking performance and in turn got herself
some major media attention. Her song was Sve
sto imas ti and it came 14th that year.
Although the song was placed low in the contest,
it became a hit in its own right in Bosnia. Tinka
went on to back Maja Tatić in Tallinn; she is
the long-haired blonde, cheery one on the back of
the stage. Tinka currently has her own radio and
TV shows. She has studied music at the Louisianna
University in the United States where she lived
for some ten years. You can read Tinka's short
biography here.
9. Minja Dugalić - Ti
možeš sve (You Can Do It All)
- music: Ines Prajo, lyrics: Arjana Kunštek,
arrangement: Tihomir Preradović
And here we have another newcomer. She is
actually a member of the dance troop "Mo
Stars" from Mostar. Other members of the
troop will accompany her on stage in Skenderija
as dancers. The same group also work with Mija
Martina and Lily (2002 and 2001 finals) among
others. Her song is written by the same team as
Mija Martina's so we're to expect a pop dance
number here as well.
10. "Zabranjeno
pušenje" - Agregat (Aggregate)
 - music: Sejo Sexon, lyrics: Sejo Sexon, arrangement:
"Zabranjeno pušenje"
And here we have the icing on the cake, for me.
"Zabranjeno pušenje" has been around
for a couple of decades singing mainly rock music
interlaced with all kinds of other genres
including bits of pop, reggae, country, folk
etc... They are one of the most known rock bands
in the whole ex-Yugoslavia area and have a made a
huge comeback of sorts last year with their album
"Bog vozi Mercedes" which is full of
excellent tracks. Their style of music is a bit
hard to describe, but mainly their songs tend to
be very humor-based, but socially critical
stories. Agregat is said to be very
socially critical itself and has caused some
preliminary controversy already. The magazine
"Slobodna Bosna" featured a short
article recently with details about the song
which you can read in its entirety here. The current members of the band
are: Predrag Bobić-Bleka (bass), Bruno Urlić
(violin, viola, keyboard, back vocal), Dragomir
Herendić-Dragianni (guitar), Davor Sučić-Sejo
Saxon (guitar, vocal) and Branko Trajkov-Trak
(drums). Check them out at http://www.zabranjeno-pusenje.com.You can find mp3s of their
songs there as well as here: http://www.nostalgija.com/muzika/z.php. Also, take a look at the
band in this small gallery with pics taken from their
website.
11. Igor Vukojević - Srce
ne pita (The Heart Does Not Ask)
- music: Igor Vukojević, lyrics: Igor Vukojević,
arrangement: Alek Aleksov
He is the same Igor who was in the Bosnian final
in 1999 when he sang Glumica and came
9th. Is not extremely popular, but enough people
know of him in Bosnia.
12. Edin Pašić - Laž
te cini sretnom (Lies Makes You Happy)
- music: Dino Muharemović, lyrics: Dino Muharemović,
arrangement: Marin Meštrović
Edin is relatively new. He took part in the 2002
final where he sang a very cool ethno pop ballad,
but obviously lacked the vocal range to pull it
off. Judges did not like him much, so he was the
last on the board. Dino Muharemović is a
songwriter who has worked with many famous
Bosnian artists.
13. Selma Bajrami - Zaljubljena (In Love)
 - music, lyrics and arrangement: Ranko
Boban
Selma here is somewhat of a surprise. In recent
years she has become one of the biggest folk
stars in Bosnia, singing songs that usually do
not even try to get to Eurovision... However, she
used to be a member of the girl pop band
"IF" (see above) and is known to belt
out a pop tune or two once in a while.
Charismatic and very image-conscious, with the
right song, who knows... Ranko Boban is a man who
has won his ticket to Eurovision once before - in
1981, the ex-Yugoslav entry "Lejla" was
written by him. Photos of Selma can be found here.
14. "IF" -
Samo ljubi mene ti (Just Kiss Me)
 - music: Haris Dedić, lyrics: Haris & Sanela
Dedić, arrangement: Dragomir Herendić-Dragianni
They are another very famous and popular pop
sensation. They're 3 girls and one guy who writes
music and plays keyboard for them. They come from
Tuzla and strictly stick to the instant poppy
numbers. The current members include Merima
Nurković, Azra Musić, Lejla Polić and Haris
Dedić, who is the leader of the band. They say
their song is very good, is influenced by
American pop-rock and they hope to win with it.
Dragomir Herendić-Dragianni is a member of
"Zabranjeno pušenje" (see below) where
he plays the guitar. Selma Bajrami (see below)
was once a member of the group before she
ventured into solo waters. One of their songs can
be found here: IF -
Ne mogu bez tebe.
15. Deen - Taxi
 - music: Sead Lipovača-Zele, lyrics: Fayo, arrangement: Sead
Lipovača-Zele
Probably the most popular name of all this year.
Has had a great last year with his debut album
which spit out hit after hit. He has become
extremely popular with his sultry ballads and
catchy poppy numbers despite his very flamboyant
image and appearance (which have brought him a
lot of public jokes). He is the one to benefit
from televoting the most, really, as he is the
current most popular and best known pop star in
Bosnia. The way Eurovision is going and the kind
of songs Deen sings, I would not say no to him
representing us, given the song is good and
appropriate. You can listen to his music at http://www.deenvoice.com. You can also download
mp3s of his songs at http://www.nostalgija.com/muzika/d.php. If you want to access
Deen's gallery, click here.
16. Nesib Delibegović-Nesko - Madonna
- music: Nesib Delibegović, lyrics: Nesib Delibegović,
arrangement: Nesib Delibegović & Dragan
Divjak
Nesib is a veteran of Bosnian music; he was there
in 2001 with Željka Katavić-Pilj with whom he
sang a beautiful mid-tempo ballad, but only
managed to achieve the 17th place.
17. Biljana Matić -
Ljubavne promjene (Changes In Love)
- music, lyrics and arrangement: Senna M
Biljana was there both in 2001 and 2002. In 2001
she sang an old-fashioned schlagger ballad and
achieved the 4th place and in 2002 she sang the
equally old-fashioned Primabalerina and
got the joint 12th position. Senna M is another
veteran of Bosnian (and Croatian) music. He used
to sing light folk stuff za "Senad od
Bosne" before he switched to techno dance
and concentrated his career in Croatia.
Originally, his song was supposed to be sung by
Danijela Vinš, Miss Bosnia and Herzegovina 2002.
18. Lejla Ćatović - Samo
se smijem (I Only Laugh)
- music: Lejla Ćatović, lyrics: Lejla Ćatović,
arrangement: Admir Đulančić
Lejla is also a newcomer to the Bosnian scene.
|
 _________
(articles 2003)
×
Mija: post-ESC interview
×
Mija Martina back in
Sarajevo
×
Deen: People haven't the
right to vote
×
Igor: The voting was
absurd
×
Miša Molk: song is a
smart copy
×
Mija Martina meets
Mostar Mayor
×
0.5 million euros for BH
Eurosong
×
Mija Martina: I dream of
winning ESC
× Interview with Mija
Martina
× Out of 200 points, jury
gave 228!
× Igor: I'm not angry
× Mija wins, telecoms lose
× Interview: composer Mladen
Matović
× Has Mija Martina already won?
× "IF"'s song can
represent Bosnia well
× Hana Jušić & BH Eurosong
2003
× "Pušenje" sings of war
times
× Nataša Railić's step to success
× Organizer talks details
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