MACEDONIA 2011 - Rusinka

I know, I know ... 'FYR Macedonia'. But these post titles are long enough and that whole FYR thing is silly anyway from where I'm sitting. Will there be an angry Greek denouncing me and an angry Macedonian defending me in the comments to this year's Macedonia review too, like last year? :-D Save your energy, I already know the arguments and I'm not convinced. Obviously. We can just reread last year's comments, come to think of it. ;-)

This is the kind of song that makes you happy you don't understand what the singer's going on about ... although the lyrics in Düsseldorf may be partly in English and only partly in Macedonian, I'm not sure. (There's a full translation on the Diggiloo Thrush, of course - the link's at the bottom of this post, as usual. :-) Then you watch the video and it's like, WTF?? LOL! :-D

This song is first and foremost just really seriously annoying. Then when you find yourself kind of bopping along to it you start to get pissed off. I suppose it's catchy, in a way, but mostly it's just totally annoying. His voice is almost more annoying than the song. The 'ethnic' groove that they seem to have tried for seems tacked on and - dare I say it - annoying. I hope this sinks without a trace.

This is Vlatko Ilievski performing Rusinka by Gilgor Koprov, Vladimir Dojcinovski and Jovan Jovanov. They will be competing for Macedonia on Thursday, May 12th. Boo hiss!

Widescreen here.

Lyrics with translation here.

MACEDONIA 2010 - Jas ja imam silata

When people say that 'those Eastern countries are just totally dominating the contest these days' and that 'all those Eastern countries just push their own songs regardless of the quality' and all that shit, they aren't talking about Macedonia. A decade's worth of participating starting in 1996, and their best result ever is 12th. o_O That was with a tacky but catchy entry in 2006.

Anyway ... considering this track record, I was pleasantly surprised by their entry this year. Not half bad ... far from it, in fact. Catchy, a good melody with a good beat. Kudos for singing in Macedonian. Yes, I agree that the rapper guy is pretty embarrassing ... but we can't have it all. Overall this is an entry that I don't think will do all that well, it's a bit too anonymous for that ... it's good while you're listening to it but there isn't much to make it really stick in the memory afterwards. But it's certainly not half bad. I wouldn't be surprised if they get to the final with this. :-)

FYI, the name of this country is just Macedonia, but in the EBU universe they are forced to go by the name of Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (abbreviated FYR) because the Greeks have a stupid hangup.

This is Gjoko Taneski performing Jas ja imam silata by Kristian Gabroski, who will be competing for Macedonia on Tuesday, May 25th. Good luck! :-)



Lyrics with translation here.

FYR Macedonia, Romania, Finland

FYR Macedonia:
Yawn.
They're trying really hard, but there's just nothing to this song that we haven't all seen a hundred times before. And heard.
Boring.
I don't have high hopes for this.

Romania:
Has anyone seen the movie Mean Girls ... ? Just asking, since the term 'army of skanks' came floating into my mind now ...
What they're doing with the stage is pretty. But the presentation is totally fucked up. It has nothing to do with the song.
OMG, folk dance Riverdance ripoff. Sad.
Overall very unimpressive. I wonder if this girl understands enough English to know what she's actually singing in her sylvan paradise ... ?
I hope we won't see this song again - but Romania has a lot of fans in the ESC, so it's hard to say.

Finland:
Hm. A catchy song, but maybe overly catchy. It kind of gets repetitive after a while. At least IMO - this isn't really my type of music.
Four singers, and not one that can really sing ... o_O
This song may do well, I wouldn't be surprised. If there are a lot of young people watching, it may go down like a house on fire. :-)

FYR MACEDONIA 2009: Next Time - Nešto što ke ostane

This is an entry I don't have much to say about. A standard rock song, easy to listen to, easy to forget. There's nothing wrong with it, but nothing special about it, either. It's fine, I have nothing against it, but it doesn't impress me either in any way. I don't think audiences will remember this song for very long ... they have a pretty good starting slot, #13, but even so I think they will have a hard time standing out with this entry. It's just too bland. Iceland will go on stage just before them with their beautiful ballad, and Romania right after with a song that I personally don't like much, but which is a great deal more catchy than this entry. So ... I don't think we'll see this in the final. Better luck next time. Duh.

Oh, lest I forget: Kudos for singing in Macedonian. :-)

This is Next Time performing Nešto što kje ostane by Damjan Lazarov, Jovan Jovanov and Elvir Mekić. They will be competing for FYR Macedonia on May 12th.

From the national selections:

Lyrics here.

Malta, Cyprus, FYR Macedonia, Portugal

Malta:
Finally a nice outfit again ... or pretty nice, anyway. Didn't notice the boots at first.
A really good voice and a professional, confident singer ... pretty good presentation ... and a catchy, upbeat song.
But. It gets really annoying really quickly.
I can feel my blood pressure rising as I watch this ...

Cyprus:
And we're back to the hideous gowns ...
Ouch, she changed, and now it's almost even worse! :-o
This song is catchy and sort of has many elements that one ought to like, but I don't like it anyway. It seems very calculated to me. Kind of heartless, like the Swedish song.
I don't think this will get to the final.

FYR Macedonia:
This song is just really boring IMO, there's nothing to it that makes it stand out in any way. And nothing much that's special about the presentation either.
I don't have much to say about this. It's just completely standard issue all the way.
I hope it doesn't get through, it doesn't deserve it.

Portugal:
A better presentation that in their national final. Rather striking.
Maybe overly theatrical for my taste. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
She has a very good voice and this is a beautiful ballad. And the similarities to last year's winner have been toned down a lot. So now I'm starting to think they may not be so off the mark with this. :-)
No chance of winning, I don't think, but may get to the final, I won't be surprised if they do.

FYR MACEDONIA: Tamara, Vrcak & Adrijan - Let Me Love You

This is the kind of song that would go down well in a disco on Sunny Beach or somewhere like that. It doesn't have much personality, it's boring. I don't think this will get through to the final.

The singer's good, but that's about it. (And their stylist must have been asleep on the job.) Uninspired boyband-style pop, nothing much to recommend it.

Nothing either way, really. Better luck next time.


http://youtube.com/watch?v=RzcqGsCAQeM