Bosnia-Hercegovina 1999

Updated 24th April to include comments from me on the songs and a score table, plus sound files of the song now representing Bosnia and the disqualified winner of the national final.

"Starac i more" (The Old Man And The Sea) - performed by Hari Mata Hari won the Bosnian contest on March 6th, but was disqualified on April 16th, and will not represent Bosnia in Jerusalem.

The second-placed song "Putnici" performed by Dino & Beatrice - pictured right - (Not Amina as originally billed before the show) will go to Jerusalem.

The Hari Mata Hari winning song had been recorded by another artist in Finland, and was thus not original. This is the second song this year to be disqualified.

Hear full length Real Audio clips of:

"Putnici" performed by Dino & Beatrice
"Starac i more" (The Old Man And The Sea) - performed by Hari Mata Hari

Here's the report on the Bosnian Final:

Muamer Bajric sent me this wonderful detailed preview on the Bosnian final. A final which saw some entrants from the Republika Serbska - which was at war with the Sarajevo citizens only a few years ago, and I have simply added my own comments to his preview comments. My comments are like this is blue italics. There's now a final score table below. The rest is from Muamer before the show.

This year, at the 32nd "Vas slager sezone", Bosnians chose their representative for ESC. Since the inclusion in ESC, Bosnia has done a public preselection once, that is in 1993 at the same festival. The years after caused the festival to be paused and this year it is coming back with the same purpose. Before 1993, the festival was a regular regional song contest (which Yugoslavia had plenty of).

On March 6th, starting at 20:30 (19:30 GMT), the Bosnian preselection began. It included 17 songs, chosen from 74 received by an open concourse organized by BHT. Originally, there were 18 songs, but one was disqualified for unknown reasons.

Fine set and excellent production. Full orchestra and a large audience, and all the artists were seen coming from & returning to the green room, usually passing a greeting to the next act as they returned. I seem to remember the Croatian 1996 contest had something like that too.

And here are the songs:

1. "Volio, obolio" (I Loved and Got Hurt) - Dragen Divjak.
The composer is Nedzad Delibegovic and he comes from Tuzla.
A guy in black with what seemed a rather ordinary rocky piece.

2. "Kunem te ja" (I Am Swearing You) - "Beat House Project"
The composer is Mahir Sulejmaovic, the leadman of the band. They play dance music and are quite known in Bosnia. They are Sarajevo-based.
Young girl in black fronted the band with a slow rock song

3. "U ritmu novom" (In the New Rhythm) - "Krug"
This band comes from a town in Nortwestern Bosnia called Bihac. They are pretty new band with no hits in their repertoire so far.
Jazz-rock fusion led by a long-haired guy. Needed more melody.

4. "Daj, spusti se" (Come On, Get Down) - "7 Up" (right)
A boy band a la "East 17," "Backstreet Boys" and the like. Quite popular and were expected to enter this year's preselection. One of the band members (Fuad Backovic) is a son of a local and influental politician and a nephew of the Bosnian National Bank vice-governer. This fact brings their possible winning in an awkward position, since many people won't believe their vocal abilities, but rather Fuad's being a member of such an influential family.
Upbeat & lively. Blond guy sings, others mainly dance, with some backing vocals. Pretty good.

5. "Proved sam zivot pod mostovima" (I've Spent My Life Under Bridges) - Drazen Zeric-Zera.
Zera is the singer of a famous rock/pop band "Crvena Jabuka." The band was very famous in Yugoslavia and in Bosnia. They are currently concentrating on Croatia's market and are recording songs in Croatia. Quite a surprise, Zera is in Bosnian final. It might be because they were rejected by Croatians when they tried to enter Dora a few years back, due to the fact that they're not Croatian citizens. Their newest album is called "Svijet je lopta sarena" (The World Is A Colourful Ball).
Long-haired leather-jacketed Drazen sings this fastish song. Nothing notable.

6. "Budi tu" (Be Here) - Dunja Galineo/Nurudin Vatrenjak
The composer is Narudin Vatrenjak. Other than that, I am clueless. However, judging by the title, the song might be a ballad.
Boy & girl in black - pleasant duet

7. "Sampion" (The Champion) - "Sarajevo Old Stars"
The composer is Sasa Losic Losa (right), who also composed Slovenia's 1997 entry, "Zbudi se." Seeing him in Bosnian final is quite a surpise too, since he, much like Crvena Jabuka, recorded mostly in Slovenia.
Bosnian schlager, I guess. Three men with guitars praise Lennon & Elvis with not a shu-bi-du in earshot.

8. "Dala bih ti zivot" (I'd Give You My Life) - Zejnaida Mesihovic
The performer is a young woman from Sarajevo. That's it so far.
Pretty girl in a blue dress with ringlets in her hair. Electric guitar mid-section.

