Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1993

Eurovision Song Contest 1993
Country	Croatia
National selection
Selection process	Dora 1993
Selection date(s)	28 February 1993
Selected entrant	Put
Selected song	"Don't Ever Cry"
Finals performance
Final result	15th, 31 points

Croatia entered the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time as an independent country in 1993. The country's first entry was by Put with the song "Don't Ever Cry".

Background

Main articles: Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest and Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Croatia first entered the Eurovision Song Contest in 1993, having previously competed as a part of Yugoslavia from 1961 to 1991. SR Croatia was the most successful republic of Yugoslavia at Eurovision, with 11 of the 27 entries that won the Yugoslavian selection for the Eurovision Song Contest being Croatian.^[1]

During the disintegration of Yugoslavia the state broadcaster at the time, JRT, decided to continue Yugoslavia's participation in the contest, holding one last national final for the 1992 Contest, held on 28 March 1992. Only artists from the republics of Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina competed, despite the former declaring independence on 1 March. Artists from Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia did not compete after declaring independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. The winning song was "Ljubim te pesmama" by Extra Nena, representing Serbia. However, by the time Extra Nena competed at Eurovision for Yugoslavia, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was no more, and a new republic, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, had been formed.^[2][3][4]

Croatia's former sub-national broadcaster RTV Zagreb became the country's national broadcaster, renamed Hrvatska radiotelevizija (HRT). The broadcaster first attempted to enter the Eurovision Song Contest as an independent nation in 1992, holding a national contest to select a song. However, as the broadcaster was not a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) at the time they were refused entry to the contest. The winner of the contest was Magazin with the song "Hallelujah".^[5] The broadcaster became a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) on 1 January 1993, allowing it to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time as an independent nation in 1993.

Dora 1993

HRT held a national final to select the first independent Croatian entry at Eurovision. Dora 1993 was held at the Crystal Ballroom of Hotel Kvarner in Opatija on 28 February, hosted by Sanja Doležal (the lead singer of Novi fosili, the Yugoslav entry for 1987) & Frano Lasić. 15 entries competed, and the winner was decided by 11 regional juries.

The winning song was "Don't Ever Cry", performed by the band Put.

Dora 1993 - 28 February, 1993

Draw	Artist	Song	Place	Points
1	Davor Borno	"Ispod zvjezdica"	8	23
2	Nina Badrić	"Ostavljam te"	7	24
3	Alka Vuica & Sandi Cenov	"OK"	11	10
4	K-2	"Pepeljuge su same"	15	0
5	Alter Ego	"Ritam u grudima"	13	2
6	Neki to vole vruće	"Sve me podsjeca na nju"	3	54
7	Put	"Don't Ever Cry"	1	85
8	Zorica Kondža	"Nema mi do tebe"	4	51
9	Academia	"Tam Tam Ta Ram"	14	1
10	Ivo Amulić	"Odlazim"	5	48
11	Tony Cetinski	"Nek te zagrli netko sretniji"	6	33
12	Maja Blagdan	"Jedini moj"	2	76
13	Leteći odred	"Cijeli je svijet zaljubljen"	9	19
14	Dorian	"Lady"	12	3
15	Dražen Žanko	"Gordana"	10	11

At Kvalifikacija za Millstreet

With the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the disintegration of Yugoslavia many new countries were created who became interested in competing in the Eurovision Song Contest. With this large influx of countries the European Broadcasting Union were forced to create a new measure to counter overcrowding in the contest. For the 1993 Contest the EBU decided to hold a one-off countest to select three countries to join the 22 countries already competing in the Eurovision Song Contest.

The Kvalifikacija za Millstreet (Qualification for Millstreet) contest was held in Ljubljana, Slovenia on 3 April at the TV studios of Slovene broadcaster Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTV SLO). Seven countries in total competed, including Croatia, for a place in the final on 15 May 1993. Put performed second, following Bosnia and Herzegovina and preceding Estonia. The band received 52 points, placing 3rd, qualifying to the Eurovision Song Contest final alongside Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

At Eurovision

Put performed 21st at the Eurovision Song Contest 1993 in Millstreet, Ireland, following the Netherlands and preceding Spain. The group received 31 points, placing 15th of the 25 competing countries.

See also

• Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest
• Eurovision Song Contest 1993
• Kvalifikacija za Millstreet

References

1. ^ "Archive - former Eurovision representatives from Croatia" (in English). Hrvatska radiotelevizija. http://www.hrt.hr/dora/dora2009/arhiv_eng.htm. Retrieved 2009-08-07. 
2. ^ "Eurovision Trivia: Did you know...". BBC News. 2005-05-06. http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2005/05_may/06/eurovision7.shtml. Retrieved 2008-08-26. 
3. ^ Klier, Marcus (2007-09-28). "Interview with Extra Nena". ESCToday. http://www.esctoday.com/specials/read/9315. Retrieved 2008-08-26. 
4. ^ Deniz, Jose Miguel Galvan (2005-03-14). "Eurovision shows political side". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4337783.stm. Retrieved 2008-08-26. 
5. ^ "No, No, Never!!! - Songs That Did Not Make It To Eurovision". eurovisionsongs.net. http://www.eurovisionsongs.net/nononever.htm. Retrieved 2009-07-23. 

External links

• Croatian National Final 1993