Deen - In The Disco
lyrics & music by Vesna Pisarović

Interview with Deen: bosanski | english

Five disco songs were in the running, as we all know. The winner was decided by week-long televoting combined with the votes of an 11-member jury that included Deen himself.

In The Disco won both the people and the jury over. It received the maximum 5 points from both camps. The complete results:

10 pts - In The Disco 5 pts (14016 televotes) + 5 pts (jury)
7 pts - Spava Sarajevo 3 pts (5163 televotes) + 4 pts (jury)
6 pts - Wanted To Make It 4 pts (5812 televotes) +2 pts (jury)
5 pts - Pobjednik 2 pts (4689 televotes) + 3 pts (jury)
2 pts - Trebam te 1 pt (1499 televotes) + 1 pt (jury)

Oh and guess who wrote the winning song? Vesna Pisarović! She's actually a Bosnian citizen, having been born in the northern border town of Brčko. Bit of a surprise, but we're happy to have Vesna on our side this time! :)

Noah thinks the logo above fits :)
Disco fever rampant in Bosnia!

And you all thought all we have is bad schlager pop! Tsk, tsk, tsk! We have <bleep> disco pop too. And nothing else, it seems. Pretty becoming songs for Deen, if a little monotonous. We all expected bright, shiny pop, and some of us a ballad or two. With two ethnic songs from the Balkans, hurray hurray for Bosnia for nothing coming up with yet another one, no matter how much I love Balkan ethno. I wonder which one of these five will win, cuz I sure can't tell which is which... Whichever one wins, though, Deen will be all over it. So, here's hoping for a nice little top 10 placing. At least one in the two nights.

Televoting for the songs has opened today and it will last until March 6th. Together with the 11-jury votes, the people will decide the winner. In case of a tie for the first position, Deen will make the final decision. There was also a sixth song which made the cut out of 32 received. But because the author of the song did not want to sign a contract with PBSBiH (presumably, transfering his copyrights to PBS), it was dropped. The authors of all the songs will not be known until after the March 6th show which is to be hosted by the same people as last year, Enes Bešlagić and Ana Vilenica.

Here's my humble review of the five songs chosen:

Trebam te (I Need You) (lyrics)
Simple introduction with a very pronounced piano sound. Not much of a melody, overall sounding a bit amateurish. Not one to win.
Wanted To Make It (lyrics)
Swedish POP with the intro as its best part. The chorus is not very powerful and there are no discernable hooks. But an accent finally not to be ashamed of. Not a winner either, though.
In The Disco (lyrics)
Folks have been saying this is a plagiarism. It's got elements of many different songs, but I hear it as a song on its own. Needs a better arrangment, it's not powerful at all. A bit headache inducing too.
Pobjednik (Winner) (lyrics)
Aaah, a bit of ethno in this one. :) Not too much, just enough to flavor the song. Definitely needs a better arrangment, it's sounding way too simple. And again, lack of hooks. Autobiographical lyrics, I thought.
Spava Sarajevo (Sarajevo Sleeps) (lyrics)
Old-school disco, no? Bit of a Sarajevan flavor to it, too. A better arrangment than the rest of the songs. But still, the melody is the problem. Nothing to grab onto.

What to say in summary? A bit disappointed, but still hope for great things... In The Disco or Pobjednik ought to win.

1 song of 6 out
The five songs to be presented March 2

The press conference scheduled for Friday, February 27th has been officially postponed due to the tragic death of Macedonian president in an airpane accident over Herzegovina. The event will now take palce on Tuesday, March 2nd. PBSBiH has announced that the five (?, they have not specified which of the original six has been removed from the line-up; waiting on answer from PBS) will be played on BH Radio 1 at an unspecified time on March 2nd as well. The radio stations who send journalists and receive promo CDs at the press conference are also invited to take part in the broadcast.

Eurobosnia has found out from Sabina Bacvic at PBSBiH that the official BH Eurosong website will have MP3 free for download and will also be the place where fans will be able to vote. Hayat TV will carry the broadcast on March 6th live on satellite for the diaspora, while the locals will be able to follow the event on BHTV1 (FTV and RTRS) and BH Radio 1.

