Macedonia

Republic of Macedonia

Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...

 selected its entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2008

Eurovision Song Contest 2008

The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the Contest. It was hosted in Belgrade, Serbia after Marija Šerifović won the 2007 Contest in Helsinki, Finland. This year was the first contest to have two semi-finals which were held on 20 and 22 May, and the final held on 24 May 2008...

 through a national final at the Skopje Fest 2008 on 23 February 2008.

National final

Macedonian Radio-Television

Macedonian Radio-Television

Macedonian Radio Television is the public broadcasting organization of the Republic of Macedonia. It was founded in 1993 by the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia...

 opened a song submission in late 2007 and closed prior to the new year. 130 songs were received, 15 of which were selected by a committee composed of officials and past Eurovision contestants. In addition, MRT commissioned six songs from well-known composers, however, these songs were withdrawn from the competition by internal decision. Skopje Fest will take place at the Metropolis Arena where 15 songs will compete for the honor of representing the country. The selection was broadcast on terrestrial and satellite television.

Draw	Artist	Song	Televote		Jury	Total	Place
1	Saso Gigov Gis	"Docna e"	1420	5	7	12	4
2	Aneta Kacurkova	"Poraka"	195	0	2	2	12
3	Parketi	"Strawberry"	953	3	5	8	6
4	Risto Samardziev & Flash	"Dojdi do mene"	1761	7	10	17	3
5	Tuna	"Prasuvam bez glas"	615	0	6	6	7
6	Lambe Alabakoski Lambe Alabakoski Lambe Alabakovski is a Macedonian singer.-Biography:...	"Zemjo moja"	2401	10	8	18	2
7	Elvir Mekić Elvir Mekic Elvir Mekić Elvir Mekić Elvir Mekić (born 15 October 1981 in Skopje, SFR Yugoslavia (present-day Republic of Macedonia) is a Macedonian musician. He gained popularity after performing his single "Opasno" with Maja Sazdanovska at Ohrid Fest in 2007. He went on to release a second and third single...	"Armija"	1588	6	0	6	8
8	Goran Naumovski	"Tajna skriena"	150	0	0	0	14
9	Tamara Tamara Todevska Tamara Todevska , known as Tamara, is a Macedonian pop singer. She was born to a Macedonian father and a Serbian mother from Turkey. Her sister is the well known Macedonian pop singer Tijana Todevska-Dapčević.-Early life:...  feat. Vrcak & Adrijan Gaxha	"Vo Ime Na Ljubovta Vo Ime Na Ljubovta "Vo Ime Na Ljubovta" , is a song by Tamara Todevska, Vrčak and Adrian Gaxha. The trio competed with the song at Skopje Fest 2008. The song won, having been awarded the most televotes by the general public and the 7-member expert jury... "	3441	12	12	24	1
10	Vlatko Ilievski	"So drugi zborovi"	827	1	0	1	13
11	None Nedelkovska	"Vrati se"	857	2	3	5	9
12	Jova Radevska	"Jas sum ovde"	1026	4	0	4	10
13	Igor Mitrovik	"Jas i ti"	121	0	0	0	15
14	Sonja Tarculovska	"Sever i jug"	2086	8	1	9	5
15	Nokaut	"Samovila"	222	0	4	4	11

Eurovision

At Eurovision, Macedonia took part in the second semifinal on 22 May 2008 , but they finished 10th, and the jury didn't select them as the tenth qualified country for the final. This marked the first time that Macedonia failed to qualify for the final since the semi-final format was introduced in 2004.

Turkish Version

The song Vo imeto na ljubovta has also been released in Turkish

Turkish language

Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...

 showing the close bond between Macedonia and Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

. Although the song has also been translated into Russian

Russian language

Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

, Serbian

Serbian language

Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....

, and Albanian

Albanian language

Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...

. The Turkish

Turkish language

Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...

 version is the only one sung fully in the specified language, whereas the other versions also have English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 included.

Spokesperson

The spokesperson for Macedonia in Eurovision 2008 was the MKTV worker, host and presenter Ognen Janeski.

See also

• Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest