Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
participated in the
Eurovision Song Contest 2011
The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the 56th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Düsseldorf, Germany, following the country's victory at the with the song "Satellite" by Lena. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union ...
with the song "Celebrate" written by
Boris Đurđević
Colonia is a Croatian dance music duo from Vinkovci, Croatia. The band has released thirteen albums and over 35 singles to date with various songs and albums gaining platinum status. They are known for winning the first ever Eurodance competition ...
and Marina Mudrinić. The song was performed by
Daria
''Daria'' is an American adult animation, adult animated sitcom created by Glenn Eichler and Susie Lewis, Susie Lewis Lynn. The series ran from March 3, 1997, to January 21, 2002, on MTV. It focuses on the title character, Daria Morgendorffer, ...
. The Croatian broadcaster
Croatian Radiotelevision
''Hrvatska radiotelevizija'' (abbr. HRT), or Croatian Radiotelevision, is Croatia's public broadcasting company. It operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as well as satellite. HRT is divided into thr ...
(HRT) organised the national final ''Dora 2011'' to select the Croatian entry for the 2011 contest in
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...
, Germany. Twenty-four artists competed in the national final which consisted of seven shows: four heats, a quarter-final, a semi-final and a final. Contestants were selected to advance in the competition based on the votes of a public televote. Two contestants qualified to compete in the final on 5 March 2011 where the winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, each finalist performed the three candidate Eurovision songs and one song per finalist advanced to the superfinal following the combination of votes from a three-member judging panel and a public televote. In the superfinal, "Lahor" performed by Daria was selected as the winner based entirely on a public televote. The song was later translated from
Croatian to
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
for the Eurovision Song Contest and was titled "Celebrate".
Croatia was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 10 May 2011. Performing during the show in position 13, "Celebrate" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Croatia placed fifteenth out of the 19 participating countries in the semi-final with 41 points.
Background
Prior to the 2011 contest, Croatia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest eighteen times since its first entry in . The nation's best result in the contest was fourth, which it achieved on two occasions: in
1996
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
with the song "Sveta ljubav" performed by
Maja Blagdan
Maja Blagdan (born 16 May 1968) is a Croatian pop singer. She began her singing career in a rock band, Stijene, in 1986. Later she had a solo career. Her first solo album was released in 1993.
She represented Croatia at the Eurovision Song Con ...
and in
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...
with the song "Marija Magdalena" performed by
Doris Dragović
Dorotea "Doris" Budimir (, ; born 16 April 1961) is a Croatian singer-songwriter who has represented Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1986 with the song " Željo moja", finishing 11th with 49 points, and Croatia in the Eurovision Song Co ...
. Following the
introduction of semi-finals for the , Croatia had thus far featured in five finals. In
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
, Croatia failed to qualify to the final with
Feminnem
Feminnem is a girl group from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina composed of three members. They represented both countries at the Eurovision Song Contest; Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2005 (with original members Ivana Marić, Neda Parmać and Pame ...
and the song "Lako je sve".
The Croatian national broadcaster,
Croatian Radiotelevision
''Hrvatska radiotelevizija'' (abbr. HRT), or Croatian Radiotelevision, is Croatia's public broadcasting company. It operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as well as satellite. HRT is divided into thr ...
(HRT), broadcasts the event within Croatia and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. HRT confirmed Croatia's participation in the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest on 23 October 2010.
Since 1993, HRT organised the national final ''Dora'' in order to select the Croatian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, a method that was continued for their 2011 participation.
Before Eurovision
Dora 2011
''Dora 2011'' was the nineteenth edition of the Croatian national selection ''Dora'' which selected Croatia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. Under the slogan ''Idemo na Eurosong!'' (Let's go to Eurovision!), the competition consisted of seven shows between 22 January and 5 March 2011 all taking place at the Studio 10 of HRT in
Zagreb
Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...
, hosted by Aleksandar Kostadinov,
Leona Paraminski
Leona Paraminski (born 22 August 1979) is a Croatian film, theater and television actress. She grew up in Vrbovec, a town near Zagreb, and spent time traveling around Croatia and Germany as a child.
Biography
Leona became interested in the arts ...
and Monika Lelas and broadcast on
HRT 1
HRT 1 (HTV 1, ''"Prvi program"'') is the first Croatian television channel, operated by Hrvatska Radiotelevizija. It is a generalist channel, whose diverse programming lineup includes documentaries, history, school, mosaics, news, sitcoms, movies ...
as well as online via the broadcaster's official website ''hrt.hr''.
The final was also streamed online via the official Eurovision Song Contest website ''eurovision.tv''.
Format
''Dora 2011'' consisted of seven shows: four heats, a quarter-final, a semi-final and a final. In each of the first two heats on 22 and 29 January 2011, twelve contestants performed a song of their choice and seven were eliminated from the competition. An additional seven contestants were eliminated in the third heat on 5 February 2011, while three were eliminated in the fourth heat on 12 February 2011 and the top three proceeded to the quarter-final. Two contestants were eliminated in the quarter-final on 19 February 2011, while one was eliminated in the semi-final on 26 February 2011. The results of the first six shows were determined by public televoting, while in the first five shows, one contestant was saved by a weekly public vote among those eliminated to remain in the competition as a wildcard. The remaining two contestants proceeded to the final on 5 March 2011 where they performed their versions of the three songs bidding for Eurovision and the Croatian entry was selected by votes from the public and a judging panel. Ties in the final were decided in favour of the entry that was awarded the most points from the jury.
Public voting included options for telephone and SMS voting.
Competing entries
Singers being citizens of the
Republic of Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
were able to attend auditions between 9 December 2010 and 11 December 2010. A six-member expert committee consisting of Željen Klašterka (HRT), Branka Muvrin (HRT), Hrid Matić (HRT), Željimir Babogredac (HDU), Zvonimir Bučević (HDU) and Hrvoje Hegedušić (
HDS) reviewed the 150 applicants and selected twenty-four contestants for the competition. HRT announced the contestants on 21 December 2010, while the three candidate Eurovision songs to be performed by the finalists of the competition, written by composers invited by HRT: Ante Pecotić,
Boris Đurđević
Colonia is a Croatian dance music duo from Vinkovci, Croatia. The band has released thirteen albums and over 35 singles to date with various songs and albums gaining platinum status. They are known for winning the first ever Eurodance competition ...
and Lea Dekleva, were announced on 28 February 2011.
Results summary
;Colour key
: – Contestant received the most public votes
: – Contestant received the fewest public votes and was eliminated
: – Contestant received the public wildcard
Shows
Heats
The four heats took place on 22 January, 29 January, 5 February and 12 February 2011. Following the first heat, HRT announced during a press conference that the votes were incorrectly analysed and that Jelena Vanjek had qualified instead of
Damir Kedžo
Damir Kedžo (born 24 May 1987) is a Croatian pop singer. While he started his career in 2003 by participating in '' Story Supernova Music Talents'', he became even more famous in Croatia after winning the third season of '' Tvoje lice zvuči poz ...
. Three guest judges also participated in each heat, which were
Gabi Novak
Gabrijela "Gabi" Novak (; born 8 July 1936) is a Croatian pop and jazz singer. A wife of the prominent Croatian singer-songwriter Arsen Dedić, whom she married in 1973, Novak became popular in the 1960s.
Biography
Born in Berlin into a family ...
,
Dino Jelusić
Dino Jelusić (born 4 June 1992), also known by his stage name Dino Jelusick, is a Croatian rock singer, musician, and songwriter. He is the founder, principal songwriter, and lead singer of progressive rock band Animal Drive, which was formed i ...
and
Milana Vlaović
Milana Vlaović (; born 1971 in Metković) is a Croatian journalist, composer, writer and columnist.
Journalistic career
She had finished her elementary school as well as high school in Metković, and as she turned 18, she started to study at th ...
for the first heat,
Vanna
Vanna () is a given name that first appeared in recorded European history circa 1294. The Italian medieval feminine name originated in Tuscany, and is particular to Florence, Italy.
Though similar in pronunciation to the Italian name Giovanna, an ...
,
Luka Nižetić
Luka Nižetić (born 12 August 1983) is a Croatian singer. His debut album '' Premijera'' was recorded in 2006. He is best known for his hits "Ponekad poželim" ("Sometimes I wish") and "Proljeće" ("Springtime").
Biography
Luka Nižetić was b ...
and
Sandra Bagarić
Sandra Bagarić (born 5 April 1974) is a Bosnian-born Croatian opera singer and actress. She was born in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina where she attended the High School for Music. She continued her musical studies in Sarajevo, but due to the ...
for the second heat,
Tereza Kesovija
Tereza Ana Kesovija (; born 3 October 1938) is an internationally acclaimed Croatian recording artist. She was one of the most recognizable figures on the music scene in former Yugoslavia, and is renowned for her wide vocal range and operatic sty ...
,
Maja Blagdan
Maja Blagdan (born 16 May 1968) is a Croatian pop singer. She began her singing career in a rock band, Stijene, in 1986. Later she had a solo career. Her first solo album was released in 1993.
