Eurovision – Bosnia & Herzegovina

I’ve been looking all over for gossip or politics about this years entry but just cant seem to find much.  I assume this is because the juicy stuff would not be in English, but I cant really even seem to find any in other languages either.  Although I can’t really understand those sites anyway.  But either way, there is nothing on the Eurovision site, and I have found individual blogs about it but unfortunately nothing too reliable or trustworthy.

As far as predictions, the only site I could find with predictions saw Bosnia and Herzegovina coming in around 10th, but again I believe that this is an individual blog site that is unreliable.  I am not at all impressed with Regina, I find them to be bland and unexciting.  They seem to me to be more emo rock boy band than talented.  With this said, Regina does have quite a following in country and in a few surrounding countries as I stated in my first entry, so there is possibility that they will get points that way.  I am looking forward to seeing all of the entries, although I wish that Eurovision would be more focused on skill rather than pop culture…but then I suppose it wouldn’t be a pop culture contest then.

I did find a humorous video featuring some of the contestants, including my very own Regina.  This video shows that many of the contestants really don’t know too much about the history of the contest they are in, and that they get where they are from being pop icons in their countries.

The song ‘Bistra Voda’ chosen to represent Bosnia and Herzegovina is a song mostly about hope and finding some way to regain hope or sense of self through love.   The song starts off sadly, talking about losing oneself and seems to pick up as the song goes on talking about finding love.  These are the lyrics in the original language, followed by the english translation:

Pitao sam neke ljude u mome kraju
gdje mi duša stanuje
Jer tajnu za mene
kažu kriješ draga
Pitao sam da mi vrate
ono vrijeme, dane, sate,
proljeće
na ljubav miriše
Tako kažu

Rodi me
u majsku zoru
Kupaj me
u bistroj vodi
Čuvam jedan cvijet
kad svi drugu odu
Čuvam te
dok sam živ

Ukradi malo sunca za nas
nemaš sutra, nemaš danas
Lako je
kad ti pjesma srce nađe

Rodi me
u majsku zoru
Kupaj me
u bistroj vodi
Čuvam jedan cvijet
kad svi drugu odu
Čuvam te
dok sam živ

English Translation

Clear Water

I’ve asked some people in my neighborhood
where does my soul live
Because a secret for me
they say you’re keeping, my dear
I’ve asked them to give me back
the time, days, hours,
There’s love scent
in the Spring
they say

Give me birth
at a May dawn
Bathe me
in clear water
I’m keeping a flower
when everybody else leaves
I’m keeping you
for as long as I live

Steal a bit of sun for us
there’s no tomorrow, no today
It’s easy
when a song finds your heart

Give me birth
at a May dawn
Bathe me
in clear water
I’m keeping a flower
when everybody else leaves
I’m keeping you
for as long as I live

It is important to note that the lyrics are in the language of the country, in addition to the fact that all group members are citizens of the country and it seems that all were born there as well.

The performance is four men, one with a drum, another with an electric guitar, one on main vocals, and one on bass (?).  They all appear to be playing their instruments with vigor, but none are connected to any kind of amplification and a lot of the time don’t look like they are playing in time with the music.  Although I do believe that the singer is actually singing the song but I’m not positive.  The four of them are lined up and only move forward and back, not really dancing but more feeling the music they are ‘playing’.  They are all wearing what looks like jeans, white tee-shirts and similar jackets with red and navy blue on them, which look somewhat militant but could also just be the style in Bosnia and Herzegovina.  There is a video showing in the background, it mostly looks just like changing shapes and colors, but I’m not positive.
There are also two women holding two red see-through red flags.  Their presentation is very interesting.  They are doing nothing but holding the flags (from what I could see in the video) that don’t seem to have much to do with the song or the countries flag (which is blue and yellow).

They are wearing skin colored dresses that have very high slits (to the upper thigh).  A fan seems to be blowing to move the flags, but also blow their dresses open.  They are both also wearing high black boots, no heels.  While the black boots could be seen as feminine and sexy, they seem almost militant.  Especially combined with the tan caps they are wearing and their stance (one leg forward).  Both of their shoulder length brown hair is down under the hat.  These are the only women in the show and they are presenting a strange and mixed message.  The lyrics of the song does not seem to be presenting any kind of militant message, more growth through love, but the two women look as though they are ready for battle….well a sexy battle according to their tan dresses.

As far as musical style, the band seems to not really be showing off much talent and mostly just presenting a pop song like a good boy band.  There is no harmony, there is only one singer the whole time, and the people playing the instruments don’t really do much beyond look really into the music.  This seems to be common to Eurovision entries, so it’s not too out of the ordinary.  But still disappointing as far as musical talent goes.

For the past two years and this one included, the public broadcaster of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BHRT) calls for submissions to find “a song of the highest international standards regarding music, lyrics, and production.” (www.bhrt.ba)  The only requirements are that the song must not have been published or performed in public and have a 3-minute maximum.  While the performers have to be citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the authors can be foreigners.  In addition to the search for songs, the BHRT also calls for performers to represent the country.  According to the website, “candidates should be experienced in music show business, concerts and public performances…[must have] experience in live performance, at least 2 high-quality video spots, at least 1 released album” (www.bhrt.ba), which I would assume means that the performers should ideally be pop artists and already be in the public view.  The performers music be over the age of 16 and range anywhere from a single individual to a max of 6 people (including back-vocals, musicians, dancers, etc.).   This year, the group representing Bosnia and Herzegovina is Regina, a rock band founded in 1990 made of four men.  Three of the members started as a garage band, and later found a lead singer.  They released their first album in 1990 and second in 1991.  The group’s fame was booming within the country and in Yugoslavia as well, but was put on hold as the civil war split the group up as some found refuge in Serbia.   At this time, a few of them went for solo careers, but could not reach the fame they got as Regina.  They reunited in 2006 and after 10 months back together they produced another album and broadened their fan base to other countries such as Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, and others.  They have played with acts such as the Rolling Stones, and will be representing Bosnia and Herzegovina in Moscow with the song ‘Bistra Voda’.

As far as politics, I have not found much talk about the choice of group to represent the country (at least not in English).  One source referred to the group as a “boyband”, another source found that the group represented more of a 1980’s Yugoslavia feel than a modern day Bosnia and Herzegovina.  One thing I have noticed is the lack of talk about the civil war that broke the band up for a few years.  One source mentioned individuals fleeing to Serbia and others remaining in country, but did not say much more about it.  Many of the sources do not even mention the war and only say that the group split for some time.  I do not know too much about the civil war and how that played out in country, but because it is so recent I imagine it to be an ever-present and important influence on daily politics in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

While the song contest has been happening since 1956, Bosnia and Herzegovina have participated since 1993.  Before then, the country has been eliminated in the preliminary elimination round.  But since 1993, Bosnia and Herzegovina has remained constant by only missing years 1998 and 2000. They came in 18th place in their first year and remained generally ranked in the teens, except for a few years that they broke into the top 10 (1999 – 7th, 2004 – 9th, 2006 – 3rd).  Their highest ranking year was 2006 when they came in 3rd place with 267 points with artist Hari Mata Hari singing “Laijla”. Hari Mata Hari is a male acoustic guitar player who sang with a band of 5 others, all on instruments.  Although the song was composed by an artist from Serbia, the song was sung in the country’s native language, and was a song about lost love. The entries since 1993 have varied in gender, age, group versus individual, etc.  but as far as I can tell there is little scandal in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s history in Eurovision. It seems that they are relatively new to the competition and are somewhat struggling to stay on board.

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