Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
	(1961–1991) (1992)
Member station	Yugoslav Radio Television (JRT)
National selection events	show National final
Participation summary
Appearances	27
First appearance	1961
Last appearance	1992
Best result	1st: 1989
Nul points	1964
External links
	Yugoslavia's page at Eurovision.tv

Yugoslavia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 27 times, debuting in 1961 and competing every year until its last appearance in 1992, with the exceptions of 1977–1980 and 1985. Yugoslavia won the 1989 contest and hosted the 1990 contest.

Ljiljana Petrović was Yugoslavia's first entrant in the contest in 1961 and placed eighth. In 1962, Lola Novaković gave the country its first top five result, finishing fourth. This would remain Yugoslavia's only top five result until 1983, when Danijel finished fourth with the song "Džuli". Novi Fosili also finished fourth in 1987 with "Ja sam za ples". In 1989, the country achieved its only victory in the contest, when Riva won with the song "Rock Me".

History[]

1961–1991: Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia[]

Vice Vukov performing "Čežnja" in Naples (1965)

Eva Sršen performing "Pridi, dala ti bom cvet" in Amsterdam (1970)

The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1961 along with Spain and Finland. The national pre-selection organized by the Yugoslav broadcaster Yugoslav Radio Television (JRT) was Jugovizija, and it featured entries submitted by the subnational public broadcasting centers based in the capitals of each of the constituent republics of the Yugoslav federation: SR Bosnia and Herzegovina (RTV Sarajevo), SR Croatia (RTV Zagreb and RTV Split^[1]), SR Macedonia (RTV Skopje), SR Montenegro (RTV Titograd), SR Serbia (RTV Belgrade) and SR Slovenia (RTV Ljubljana) and also the broadcasting services of the autonomous provinces within SR Serbia: SAP Kosovo (RTV Priština) and SAP Vojvodina (RTV Novi Sad).^[2] The first to compete in 1961 were Belgrade, Ljubljana and Zagreb, while the others joined in the following years.^[2]

Yugoslavia was represented by a variety of artists from five of the eight Yugoslav federal units. These artists were from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia, with Macedonia, Vojvodina, and Kosovo never passing the national pre-selection. Croatia was the most successful constituent republic, as its performers won the national contest 13 out of the 26 times SFR Yugoslavia took part in the contest. From 1977 to 1980, and in 1985, Yugoslavia did not participate in the contest.

Yugoslavia won the Eurovision Song Contest 1989 with the song "Rock Me" by the group Riva. Following the rules of the contest, the Eurovision Song Contest 1990 took place in Zagreb, as the entry came from Croatia.

1992: Federal Republic of Yugoslavia[]

During the process of breakup of SFR Yugoslavia in 1991, the former constituent republics of Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia declared secession and hence withdrew from Jugovizija, while the then-leaderships of Serbia and Montenegro agreed to maintain a close alliance. On 28 March 1992, the republics that still (at least formally) constituted the fading and shrunken former Yugoslav federation took part in 1992's Jugovizija held in Belgrade. It included artists not only from Serbia and Montenegro, but also from Bosnia and Herzegovina, although the latter declared independence on 1 March of that year. Among its candidates was Alma Čardžić.^[3] The winner of that pre-selection was "Ljubim te pesmama" performed by Extra Nena (Snežana Berić) from Serbia.^[4] Before that year's ESC took place, on 28 April, a new federal state was formed consisting of Serbia and Montenegro called the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia which was represented by the previously mentioned Extra Nena in the Eurovision Song Contest 1992 held on 9 May.^[5]^[6]^[7] Yugoslavia was banned from participating in the Song Contest until 2001 due to UN sanctions during the Yugoslav Wars. The sanctions went into effect only a few weeks after the 1992 Contest.

1993–present: After the breakup of SFRY[]

After the dissolution of SFR Yugoslavia its former constituent republics proclaimed independence. The once subnational public radio and TV stations changed to national but under new names, including: RTV Slovenia, HRT, RTS, MKRTV and so on. Since joining the EBU respectively, all of the ex-Yugoslav countries have participated in the Eurovision Song Contest: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and North Macedonia (until 2018 designated as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia).

