SKOPJE, FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA – Tonight the first national selection of the season takes place. The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia decides its entry and artist for Vienna at 20:15 CET in the capital Skopje. Vasil Zafircev will host the show in which public and international jury will decide the winner.
WATCH TONIGHT AT 20:15 CET
FYR MACEDONIA DECIDES 2015
LIVESTREAM HERE
The time is here. Welcome to the first national final of the season 2014/15 – Skopski Festival. Before the opening couple of former representatives walked through the red carpet. Among them were Tijana Dapcevic, who wished all the best to her sister Tamara, and Lozano, who represented the country two years ago with Esma. Lozano wished all the best to all the contestants. And the show begins with our host singing Volare with a dance crew. There is about 2.500 people in the Metropolis arena. All the songs will be performed live, accompanied with MRT’s orchestra.
First up tonight is Lena Zlatkoska with song Alo (Halo). She has two dancers with her on stage. It’s a rnb tune, a bit catchy, but it is clear that she can do way better than this.
Next performing is Tanja Carovska. Ako mi se vratis (If you return to me) is the name of her beautiful ballad. Tanja is on stage with two backing vocalists. She is wearing a magnificent black ballgown.
And the crowd goes wild as it is time for the hot favorite – Daniel Kajmakoski. Esesnski lisja (Autumn leaf) start as a ballad and turns into an amazing British pop song. Daniel had two male backing vocalists and was wearing a tuxedo.
Vera Jankovik is performing fourth. She is one of the most experienced singers here tonight. Her song Se Plasham (I am afraid) is a soft rock ballad. Vera was wearing a beautiful black and red dress. People in the arena also liked her.
First duo tonight are former representative Vlatko Ilievski and Risto Samardziev. Their song is called Sever-Jug (North-South). They’ve managed to trick the public for a bit as they were hiding behind their stage props and two girls came to “sing”. They also had a good greeting after their performance.
Our host, Vasil Zafircev and two dancers performed along Secret Garden’s Nocturne. Now he is also explaining the voting procedure.
Sixth performer is Egi. She is singing a song called Da ne te sakam (I don’t wanna love you). This is another ballad. It is very hard to sing a song like this, but her voice sounds magnificent. Egi had two dancers with her, that made the performance even better.
Aleksandra Mihova is seventh singer on stage tonight Srce cuva spomeni (Heart saves memories) is her evergreen typed song. She is in a very see-through sparkly dress. Being alone on stage she and her dress have all the attention.
Sonce niz oblaci (Sun goes through the clouds) is song #8 tonight and Lidija Kocovska and Marjan Stojanovski are singing it. They are giving a very serious performance. Now I’m starting to wonder if people from here want to send a ballad to Vienna as this song is also it. They had even better ovations than Daniel. Is his win in jeopardy?
Joce Panov is a well known singer in this area. He is performing ninth tonight. Joce’s song is called Ni lj od ljubovta (Not even a L of Love). He has a guitar player with him on stage. Crowd loves him and his a bit uptempo song.
Before the second brake we have another duo. Goran Naumovski and Sanja Kerkez are singing Mig bez tebe (Moment without you). At first Goran is on stage with three female backing vocalists and Sanja is joining with her AMAZING opera voice. Unfortunately their song is a bit too serious.
In this brake our host is treating us with another show. He announced another group of five and said that maybe among them is the next representative.
Last duo of tonights show is performing eleventh. Aleksandar Tarabunov and Toni Mihajlovski are performing song Marija (Maria). They’ve prepared a circus/puppet show for us. Performance is very distracting and the song is really not special also. Finally some for whom I can say that doesn’t have chances to win.
Aleksandra Janeva is another favorite here. She is performing twelfth the song Vo tvojot svet (In your world). In my personal opinion – the best ballad so far. If you take the applause in count, she is officially in the race for the trophy.
Before Miytta performance ovations were big. But then she brought to fire blowers on stage and took the performance on next stage. Everybody was on their feet. Zaljuben (In love) is name of her song.
Tamara Todeska represented the country six years ago. Brod sto tone (Sinking ship) is name of her song. Her song is also a ballad, but can you imagine only piano playing and she singing. It is a perfect performance. If it was
only up to song, this would be the winner without a doubt.
Sanja Gjosevska is fifteenth and last in this group. Her song Sakam da letam (I love to fly) has very catchy tune, specially because of trumpets playing, but comparing it to previous songs, she doesn’t have a chance to win.
In this break our host performed the winning song from 1990, Insieme 1992. First performing in the last group tonight is Nade Talevska with Znam (I know). Guess what. This song is also a ballad. At first one girl is on stage with Nade and she is “singing” the song in sign language. A bit later she starts dancing with a male dancer.
Viktorija Loba has a samba song. It’s a bit like Mea Culpa. It is called Edna edinstvena (One of a kind). She is in a sparkly outfit accompanied with three dancers. Finally a good song, that is not a ballad.
Verica Pandiloska is performing eighteenth. Samo za tebe (Only for you) is name of her song. A not very good one in my opinion. Of course this is also a ballad. The problem here is that the song is totally out of her vocal capacities.
Nina Janeva was a backing vocalist to Esma and Lozano in Malmoe. She was tipped to be the representative this year, but in the end we got Tijana. Now she is trying through Skopje fest. Bluz za… (Blouse for…) is a saong that is saying you it’s type, and you alone know that it is a ballad.
Dmitar Andonovski is last but not the least. He was a backing vocalist for Tijana in Copenhagen. His song is also a ballad but it stands from the others. Se sto ti vetiv (Everything I’ve gave you back) was performed with a cage on stage. First a female dancer was inside, but in the end Dmitar came in.
With this song, we saw all the performances. Now the televoting will start and last for 30 minutes. Karolina Goceva and Kaliopi performed and they both gave honorary awards. Jurors from seven countries have voted.
Austria was the first country to vote and they gave 12 points to Tamara Todevska. Azerbaijan was second and their 12 points went to Egi. Bulgaria is third country to gave its points. 12 points went to Nade Tanevska. Romania is fourth in line to vote. Their 12 points are for Tamara Todevska. Even though Turkey won’t participate, their votes are next. 12 points are for Daniel Kajmakoski. The Netherlands jury is next. Tamara Todeska gets her third top mark.
Another country that won’t participate next year and is giving the votes is Croatia. Last 12 points from jury are for Daniel. Tamara Todeska got 8 points from televote, Egi got 10 and Daniel got 12 points. That means that he will represent FYR Macedonia next May in Vienna. And the crowd goes wild as Daniel gets on stage to perform once again.