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North Macedonia: With Tamara Grujeska in Junior Eurovision 2023!

The public broadcaster of North Macedonia MRT announced that Tamara Grujeska is going to represent the country in the 2023 Junior Eurovision Song Contest.

The 12-year-old Tamara Grujeska will fly the country’s flag at the upcoming Junior Eurovision 2023 which is going to take place in Nice, France. Tamara was selected through auditions held in Skopje by MRT last week.

About Tamara Grujeska

Tamara was born on December 2, 2010 in Gostivar. She made her first beginnings in the world of music when she was only five years old, and since then she has been constantly active at children’s festivals in the country and abroad.

Her first appearance at an international competition is in 2021 at “Ezerski Biseri” in Struga, where she wins First Place Laureate I degree. In the same year, she participated in the International Festival “Zvezdichki” in Prilep where she won the highest Grand Prix award with her song “Music has a home in me”.

In 2022, Tamara also participates in the most prestigious festival and competition in Vladimir “Golden Stars Rain”, where she won the Grand Prix award in competition with 150 competitors from several countries.

Tamara is a student at the elementary school “Goce Delchev” – Gostivar in the VII grade and at the elementary school of music “Todor Skalovski” – Tetovo section “solo singing”.

Source: Eurovoix

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North Macedonia: MRT will broadcast Eurovision Song Contest 2023!

Just a while ago, the public broadcaster from North Macedonia, MRT, announced that they are going to broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 as usual, despite the fact that they withdrew from this year’s contest. Citizens of North Macedonia, will be able to watch the two semi-finals in May 9 and 11, as well as the Grand Final in May 13, on MRT1.

North Macedonia is the only one of the three countries that withdrew this year, that has confirmed to broadcast the contest. The other two countries that withdrew (Bulgaria and Montenegro) have not, as of yet, stated anything about the broadcast of the contest. All three countries, will not take part this year, regarding financial issues.


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OGAE Poll 2023: The results of the Netherlands and North Macedonia

The next countries to cast their votes for the OGAE annual poll are the Netherlands and North Macedonia.

The 105 members of OGAE the Netherlands voted the following countries:

  • 12 points to Finland
  • 10 points to Sweden
  • 8 points to France
  • 7 points to Austria
  • 6 points to Norway
  • 5 points to the UK
  • 4 points to Czechia
  • 3 points to Italy
  • 2 points to Spain
  • 1 point to Armenia

The 16 members of OGAE North Macedonia voted like this:

  • 12 points to Italy
  • 10 points to Finland
  • 8 points to Sweden
  • 7 points to France
  • 6 points to Norway
  • 5 points to Serbia
  • 4 points to Spain
  • 3 points to Slovenia
  • 2 points to the UK
  • 1 point to Croatia

The total results of the 19 clubs that have voted so far are the following:

It becomes evident that the margin between Sweden and Finland is gradually shrinking,whilst Croatia receives their first set of points.

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the latest news about Eurovision!

Source:Ogae International

North Macedonia: Discussions for Eurovision participation going on!

Last month MRT celebrated their 208th meeting of their Program Council Member.  During this meeting, the country discussed their future participation in both the Eurovision and the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.  One of the main issues discussed was how to improve the country’s results in both contest.

We must remember that North Macedonia failed to qualify to the Grand Final in their last two Eurovision participations.  North Macedonia ended in 14th place in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022.

Nevertheless, Director of the Program Council Smilka Janeska Sarkanjac stressed that future participation in both Eurovision and the Junior Eurovision are on the table once the broadcaster recovers from the financial crisis.  According to Ms. Sarkanjac both contests give an opportunity to present the broadcaster brand to a wider European audience.

Junior Eurovision participation

North Macedonia was last represented by Lara, Jovan and Irina.  Diana Gogova-Atanasova, Editor of the Children’s TV channel MRT 5, and Rade Spasovski, the Head of Delegation for North Macedonia discussed their last result.  Although they were not satisfied with their result, they supported their last representatives.

During the meeting, various Council Members urged the broadcaster to consider a future Junior Eurovision participation and to continue developing the country’s children talent.  However, there were discussions about the tight deadline to select their last Junior Eurovision representative.  According to Program Council Member Snezhana Klincharova, preparations for Junior Eurovision should start in the future no later than Mid-March.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for more news regarding North Macedonia in Eurovision/Junior Eurovision!

Junior Eurovision 2022: Listen to North Macedonia’s song for the contest!

The eighth out of 16 countries taking part in Junior Eurovision 2022, to reveal its song is North Macedonia. A few hours ago, the country’s song was released through the contest’s official YouTube channel.

