THIS YEAR'S ENTRY
As part of
Yugoslavia, Montenegro sent two entries to the
Eurovision Song Contest in the 1980s and in
2005, Serbia & Montenegro's entry also
originated from the small nation on the
Adriatic. Montenegro gained independence in 2006
and the following year in Helsinki, they made
the solo Eurovision debut, failing to qualify
from the semi-final.
This year
Montenegrin television decided on a two stage
process to select their entry. On January 25th
five local stars competed for the public votes,
with the winner getting the ticket to Belgrade.
The runaway winner, gaining over 50% of the
votes was 21 year old Stefan Filipovic.
Having chosen
its Eurovision performer, RTCG then had an
internal selection for the song. A thirty member
jury considered several songs, before choosing the winner
"Zauvijek Volim Te" (Forever I Love
You) which was written by the Macedonian songwriting team
of composter Grigor Koprov and lyricist Ognen
Nedelkovski. The song was originally presented
in demo form on Montenegrin television on March
8th.
Stefan
Filipović was born in Podgorica, on January
18th 1987. He is currently a student of the
Music Academy in Cetinje, but he has been
involved in the music industry since the age of
seven. He participated in many musical
contests as a child, both in Montenegro and
abroad, winning many of these contests and
festivals, as the songs he was presenting became
instant hits.
Then, after a
longer break from these kind of musical
contests, he participated on the important
Mediterranean festival – Music Festival Budva
in 2006 and he finished 4th with a song “ Ja
mogao bih sve” (“I Could Do Anything”) and
won the award for the best new artist. Also in
the same year he took part in Zrenjaninski
Festival in Serbia, with the song “Ne Umijem Zivjeti”
and he won the third prize, and also the award
for the “New face of the festival”.
In year 2007
he competed in the Montenegrin National
selection event (MontenegroSong) for the
Eurovision Song Contest, where he ended up in
second place behind the more established Stefan
Faddy. Later the same year Stefan Filipovic won
the Grand Prix in the 14th Budva Music Festival,
with the song "Nebo I More" (The Sky
and the Sea). With so much local succes, he was
the expected winner of this year's
MontenegroSong selection.
The song
chosen by to represent Montenegro in Belgrade
"Zauvijek Volim Te" (Forever I Love
You), an uptempo pop song and is the work of two
of Macedonia's best known songwriters, both of
who have previous Eurovision experience. Grigor Koprov and Ognen
Nedelkovski wrote the Macedonian entry in the
2007 Eurovision Song Contest. "Mojot
Svet" (My World) was sung by Karolina in
Helsinki, and finished 14th in the final.
Previously
both songwriters had other songs represent FYR
Macedonia in Eurovision. Composer Grigor Koprov,
also composed the first Macedonian entry
"Ne Zori Zoro" which finished 19th in
Birmingham in 1998. Lyricist Ognen Nedelkovski
wrote the original Macedonian lyrics of the 2005
entry, but the song was translated to English
for Eurovision, under the title "Make My
Day".
While the song
has also been recorded in English, under the
title "Never Forget I Love You", it is
likely to remain in Montenegrin for Eurovision.
Montenego's 2008 entry is one of the bookmakers
biggest outsiders for victory in Belgrade, with
prices in excess of 500/1 and fan polls also
suggest that we are unlikely to be hearing the
Montenegrin song in the final.