Overall the results of the new republics have been mixed: Croatia had some top 10 finishes in the late 1990s, and the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina have enjoyed high scores in the 2000s, North Macedonia has secured a top 10 result and made it through to the final each year until 2008, in which, even though they came 10th, they didn't qualify to the final. In 2004, Serbia and Montenegro debuted and came in 2nd and in 2007, Montenegro joined the contest but failed to qualify for the final, while Serbia won the Eurovision Song Contest the first time it entered as an independent nation. In 2013, no ex-Yugoslav country secured a spot in the final, as Bosnia and Herzegovina withdrew before the contest began; Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia all failed to qualify in the first semi-final; and North Macedonia failed to qualify in the second semi-final.

Contestants[]

The following lists the 27 contestants that won the local competition and went on to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Yugoslavia is one of the few countries that have sent all the songs in one of the official languages,^{[citation needed]} which were Serbo-Croatian, Slovenian, and Macedonian.^[8] 22 out of the 26 Yugoslav entries in the contest between 1961 and 1991 were in Serbo-Croatian and the rest in Slovenian. The majority of entries, 11, came from Croatia, where Yugoslavia's pop music industry was centered. No entry from Macedonia or Kosovo made it to the ESC, illustrating a cultural marginalisation of the poorest parts of the country.^[8]

Table key
1	Winner
◁	Last place

Year	Artist	Title	Language	Place	Points
1961	Ljiljana Petrović	"Neke davne zvezde" (Неке давне звезде)	Serbo-Croatian	8	9
1962	Lola Novaković	"Ne pali svetlo u sumrak" (Не пали светло у сумрак)	Serbo-Croatian	4	10
1963	Vice Vukov	"Brodovi" (Бродови)	Serbo-Croatian	11	3
1964	Sabahudin Kurt	"Život je sklopio krug" (Живот је склопио круг)	Serbo-Croatian	13 ◁	0
1965	Vice Vukov	"Čežnja" (Че��ња)	Serbo-Croatian	12	2
1966	Berta Ambrož	"Brez besed"	Slovene	7	9
1967	Lado Leskovar	"Vse rože sveta"	Slovene	8	7
1968	Luci Capurso & Hamo Hajdarhodžić	"Jedan dan" (Један дан)	Serbo-Croatian	7	8
1969	Ivan & 3M	"Pozdrav svijetu" (Поздрав свијету)	Serbo-Croatian	13	5
1970	Eva Sršen	"Pridi, dala ti bom cvet"	Slovene	11	4
1971	Krunoslav Slabinac	"Tvoj dječak je tužan" (Твој дјечак је тужан)	Serbo-Croatian	14	68
1972	Tereza Kesovija	"Muzika i ti" (Музика и ти)	Serbo-Croatian	9	87
1973	Zdravko Čolić	"Gori vatra" (Гори ватра)	Serbo-Croatian	15	65
1974	Korni Grupa	"Generacija '42" (Генерација '42)	Serbo-Croatian	12	6
1975	Pepel in kri	"Dan ljubezni"	Slovene	13	22
1976	Ambasadori	"Ne mogu skriti svoju bol" (Не могу скрити своју бол)	Serbo-Croatian	17	10
1981	Seid Memić Vajta	"Lejla" (Лејла)	Serbo-Croatian	15	35
1982	Aska	"Halo, Halo" (Хало, хало)	Serbo-Croatian	14	21
1983	Danijel	"Džuli" (Џули)	Serbo-Croatian	4	125
1984	Vlado & Isolda	"Ciao, amore"	Serbo-Croatian	18	26
1986	Doris Dragović	"Željo moja" (Жељо моја)	Serbo-Croatian	11	49
1987	Novi fosili	"Ja sam za ples" (Ја сам за плес)	Serbo-Croatian	4	92
1988	Srebrna krila	"Mangup" (Мангуп)	Serbo-Croatian	6	87
1989	Riva	"Rock Me"^b	Serbo-Croatian	1	137
1990	Tajči	"Hajde da ludujemo" (Хајде да лудујемо)	Serbo-Croatian	7	81
1991	Baby Doll	"Brazil" (Бразил)	Serbo-Croatian	21	1
1992	Extra Nena	"Ljubim te pesmama" (Љубим те песмама)	Serbian	13	44

NOTES:: a ^ Yugoslavia intended to enter the contest in 1985. However, due to the Contest being held on the national memorial day marking the fifth anniversary of former Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito's death, broadcasting any musical program wasn't allowed and JRT was forced to withdraw.; b ^ Song's name and portions of the chorus are in English.