The song will be performed by a trio of young singers, namely Lara, Jovan and Irina, that were chosen internally after an open audition for children of age 9 to 14, taking place in the studios of MRT. Their song is called “Životot E Pred Mene” (Life is Ahead of Me). Initially, Lara and Irina were supposed to perform their song alone, but later it was decided that the young Jovan will join them on stage.

Listen to “Zivotot E Pred Mene!” by Lara, Jovan and Irina for Junior Eurovision 2022:

What do you think about North Macedonia’s song in this year’s Junior Song Contest? Write us in the comments below!

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022, in Armenia!

Source: junioreurovision.tv

 

North Macedonia: The country will NOT participate in Eurovision 2023!

It seems that yet another Balkan country, North Macedonia, will not take part in Eurovision 2023, that is set to take place in Liverpool, in May 2023.

According to a tweet by North Macedonia’s most popular Eurovision fan site, which was retweeted by ESC Discord, North Macedonia withdraws from the Contest due to financial reasons. This revelation comes as no surprise, given that as it transpired some weeks ago no budget whatsoever was allocated for the Contest by MRT.

However, MRT will broadcast the two nights of the semi-finals and the grand final of this year’s Eurovision on it’s platforms. MRT hopes that the economic situation will improve and the country will return to Eurovision 2024!

As we exclusively revealed yesterday, both Bulgaria and Montenegro will ALSO not take part in the 67th ESC. As of this time, only the following 34 countries have publicly confirmed their intentions to participate in the 2023 ESC:

Semi-finals (28 countries)

Albania
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Belgium
Croatia
Cyprus
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
Georgia
Greece
Iceland
Ireland
Israel
Latvia
Lithuania
Malta
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
San Marino
Serbia
Slovenia
Sweden
Switzerland

Final (Big Five & Ukraine)

France
Germany
Italy
Spain
Ukraine
United Kingdom

Countries that took part in ESC 2022 but have not expressed any intention about ESC 2023

Armenia
Czech Republic
Moldova

If the above three countries do not enter the Contest, ESC 2023 is set to become the ESC edition with the fewer participants since 2003. Semi-final(s) format was introduced in 2004 with just one semi-final, and was replaced with the two semi-finals’ setting in 2008 and onwards.

Source: MRT

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the details about the upcoming ESC!

Junior Eurovision 2022: 16 countries will take part in the contest in Yerevan!

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) alongside the Armenian public broadcaster (AMPTV), announced that 16 countries are going to take part in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022, which is scheduled to take place in Yerevan, on Sunday, December 11.

https://youtu.be/NvgeXx_BUV4

The 16 countries that will travel to Yerevan in December are:

  • 🇦🇱 Albania (RTSH)
  • 🇦🇲 Armenia (AMPTV)
  • 🇫🇷 France (France TV)
  • 🇬🇪 Georgia (GPB)
  • 🇮🇪 Ireland (TG4)
  • 🇮🇹 Italy (Rai)
  • 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan (Khabar Agency)
  • 🇲🇹 Malta (PBS)
  • 🇳🇱 Netherlands (AVROTROS)
  • 🇲🇰 North Macedonia (MKRTV)
  • 🇵🇱 Poland (TVP)
  • 🇵🇹 Portugal (RTP)
  • 🇷🇸 Serbia (RTS)
  • 🇪🇸 Spain (TVE)
  • 🇺🇦 Ukraine (UA:PBC)
  • 🇬🇧 United Kingdom (BBC)

The number of countries that will take part in this year’s contest is reduced, compared to last year, since Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Germany and Russia will not return to the contest, while the United Kingdom returns after a 16 years of absence.

What is more, alongside the final list of competitions, the Armenian public broadcaster announced the slogan of this year’s contest which is: “Spin the Magic”.

Martin Österdahl, Executive Supervisor for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, is excited about the show’s return:

“We’re delighted to be welcoming talented young artists from 16 countries this year to Yerevan for the 20th Junior Eurovision Song Contest. It’s exciting to be returning to the Armenian capital for the first time in over a decade to “Spin The Magic” on this special anniversary – and welcoming back the United Kingdom to the competition, our host country for Eurovision 2023. There’s so much energy, passion and creativity from our colleagues at AMPTV and we can’t wait to see a spectacular show in December.”

Armenia will host the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022 after Maléna’s win with the song “Qami Qami”:

Stay tuned in Eurovisionfun for everything new regarding the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022!

Source:

North Macedonia: MRT considering changes and improvements for upcoming contests!

On June 8, the MRT Planning Board heard Head of Delegation (HoD) Meri Popova’s proposal to improve the country’s image in the competition, results and preparations for the future. The report given by Popova was detailed, addressing a range of issues together with reasoned solutions.