She represented Croatia at the Eurovision Song Con ...
and
Hari Varešanović
Hajrudin "Hari" Varešanović (; born 16 January 1961) is a Bosnian musician. Known for his impassioned lyrical tenor vocals, distinct stage presence and specific brand of poetic lyrics, Varešanović remains the vocal soloist, primary compose ...
for the third heat, and
Ivana Banfić
Ivana Banfić (); born 16 November 1969) is a Croatian dancer and pop singer. She became famous under the stage name I BEE in the 1990s during the period of popularity of dance music in Croatia.
Banfić was born in Zagreb. She released her first ...
,
Mirjana Bohanec Mirjana Bohanec-Vidović (born October 2, 1939) is a Croatian people, Croatian operatic soprano. She studied singing at the Academy of Music, University of Zagreb and with Emmy Loose in Vienna. She made her professional opera debut in 1966 at the Cr ...
and
Tomislav Bralić for the fourth heat.
Quarter-final
The quarter-final took place on 19 February 2011. The three guest judges that participated in the quarter-final were
Danijela Martinović
Danijela Martinović (born 15 July 1971), also known mononymously as Danijela, is a Croatian pop singer.
Biography
Born in Split to Croatian parents, Martinović began to sing from an early age. She has a sister, Izabela, who also pursued a mus ...
,
Miran Veljković and . In addition to the performances of the contestants, Danijela Martinović and
2006 Croatian Eurovision entrant Severina performed as the interval acts during the show.
Semi-final
The semi-final took place on 26 February 2011. The three guest judges that participated in the semi-final were
Josipa Lisac
Josipa Lisac (; born 14 February 1950) is a Croatian pop rock singer.
Biography
During the 1960s, Lisac was the vocalist of the group Zlatni Akordi. Her first solo album, '' Dnevnik jedne ljubavi'' (''The Diary of a Love''), recorded in 1973, was ...
,
Emilija Kokić
Emilija Kokić (born 10 May 1968) is a Croatian singer. She was the lead singer of the Croatian pop band Riva, which won the Eurovision Song Contest 1989 for Yugoslavia, with the song '' Rock Me'', just four days before her 21st Birthday. Current ...
and Branko Bubica. In addition to the performances of the contestants, the show was opened by Doris Karamatić and
1983 Yugoslav Eurovision entrant Danijel Popović, while
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...
and
2011 Bosnian Eurovision entrant Dino Merlin
Edin Dervišhalidović (; born 12 September 1962), known professionally as Dino Merlin (), is a Bosnian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. Born in Sarajevo, he was the founder and leader of Merlin, which eventually became one of ...
as well as Emilija Kokić performed as the interval acts.
=Final
=
The final took place on 5 March 2011. The winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, the two finalists
Daria Kinzer
Daria Kinzer (born 29 May 1988) is a Croatian-Austrian singer who represented Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Germany. Kinzer won the national selection on 5 March with her entry " Celebrate", and took part in the first semifinal ...
and
Jacques Houdek
Ancient and noble French family names, Jacques, Jacq, or James are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over ...
each performed their versions of the three candidate Eurovision songs and a 50/50 combination of votes from a three-member judging panel and a public televote selected one song per finalist to proceed to the second round, the superfinal. "Lahor" and "Stotinama godina" performed by both Kinzer and Houdek were tied at 5 points each but since "Lahor" received the most votes from the judges the song was selected to advance. The judges that participated in the final were
Tonči Huljić
Tonči Huljić (; born 29 October 1961) is a Croatian musician, songwriter and music producer. He is best known as the founding member, songwriter and producer of one the most famous Croatian pop bands, Magazin.
During his career spanning more ...
,
Severina and
Andrej Babić
Andrej Babić is a Croatian songwriter who has written many Eurovision songs since 2003. He has written songs for four countries: Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and Portugal.
Eurovision Song Contest entries
* Lyrics by Carlos Coel ...
. In the superfinal, the winner, "Lahor" performed by Daria Kinzer, was determined exclusively by a public televote. In addition to the performances of the contestants,
Petar Grašo
Petar Grašo (born 19 March 1976) is a Croatian pop singer and songwriter. Born in Split to basketball player Zoran Grašo, he rose to prominence when Oliver Dragojević performed one of his first songs "Boginja" on the Dora contest in 1995. Si ...
with Madre Badessa and
Goran Bregović
Goran Bregović (born 22 March 1950) is a recording artist from Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is one of the most internationally known modern musicians and composers of the Slavic-speaking countries in the Balkans, and is one of the few former Yugo ...