Following is the original news posted on 2/25:
The team behind BH Eurosong 2004 has announced a press conference to be held on February 27th at 14:00 in Sarajevo. At this time, the journalists present will be given promotional CDs containing the songs nominated for this year's competition. Televoting will be officially open at this conference as well. Details are not given as to how the public will hear the songs, but what will probably happen is the individual radio stations will include the songs into their programs.

PBSBiH is also calling on journalists who want accrediation for BH Eurosong on March 6th to show up at the press conference where the same will be handed out. If you are a journalist, a member of an OGAE club or a simple fan, you may apply for accrediation by contacting Sabina Bacvic, the PR person of PBSBiH, at kontakt@pbsbih.ba

Songs selected
Out of 32, 6

PBSBiH announced today the songs the internal jury selected for Deen to sing on March 6th. Only titles and submission codes were given. Out of 32 received submissions, six songs were chosen:

1. Pobjednik (Winner),
2. Trebam te (I Need You),
3. Priđi bliže (Come Closer),
4. Spava Sarajevo (Sarajevo Sleeps),
5. Wanted To Make It, and
6. In The Disco

As you can see, two of the songs have English titles. It is safe to assume that they will at least partially be sung in English. Knowing the fact that Deen is getting "ready" to launch an international career (several international songwriters have worked on his new album due to come out in the summer), this is no surprise. Also, the song titles are all promising, as they hint that that songs themselves are popish, discoish, etc. which is what Deen is probably best at.

These six will be performed in a special TV show on March 6th. The winner will be chosen by an "expert" jury (see member list below) and 7-day-long televoting. The public will be able to start voting on February 28th. PBSBiH does not specify how the songs will be heard by the public in order to vote, but it is probably safe to assume a radio broadcast at least will happen at some point in the near future.

The members of the "expert" jury, per PBSBiH, are:
1. Vesna Arapović, music professor in Music School "Mostar" and director of children's choir "Pavarotti"
2. Deen himself
3. Ivan Čavlović, prof., dr., president of the Musicology Society of FBiH
4. Samir Čulić, journalist, DJ and music editor
5. Ferida Duraković, professor of literature and a translator
6. Marin Gradac, music professor and music editor
7. Miroslav Kenjalović, mr., sc., professor, Dean of Arts Academy at Banja Luka University
8. Slobodan Bodo Kovačević, architect, guitarist
9. Tijana Vignjević, conductor, music professor
10. Vesna Andree Zaimović, mr., sc., musicologist, director of BH Eurosong 2004
11. Ninoslav Verber (jury president), professor of music, president of Musical Production of PBSBiH
Milkica Grubor (secretary of the jury)

Fourth time lucky
Deen flying to Turkey

Lots of speculation remains after PBSBiH jury chooses Deen as the Bosnian representative at the 49th Eurovision in Istanbul this year. One thing is sure, the guy tried his luck 3 other times and did not give up. In 1999, he performed as the main vocal of the Seven Up boyband, which came 3rd. A year later, Deen was nowhere to be found, but he came back in 2001 with an expectedly dance pop thingy, only to place seventh out of 19. He took another break in 2002, but we could see him back in 2003 with a new name and image. Previously that year and the year before, Deen had become one of the most popular Bosnian artists in the country and the region with his album "Ja sam vjetar zaljubljeni" almost entirely written by none other than Zele Lipovaca, a songwriter who's been around the Bosnian music scene for decades. In 2003, Deen came second with the somewhat downbeat "Taxi."

Deen has enough experience in performing and singing, that much is obvious. He's represented Bosnia in several festivals, including the Mediterranean Song Contest in Turkey a couple of years ago. He has not had an album out since his debut in 2002, but has said that he is to release one this year. Perfect promotion, this Eurovision thingy then. At least Bosnia will for once send somebody who is expected to do well. Catchy pop songs are his thing, and we can only hope that PBSBiH chooses something like that for him.

If you are interested in what Deen's music sounds like, his website http://www.deenvoice.com has streams of both audio and video material. Expect Deen to bring lots of dancers with him on stage in Turkey and to make an extravaganza out of his performance. We hope he can bring Bosnia a much needed top 10 placing, for this country does not have bad music, but only people who are unable to get with the program. Somehow, I think Deen will be up to it. *fingers crossed*

Musical charade
Hahahahahaha haha haha ha ha

It's Deen.