9. "Bog mi je svjedok" (God Is My Witness) - Zeljka Katavic Pilj
Zejlka has been in previous ESC's. She has been a backing vocalist for both Amila and Alma ('96 and '97).
Looking so much better than before, and with reddish hair, Zeljka sang this slow song better suited to a jazz club than to Eurovision. She was all smiles, and later during the interval act was mouthing the backing to Alma's "Goodbye".

10. "Jedini, ljubim te" (My Only One, I Love You) - Sanja Volic.
Sanja is from Travnik. She is 20ish; no more information available yet.
Nice performance from Sanja dressed, like so many, in black. Song doesn't really go anywhere.

11. "Stare melodije" (Ancient Melodies) - Sead Memic-Vajta
A bit forgotten author and performer. He hasn't had a hit a quite a while. He represented Yugoslavia in 1981 with "Lejla."
Bit of a singalong jokey song

12. "Priznat cu ti sve / Priznacu ti sve" (I'll Admit Everything) - Elvana Dudic
The performer is also the composer and she is 17.
Dark-haired Elvana wore blue, and did rather too much pointing in this slow song.

13. "Starac i more" (The Old Man And The Sea) - Hari Mata Hari (pictured above left from the video made before the song was disqualified)
A very famous band. They're also recording in Croatia, but are far more popular in Bosnia. The song is rumored to be a parody to same-titled Hemmingway' book. Their newest album is "Ja nemam znage da te ne volim" (I Haven't The Strength Not To Love You).
A four piece band. Only the lead singer has any vocals. Rather a downbeat slowish song. Dramatic.

14. "Putnici" (The Travellers) - Dino Dervishalidovic & Beatrice
Dino (right) is the composer of Bosnia's 1993 entry.
Originally the 1991 French entry singer Amina was billed to sing with Dino, but it wasn't to be (anyone know why?), so we had Beatrice instead. Quite a lot of French, some African rhythms, not much melody.

15. "Glumica" (The Actress) - Igor Vukojevic
An artist from Doboj, a city in Serb Republic. Never before, has one artist from the Serb part of Bosnia taken part in Bosnia's preselections, so this is a definite first. It's quite amazing. To give you some idea of how big this is, imagine Cyprus having an artist from the Northern Cyprus included in their final.
Uninteresting rock band.

16. "Zelja" (A Wish) - "Sarajevska ruza"
A very unknown band!
Silly stuff from a man in a Derby hat.

17. "Ostavi suze" (Leave the tears) - Andrej (Pucarevic) and Romana
Another performer from the Serb Republic. He is from the second biggest city of Bosnia, Banja Luka.
Pleasant, lively duet.

Muamer Bajric (Thanks Muamer) & Geoff Harrison

The Interval act took the form of past Bosnian entries being performed for the crowd. We had Fazla himself (alone) singing the 1993 song, Alma stood and watched the video of the 1994 entry - no Dejan. Then Davorin Popovic (who'd opened the show) sang the 1995 song, Amila came on for the 1996, and Alma Cardzic performed the 1997 song with Zelkja - her backing artist that year, mouthing the words in the Green room.

The voting was by telephone across all of Bosnia, and votes came in from various towns in both the Serb dominated and Muslim dominated areas... and here are the final results.. However the winning song was disqualified later and the second-placed song will go to Jerusalem.

No	Title	Title in English	Singer(s)	Points	Place
1	Volio, obolio	I Loved and Got Hurt	Dragen Divjak	13	13
2	Kunem te ja	I Am Swearing You	Beat House Project	39	6
3	U ritmu novom	In the New Rhythm	Krug	33	8
4	Daj, spusti se	Come On, Get Down	7 Up	58	3
5	Proved sam zivot pod mostovima	I've Spent My Life Under Bridges	Drazen Zeric-Zera	16	12
6	Budi tu	Be Here	Dunja Galineo/Nurudin Vatrenjak	0	17
7	Sampion	The Champion	Sarajevo Old Stars	51	4
8	Dala bih ti zivot	I'd Give You My Life	Zejnaida Mesihovic	38	7
9	Bog mi je svjedok	God Is My Witness	Zeljka Katavic Pilj	40	5
10	Jedini, ljubim te	My Only One, I Love You	Sanja Volic	10	14
11	Stare melodije	Ancient Melodies	Sead Memic-Vajta	19	11
12	Priznat cu ti sve / Priznacu ti sve	I'll Admit Everything	Elvana Dudic	7	16
13	Starac i more	The Old Man And The Sea	Hari Mata Hari	70	1*
14	Putnici	The Travellers	Dino & Beatrice	65	2*
15	Glumica	The Actress	Igor Vukojevic	28	9
16	Zelja	A Wish	Sarajevska ruza	10	14
17	Ostavi suze	Leave the tears	Andrej and Romana	25	10

*The first placed song was later disqualified.

If you know more, please e-mail me, Geoff Harrison at my contact page

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