FYR MACEDONIA

The Macedonian song was presented on February 22nd during "The Hit Of The Month" show hosted by Aleksandra Jovanovska and Marko Mark. Back in August MRT announced that Tijana Dapčević had been internally chosen to represent the Balkan nation. During the show she presented two versions of her song - one in Macedonian "Tamu kaj sto pripagjam" (There where I belong) and one in English "To the sky"

 

I did not watch this presentation live as there was already enough going on during this first Super Saturday. However from the comments I have looked at regarding this performance this song is not really in her typical style but seems to have garnished some quite favourable reviews.

 

The performance was a little odd. Tijana was dressed quite smartly and plainly in black. She has a very striking presence on stage although I'm not sure this visual suited the style of the song. Firstly she mimed both versions of the song which didn't give us any idea about how well she can sing these songs. Secondly there was very little set up for the performance as she was all alone standing on a small stage flanked by some steps. There will need to be other people on stage to do the backing vocals. As the song is powerful and strong it will need much stringer visuals. Although Tijana looked very much like she was enjoying performing and obviously is quite an outward performer it will need a much bigger show in Copenhagen.

 

The song has a lot of memorable parts - the introduction is quite in your face and gets you into the song straight away. It's a shame this bit isn't made more of. The tempo seems to shift from fast to slow which keeps you engaged but can make it feel a little disjointed. The bridge part after about 2 minutes is quite interesting, would she be able to get that note? Also it would be nice if they made more of the drumming part too. However this part is just too long for an instrumental and Tijana looked lost at this point. The ending is very poor and just ebbs away without any punch or definition. It must be noted that Tijana has a lovely velvety low voice which I felt showed itself off more in the Macedonian version than English.

 

My main concern here is that the performance level needs to be bigger. Although this was only a presentation it would have been nice to have more of an idea of what they might have had in store for Eurovision. Also it is not clear which language she will be singing at Eurovision. I feel it sounds better in Macedonian but will be more accessible in English. Unfortunately the English lyrics are not really that good. Plus another 10 seconds needs to be shaved off the song (the bridge part?)

 

This is not a bad entry from FYROM. Their entries of the past have not been very noteworthy and I think this may well be their best entry yet. Proof will be needed to see if she can sing and perform this live. Macedonia don't really have many friends in their semi final and so will really need to make people want to vote for it. Considering it is so different to the songs already chosen this may well give her a fantastic advantage.

 

Artist - Tijana Dapčević
Song - Tamu kaj sto pripagjam (There where I belong) / To the sky
Music - Darko Dimitrov, Lazar Cvetkoski

Lyrics - Elena Risteka