,
2005 Croatian Eurovision entrant Boris Novković
Boris Novković (born 25 December 1967) is a Croatian singer-songwriter. He has been active since the 1980s.
Biography
Novković was born in Sarajevo, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia. His interest in a musical career was cultivated by ...
, and
2005 Bosnian and
2010 Croatian Eurovision entrant Feminnem
Feminnem is a girl group from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina composed of three members. They represented both countries at the Eurovision Song Contest; Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2005 (with original members Ivana Marić, Neda Parmać and Pame ...
performed as the interval acts during the show.
Preparation
An
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
version of "Lahor" entitled "Break a Leg" was also performed by Daria at the final of ''Dora 2011'' following her victory. On 6 March, composer Boris Đurđević revealed that the English lyrics of the song would undergo changes for the Eurovision Song Contest. The new version, "Celebrate", premiered on 11 March during the radio programme ''Sunčani sat'' broadcast on HR 2 and hosted by Zlatko Turkalj Turki. In early March, Daria filmed the music video for "Celebrate", which was directed by Zoran Pezo and the company Blue Film. The music video was presented on 14 March during the HRT news programme ''
Dnevnik''.
French,
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
and
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
versions of the song were also recorded entitled "C'est la fête", "Diese Nacht" and "Lunnij svjet", respectively.
Promotion
Daria made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Celebrate" as the Croatian Eurovision entry. On 18 March, Daria performed during the
BHT 1 show ''Konačno petak'' in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 15 and 16 April, Daria took part in promotional activities in Malta where she appeared during several programmes on
TVM including the talk show ''
Xarabank
''Xarabank'' was a prime time talk show produced by Where's Everybody that aired every Friday on the Maltese national television station TVM, till 2020. The show was presented by Peppi Azzopardi, and later by Mark Laurence Zammit. Various topi ...
.'' On 18 April, Daria performed during the show ''Bingo i pesma'' and the morning programme on
Radio Television of Serbia
Radio Television of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, Радио-телевизија Србије, sr-Lat, Radio-televizija Srbije, italics=yes; abbr. RTS/PTC) is Serbia's public broadcaster. It broadcasts and produces news, drama, and sports programming thro ...
(RTS) in Serbia. Daria concluded promotional activities in Slovenia where she appeared in and performed during the
TV SLO1 programme ''Spet doma'' in Slovenia on 22 April.
At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "
Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The
European Broadcasting Union
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...
(EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 17 January 2011, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in.
Croatia was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 10 May 2011, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show. The running order for the semi-finals was decided through another draw on 15 March 2011 and Croatia was set to perform in position 13, following the entry from
San Marino
San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...
and before the entry from
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
.
The two semi-finals and the final were broadcast in Croatia on
HRT 1
HRT 1 (HTV 1, ''"Prvi program"'') is the first Croatian television channel, operated by Hrvatska Radiotelevizija. It is a generalist channel, whose diverse programming lineup includes documentaries, history, school, mosaics, news, sitcoms, movies ...
with commentary by
Duško Ćurlić Duško Čurlić (born 28 January 1968) is a Croatian actor and radio host for Croatian radiotelevision.
Born in Zagreb, Čurlić is best known for hosting the Croatian TV shows ''Ples sa zvijezdama'', ''Zvijezde pjevaju'' and ''Kruške i jabuke''. ...
. The Croatian spokesperson, who announced the Croatian votes during the final, was Nevena Rendeli.
Semi-final
Daria took part in technical rehearsals on 2 and 5 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 9 and 10 May. This included the jury show on 9 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.
The Croatian performance featured Daria in a short black dress with a gold band in the middle, which changed colours twice to pink and silver. The stage lighting was predominantly blue with Daria performing choreography with a dancer at a DJ deck with silver and purple strands and making use of the stage catwalk. Daria was joined on stage by four backing vocalists: Ana Jakšić, Irena Križ, Jasenka Rutar and Katarina Jurić.
The dancer was Russian illusionist Sergey Vorontsov, while the choreographer of the Croatian performance was Larisa Lipovac.
At the end of the show, Croatia was not announced among the top 10 entries in the second semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Croatia placed fifteenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 41 points.
Voting
Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member were released shortly after the grand final.
Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Croatia had placed sixteenth with the public televote and fourteenth with the jury vote in the first semi-final. In the public vote, Croatia scored 32 points, while with the jury vote, Croatia scored 49 points.
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Croatia and awarded by Croatia in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Serbia in the semi-final and to Slovenia in the final of the contest.
Points awarded to Croatia
Points awarded by Croatia
References
External links
*
{{Eurovision Song Contest 2011
2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011
Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...