Hostings[]

Year	Location	Venue	Presenters
1990	Zagreb, SR Croatia	Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall	Helga Vlahović Brnobić and Oliver Mlakar

Conductors[]

Year	Conductor^[a]	Musical Director	Notes	Ref.
1961	Jože Privšek	N/A		^[9]
1962	Jože Privšek
1963	Miljenko Prohaska
1964	Radivoje Spasić
1965	Radivoje Spasić
1966	Mojmir Sepe
1967	Mario Rijavec
1968	Miljenko Prohaska
1969	Miljenko Prohaska
1970	Mojmir Sepe			^[10]
1971	Miljenko Prohaska
1972	Nikica Kalogjera
1973	Esad Arnautalić
1974	Zvonimir Skerl
1975	Mario Rijavec
1976	Esad Arnautalić
1981	Ranko Rihtman			^[11]
1982	Zvonimir Skerl
1983	Radovan Papović
1984	Mato Došen
1986	Nikica Kalogjera
1987
1988
1989
1990	Stjepan Mihajlineć ^[b]	Igor Kuljerić	^[c]	^[12]
1991	Slobodan Marković	N/A
1992	Anders Berglund	N/A	^[d]

Related involvement[]

Commentators and spokespeople[]

Year(s)	Serbian commentator	Croatian commentator	Slovene commentator	Spokesperson
1961	Ljubomir Vukadinović	Gordana Bonetti	Tomaž Terček	Saša Novak
1962				Mladen Delić
1963				Miloje Orlović
1964	Miloje Orlović			Saša Novak
1965		Mladen Delić		Ljubo Jelčić
1966				Dragana Marković
1967				Saša Novak
1968				Snežana Lipkovska-Hadžinaumova
1969				Gordana Bonetti
1970	Milovan Ilić	Oliver Mlakar		Dragana Marković
1971				No spokesperson
1972
1973
1974				Helga Vlahović
1975				Dragana Marković
1976				Viktor Blažič
1977				Did not participate
1978
1979	No broadcast^[13]
1980	Milovan Ilić	Oliver Mlakar	Tomaž Terček
1981	Mladen Popović			Helga Vlahović
1982				Miša Molk
1983				Boško Negovanović
1984				Snežana Lipkovska-Hadžinaumova
1985	Snežana Lipkovska-Hadžinaumova^[e]			Did not participate
1986	Mladen Popović	Oliver Mlakar	Miša Molk	Enver Petrovci
1987			Miša Molk	Ljiljana Tipsarević
1988			Slobodan Kaloper	Miša Molk
1989			Miša Molk	Dijana Čulić
1990		Branko Uvodić		Drago Čulina
1991		Ksenija Urličić		Mebrura Topolovac
1992		Separate countries		Veselin Mrđen
1993	No broadcast^[f]			Did not participate
1994	Mladen Popović
1995
1996^[g]
1997	Nikola Nešković
1998	Vojislav Pantić
1999	No broadcast
2000^[h]	No broadcast
2001	Unknown
2002	Mladen Popović

Due to Croatia and Slovenia becoming independent countries in the breakup of Yugoslavia, in 1992 there was no Croatian or Slovene commentator.

Notes[]

^ All conductors are of Yugoslav nationality unless otherwise noted.
^ The song was performed without orchestral accompaniment at the national final.
^ Although Kuljerić was officially credited as musical director, he did not conduct any entries; the orchestra was assembled and rehearsed by Stanko Selak, who was credited as the contest's assistant musical director. Selak additionally stepped in to conduct the Cypriot entry.
^ Host conductor; also played accordion. The entry was conducted by Zvonimir Skerl at the national final.
^ Transmitted next day on TV Skopje 1.
^ RTS did not broadcast the competition live, but played videos of the participants within the show Music Carousel.
^ In 1996, RTS transmitted the contest day after the live show, cutting the "good luck wishes" from politician leaders that aired before every performance.
^ In 2000 there was no live broadcast of the contest, but Third channel of RTS aired all the performances (except Israel's), and the winning performance, without voting sequence.

