Serbia and Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest

The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twice: in 2004 and in 2005. Their debut appearance was a success, with the song "Lane moje" performed by Željko Joksimović finishing second. The following year, they placed seventh, courtesy of the band No Name with the song "Zauvijek moja". Following the 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, Serbia and Montenegro have participated in the contest as separate entities, making their independent debuts in 2007.

Serbia and Montenegro
Member stationUJRT
National selection events
Participation summary
Appearances2
First appearance2004
Last appearance2005
Best result2nd: 2004
Worst result7th: 2005
External links
Serbia and Montenegro's page at Eurovision.tv

History

Yugoslavia, which included the territories of modern-day Serbia and Montenegro, had been participating in the Eurovision Song Contest since the fifth annual contest in 1961. It had debuted that year along with Spain and Finland becoming, the 14th participating country. Its best result occurred in 1989 when Yugoslavia won with "Rock Me" by Riva. Yugoslavia participated regularly until 1992, missing only the editions between 1977 and 1980 and the one in 1985. At the 1992 contest, following the breakup of Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro competed representing FR Yugoslavia. FR Yugoslavia was banned from participating in the 1993 edition due to UN sanctions and Yugoslav wars. This marked the start of a decade-long absence from the contest for the territories.

In 2002, Serbia and Montenegro sent an application to take part in the 2003 contest, however, they were unable to take part after the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) decided that too many countries would be relegated if the country took part.[1] Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) held a contest – Beovizija 2003 – to be used as a "rehearsal" for the next year's Eurovision selection, held between 12–14 April. The winner was Toše Proeski with "Čija si". Proeski would go on to represent his home country Macedonia the following year.

Željko Joksimović performing "Lane moje" in Istanbul (2004)

Serbia and Montenegro debuted at the 2004 contest with the song "Lane moje" performed by Željko Joksimović, finishing first in its semi-final and second overall.[2] The song has become popular amongst many Eurovision fans and it is often rated as one of the best non-winning songs.[3][4][5]

The following year, they placed seventh, courtesy of the band No Name with the song "Zauvijek moja".[2] Both entries were selected through the televised national final, Evropesma. No Name were close to becoming the national entry once more, for the 2006 contest in Athens, however since their 2005 win of Evropesma had been disputed due to allegations of tactical voting by the Radio-Television of Montenegro jury, and since the 2006 vote saw a repeat of this, UJRT, the national union of broadcasters, did not reach an agreement on sending them to the contest again. On 20 March 2006, Serbia and Montenegro officially withdrew from the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. The country did however participate in the final voting for the winner.[2] The Eurovision semi-final was not broadcast in Montenegro in 2006, and so the votes from Serbia and Montenegro, were from Serbia alone.

After the Montenegrin referendum on independence and dissolution of the state union in June 2006, both countries sent separate entries to the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. Montenegro made their debut as an independent state and sent Stevan Faddy, while Serbia sent Marija Šerifović as their debut entrant. Her song "Molitva" ended up winning the contest for Serbia, bringing the 2008 contest to Belgrade the following year.

Contestants
For contestants prior to 2004, see Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Table key
1 Winner
2 Second place
Year Artist Language Title Final Points Semi Points
2004
 Željko Joksimović Serbian "Lane moje" (Лане моје) 2 263 1 263
2005
 No Name Montenegrin "Zauvijek moja" (Заувијек моја) 7 137 Top 12 previous year[lower-alpha 1]
2006
 Withdrew from the competition, but still voted [lower-alpha 2]

Awards

Marcel Bezençon Awards
Further information: Marcel Bezençon Awards
Year Category Song Composer(s)
lyrics (l) / music (m)		 Performer Final Points Host city Ref.
2004 Press Award "Lane moje" (Лане моје) Željko Joksimović (m), Leontina Vukomanović (l) Željko Joksimović 2 263 Istanbul
[7]
2005 Composer Award "Zauvijek moja" (Заувијек моја) Slaven Knezović (m), Milan Perić (l) No Name 7 137 Kyiv
[7]

Commentators and spokespersons
Year Serbian commentator Montenegrin commentator Spokesperson Ref.
2003 Mladen PopovićNo broadcastDid not participate[8]
2004 Duška Vučinić-LučićDražen Bauković, Tamara IvankovićNataša Miljković[9]
2005 Dražen Bauković, Tamara Ivanković, Danijel PopovićNina Radulović[10]
2006 Dražen Bauković, Tamara IvankovićJovana Janković[11]

See also

Notes and references

Notes
  1. According to the then-Eurovision rules, the top ten non-Big Four countries from the previous year along with the Big Four automatically qualified for the Grand Final without having to compete in semi-finals. For example, if Germany and France placed inside the top ten, the 11th and 12th spots were advanced to next year's Grand Final along with all countries ranked in the top ten.
  2. Even though Serbia and Montenegro did not send an entry to the 2006 contest, they were already entered into the Semi-Final by the EBU due to not pulling out of the contest early enough. Therefore, pulling out too late meant Serbia and Montenegro had automatically been placed 24th (last) in a contest they did not compete in.[2][6]

References
  1. Bakker, Sietse (2002-11-27). "No new countries at next Eurovision Song Contest". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-07-23.
  2. "Countries: Serbia & Montenegro". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 15 Mar 2020.
  3. ""Lane moje" - the best song in the history of Eurovision". RTS.
  4. "The Eurovision Song Contest: 10 of the best". The Guardian.
  5. "Wiwi Jury of the 2010s: Serbia's Željko Joksimovic with "Nije Ljubav Stvar"". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-02-17. Retrieved 2013-10-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "Marcel Bezençon Awards". eurovision.tv. Archived from the original on 16 July 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  8. Eurovision Song Contest 2003. Riga, Latvia. 24 May 2003.
  9. Eurovision Song Contest 2004. Istanbul, Turkey. 15 May 2004.
  10. Eurovision Song Contest 2005. Kyiv, Ukraine. 21 May 2005.
  11. Eurovision Song Contest 2006. Athens, Greece. 20 May 2006.
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