In her report, Popova underlined that preparations for the Eurovision must start from the MRT no later than September, which includes the process of a selection method and the finalization of its structure. According to Popova, this will give enough time to organize for the competition, select an artist using an established process and most importantly, give artists enough time to prepare their entry.

She also called for an expansion of the delegation, which he claimed was “always a headache”. Popova believes the delegation is too small and constantly changing, making it difficult to achieve consistency and the necessary cohesion and cooperation. She went on to state that their small numbers make members work on many projects and programs at the same time.

Two recommendations were related to economic factors surrounding the contest, which would immediately elevate their proposals for Eurovision. The first was to increase the broadcaster’s budget for Eurovision, which “has been a significant obstacle to the country’s nominations” for years. Popova continued that the budget should be firmed up and shared by September so the delegation can plan accordingly in May.

She also suggested a way to cover Eurovision costs by suggesting that the MRT start selling advertising time during the show. She also called for a unified marketing strategy (both country and participation/artist) that would compete with the promotional efforts of other agencies.

Finally, she called for the establishment of a public relations committee to curb the scandal that has plagued the country for the past two years and boost public enthusiasm around the contest. He argued that the backlash surrounding the Bulgarian flag in Vasil’s music video and Andrea’s downplaying of the significance this year had damaged the public’s image of Eurovision.

The Council’s next steps

After reviewing the report, the council tasked the MRT management to provide its own report on the manner of the recommendations, documents showing revenue generated from Eurovision advertising over the past 4 years, and also asked the MRT general manager . a final decision on disciplinary actions for the 2022 delegation. At the end of the discussion, the report was approved by the homofon council.

In 2022 North Macedonia was represented by Andrea and “Circles”!

https://youtu.be/zvOihqB4eKk

Source: escunited.com

Stay tuned in Eurovisionfun for all the updates regarding Eurovision!

North Macedonia: MRT considers withdrawing from Eurovision!

The North Macedonian broadcaster, MRT considers withdrawing North Macedonia from Eurovision 2023.

Following the incident at the Turquoise Carpet, during which Andrea threw North Macedonia’s on the floor. In the video we saw of the vocalist, it does not seem that the singer intended to show disrespect and just wanted to move the flag because of the photo-shoot with the press. However, showing disrespect to national symbols is a crime in North Macedonia, which means Andrea could face legal trouble for her action.

The broadcaster says it has made the decision to remain in the 2022 competition, stating that:

Such a step at a time when all the deadlines for withdrawal have passed would cause great financial damage and other sanctions that should not be neglected. In particular, the cancellation would jeopardize the participation and deviation of the television rights in all other events that MRT receives as a member of the European Broadcasting Network

The Macedonian Radio Television will take all legal decisions and disciplinary measures after the return of our delegation from Turin, after the members will submit reports on the events of the ceremony.

Due to the reporting on the incident within North Macedonia, the broadcaster is considering withdrawing from the event in 2023:

Due to the negative public image Eurovision has brought to the broadcaster, the MRT Editorial Board is considering the possibility that the Macedonian Radio Television will no longer compete in the Eurovision Song Contest from 2023.

Andrea will compete tomorrow in the 11th place of the second semi-final with her entry “Circles”, you can listen to her entry here:

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Image Source: EBU/Sarah Louise Bennett SourceMRT 

North Macedonia: Andrea almost withdrew from the contest in the Turquoise Carpet!

During the Opening Ceremony of the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, Andrea seems to have thrown away a small flag of her country, something that made the public broadcaster mad. The public television of North Macedonia considered even the possibility of Andrea’s withdrawal!

You can see that exact moment in the 56:30 minute of the live broadcast of the opening ceremony:

After the ending of the ceremony, MRT made the following announcement:

MRT condemns this behaviour of our representative in Eurovision 2022, Andrea Koevska, who trew away the flag of our country during the photoshooting of yestarday’s opening ceremony. 

The public broadcaster is not responsible for this scandalous behavior of our representative, who showed disrespect for her nation with this move, something that is punishable by the law. MRT is waiting for Andrea’s public apology for this action. We already consider withdrawing the artist from Eurovision so that our channel will not have any further damage. Every possible legal way will be considered for the most severe punishment for this scandal those responsible for our participation in the contest.

However, after a while, through a video, Andrea apologies for her action and highlights that she had no intention of insulting her nation’s flag and that she desires to represent her country with the best way possible.

Below you can watch an exclusive clip of Andrea’s second rehearsal. North Macedonia competes in the second semi final, and performs eleventh in the running order.

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Stay tuned at Eurovisionfun for all the updates regarding Eurovision 2022!