Here's what the "process" PBSBiH says was. A grand number of seven (7!, whoa...) performers sent in what PBS was asking of them, and 5 submitted a complete set. The five were: Deen, Sajid Jusić, Tinka Milinović, Nermin Puškar and Igor Vukojević. Overall, not a bad bunch of people. I was especially glad to see Igor and Nermin there; both have great, strong voices.

The jury was made up of "journalists and influential musical editors from the media around Bosnia, and other professionals from the field of popular culture." Anyway, they voted in 4 rounds on the ground of vocal abilities and stage performance. In the first round, the performer with the lowest ranking was eliminated, i.e. Sajid Jusić. Then the four remaining were given 1 to 4 points. Then, Igor was eliminated. In the third stage, singers were awarded 1 to 3 points, at which point Tinka was voted off the island. The two remaining, Deen and Nermin were awarded 1 to 2 points. Deen earned 77 and Nermin 49 points in this final stage. And so, the winner was Deen.

Deen it is. The next stage is to get the songs. PBSBiH will be accepting entries for Deen until February 6th (so, three weeks...).

And here's what PBS wants from those entries: they must adhere to contemporary pop standards with the possibility to include elements of BiH musical culture. All the authors must be citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

See the complete jury scoreboard here.

Bit more
After brainstorming at PBSBiH, logic comes semi-alive

Taking EBU's example, PBSBiH seems to like developing its ideas very late and in stages. The final word now is that the singer who will be chosen by an internal jury, will be presented on a special TV show on January 15th. Remember, the deadline for submission of materials by singers is January 9th.

At this point, presuming when the show is over, another public call begins. This time, a contest will be open to commission songs. No deadline is set, but the songs are to be sent in to PBSBiH and 6 will be chosen "by clearly determined criteria" (of course, no mention of what those are...). So, 6 songs will be chosen and each will be sung by the chosen performer, again, no date set for that either. Apparently, televoting will be tried again and for a few days.

On March 6th, the song which has been chosen by televoting out of those six will be announced. However, and this is serious, no joke... PBSBiH's site says that the entire selection is to finish by mid-March, even though they specifically chose March 6th as the D-Day when both the song and the singer will be known. I'm telling you, crazy country. Still, would love no other as much.

To give some credit to PBSBiHians, they *are* thinking fiscally responsibly this time around. In debt several million euros and they finally took notice. Smaller show, lots of revenue from phone calls... So, singer chosen on January 15th and song on March 6th.

And again, late
PBSBiH starts the battle

Recently, the Bosnian broadcaster that isn't, PBSBiH, posted, very quietly, a public call for BH Eurosong 2004 on their website. After a successful production last year which was marked by a breakdown of the telecoms and the aftermath of accusations over Mija Martina's victory, PBSBiH isn't hinting any major changes. However:

This year, the public announcement seems to go back to the 1994-1997 years when the selection was centered around one singer. For BH Eurosong 2004, PBSBiH is looking for vocalists, solos singers or groups, who are to send in audio and video recordings. There is no mention of the song at all, nor, in fact, what BH Eurosong 2004 will look like. We are, yet again, left to speculate, and for PBSBiH people to get angry at us for doing so.

One interesting and rather bizarre piece of data requested from singers is confirmation of paid TV fee. Now, it may sound strange, because it would, but PBSBiH wants at least the handful of people willing to subject themselves to wims of an "expert" selection jury to pay the fee, since, well, most of Bosnia isn't doing it. Very low quality programming and almost unimaginable lack of any real communication between this state entity and its viewers has resulted in near-bankruptcy for PBSBiH, which is not a TV channel, but an umbrella organization for FTV and RTRS, and only broadcasts 30 minutes of news per day and an occasional sports program.

(2004 lyrics)
albania
andorra
austria
belarus
belgium
bosnia & herzegovina
croatia
cyprus
denmark
estonia
finland
france
germany
greece
iceland
ireland
israel
latvia
lithuania
macedonia
malta
monaco
netherlands
norway
poland
portugal
romania
russia
serbia & montenegro
slovenia
spain
sweden
switzerland
turkey
ukraine
united kingdom