Introduction

Unlike other years, the representative for F.Y.R. Macedonia has been internally chosen by the broadcaster MKRTV. The duo Esma & Lozano has been announced to carry the national flag in Malmö this year. The song has been revealed later on. Firstly the song “Imperia” has been announced, a little bit after that this song has been withdrawn and “Pred Da Se Razdeni” has been taken as a new entry. This has happened also to other countries this year like Belarus and Bulgaria. Unfortunately, all three countries have not taken the chance to improve the songs. The reasons for this are nebulous.

Esma Redzepova Teodosievksa was born in 1943 in Skopje. She became famous all around the world due to her Gypsy music. She has release her first record in 1958 “Zoshot Si Me Majko Rodila”. Esma has even been honoured by Indira Gandi as the “Queen of Gypsy”. Lozano, whose real name is Vlatko Lozanovski comes from Kičevo, F.Y.R. Macedonia. He had his first public appearance in a talent show in 2007, since then he had several hits in the Macedonian radio. Lozano has released two albums already and had two earlier attempts in the national Macedonian final (2009 and 2010); where he ended up on the 4th place each. 

The song “Pred Da Se Razdeni” is a quaintly composition with two parts, sung by each singer at the end they sing together. The entire arrangement is a bit weird and a bit daring. It’s nearly unimaginable that the Western European countries will vote for it. This is the first project of Esma & Lozano and if this works well it may make the way for further collaboration. 

History

Participations: 13

Debut: 1998

Biggest success: 1x 12th place “Ninanajna” by Elena Risteska in 2006, 

The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) is participating for the 13th time this year. The debut entry “Ne Zori, Zoro” by Vlado Janevski in 1998 came 19th in the final in Birmingham.

The former Yugoslavia took part 27 times and the debut was in 1961. In the first years Macedonia always qualified for the final. This was also due to the fact that the neighbour countries helped with votes. But this has changed, since 2008 Macedonia did not make it to the final anymore. Last year Kaliopi could reach the final again with “Crno I Belo”, she even reached the 13th place. The reason for the non-qualifying years had probably more to do with songs which were not preliminary made for an international audience and therefore did not met the European taste.

Macedonia never made a top 10 place also, nevertheless the best songs were: “Od Nas Zavisi” by Karolina in 2002 (19th), “Life” by Tose Proseki in 2004 (14th) and “Ninanajna” by Elena Risteska in 2006 (12th).