References[]

^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 April 2008. Retrieved 15 October 2008.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Jugovizija statistics by year Archived 26 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Eurodalmatia official ESC fan club, Dalmatia, Croatia
^ Alma Čardžić Bio – Official Site (in Bosnian and Turkish)
^ Extra Nena Bio – Official Site (in Serbian and English)
^ "Eurovision Trivia: Did you know..." BBC News. 6 May 2005. Retrieved 26 August 2008.
^ Klier, Marcus (28 September 2007). "Interview with Extra Nena". ESCToday. Retrieved 26 August 2008.
^ Deniz, Jose Miguel Galvan (14 March 2005). "Eurovision shows political side". BBC News. Retrieved 26 August 2008.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Vuletic, Dean (2019). Recognising Kosovo in the World of Televised International Song Contests. Eurovisions: Identity and the International Politics of the Eurovision Song Contest since 1956. Springer Nature. p. 116. ISBN 978-9811394270.
^ Roxburgh, Gordon (2012). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume One: The 1950s and 1960s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84583-065-6. |volume= has extra text (help)
^ Roxburgh, Gordon (2014). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Two: The 1970s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84583-093-9. |volume= has extra text (help)
^ Roxburgh, Gordon (2016). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Three: The 1980s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84583-118-9. |volume= has extra text (help)
^ Roxburgh, Gordon (2020). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Four: The 1990s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84583-163-9. |volume= has extra text (help)
^ Roxburgh, Gordon (2014). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Two: The 1970s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 352–365. ISBN 978-1-84583-093-9. |volume= has extra text (help)

External links[]

Points to and from Yugoslavia eurovisioncovers.co.uk

[9] All conductors are of Yugoslav nationality unless otherwise noted.

[13] The song was performed without orchestral accompaniment at the national final.

[14] Although Kuljerić was officially credited as musical director, he did not conduct any entries; the orchestra was assembled and rehearsed by Stanko Selak, who was credited as the contest's assistant musical director. Selak additionally stepped in to conduct the Cypriot entry.

[16] Host conductor; also played accordion. The entry was conducted by Zvonimir Skerl at the national final.

[18] Transmitted next day on TV Skopje 1.

[19] RTS did not broadcast the competition live, but played videos of the participants within the show Music Carousel.

[20] In 1996, RTS transmitted the contest day after the live show, cutting the "good luck wishes" from politician leaders that aired before every performance.

[21] In 2000 there was no live broadcast of the contest, but Third channel of RTS aired all the performances (except Israel's), and the winning performance, without voting sequence.

[1] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 April 2008. Retrieved 15 October 2008.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[jugovizija-2] Jump up to: ^a ^b Jugovizija statistics by year Archived 26 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Eurodalmatia official ESC fan club, Dalmatia, Croatia

[alma-3] Alma Čardžić Bio – Official Site (in Bosnian and Turkish)

[nena-4] Extra Nena Bio – Official Site (in Serbian and English)

[5] "Eurovision Trivia: Did you know..." BBC News. 6 May 2005. Retrieved 26 August 2008.

[6] Klier, Marcus (28 September 2007). "Interview with Extra Nena". ESCToday. Retrieved 26 August 2008.

[7] Deniz, Jose Miguel Galvan (14 March 2005). "Eurovision shows political side". BBC News. Retrieved 26 August 2008.

[Vuletic-8] Jump up to: ^a ^b Vuletic, Dean (2019). Recognising Kosovo in the World of Televised International Song Contests. Eurovisions: Identity and the International Politics of the Eurovision Song Contest since 1956. Springer Nature. p. 116. ISBN 978-9811394270.

[10] Roxburgh, Gordon (2012). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume One: The 1950s and 1960s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84583-065-6. |volume= has extra text (help)

[11] Roxburgh, Gordon (2014). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Two: The 1970s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84583-093-9. |volume= has extra text (help)

[12] Roxburgh, Gordon (2016). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Three: The 1980s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84583-118-9. |volume= has extra text (help)

[15] Roxburgh, Gordon (2020). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Four: The 1990s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84583-163-9. |volume= has extra text (help)

[Roxburgh-17] Roxburgh, Gordon (2014). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Two: The 1970s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 352–365. ISBN 978-1-84583-093-9. |volume= has extra text (help)

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