"Roma" is a 2005 song by Iranian-born Swedish pop singer

Cameron Cartio Kamran Sabahi ( fa, کامران صباحی; born 9 April 1978), known professionally as Cameron Cartio, is an Iranian-born Swedish pop singer. Being signed to Sony Music, he released his debut album ''Borderless'' in 2005. Cameron having been ...

. It is sung in a

conlang A constructed language (sometimes called a conlang) is a language whose phonology, grammar, and vocabulary, instead of having developed naturally, are consciously devised for some purpose, which may include being devised for a work of fiction. ...

Cameron Cartio himself made. He took part with the song in the 2005 version of

Melodifestivalen Melodifestivalen (; literally "the Melody Festival") is an annual song competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television (SVT) and Sveriges Radio (SR). It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song ...

in Sweden in a bid to represent Sweden in the

2005 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the 50th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, following the country's victory at the with the song "Wild Dances" by Ruslana. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (E ...

that took place in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. In the Melodifestivalen competition, he reached Semi-final 2 which was held on 19 February 2005 in Tipshallen,

Växjö Växjö ( ) is a city and the seat of Växjö Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden. It had 70,489 inhabitants (2019) out of a municipal population of 95,995 (2021). It is the administrative, cultural, and industrial centre of Kronoberg County ...

and came 4th out of 8 in that phase as a result of televoting, was given a "second chance". In the "second chance round" held on 6 March 2005, held in Berns,

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, he took part wit 7 other contestants, namely Alcazar,

Linda Bengtzing Linda Birgitta Bengtzing (born 13 March 1974) is a Swedish pop singer famous for her participation in the fourth season of ''Fame Factory'' in Sweden and for her entries at Melodifestivalen 2005, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2014, 2016, 2020 and 2022. ...

Josefin Nilsson Monica Emma Josefin Nilsson, registered as ''Monica Emma Josefina Nilsson'' (22 March 1969 – 29 February 2016) was a Swedish singer and actress. Biography Born in När, Gotland, Josefin Nilsson was the daughter of revue artist and songwriter ...

, Na Na, LaGaylia, Mathias Holmgren and Katrina and the Nameless, he was unsuccessful in moving to the Finals round.

Martin Stenmarck Martin Olof Jon Stenmarck (born 3 October 1972) is a Swedish singer. He represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with the song "Las Vegas", finishing 19th with 30 points. Career In 2006, Stenmarck released his first single in Swe ...

went on to win the Melodifestivalen competition with his song "

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Track list

#"Roma" (3:00) #"Roma (extended Version)" (3:11)

Charts

Despite "Roma" not being successful in winning the bid to represent Sweden, the song became very popular with the Swedish public, and "Roma" was released on Sony/BMG and became a hit on

Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan (, lit. "the Sweden top list") is the Swedish national record chart, formerly known as Topplistan (1975–1997) and Hitlistan (1998–2007) and known by its current name since October 2007, based on sales data from the Swedish R ...

the official

Swedish Singles Chart Sverigetopplistan (, lit. "the Sweden top list") is the Swedish national record chart, formerly known as Topplistan (1975–1997) and Hitlistan (1998–2007) and known by its current name since October 2007, based on sales data from the Swedish R ...

, reaching #4 as its top position.

Spanish version

Cameron Cartio released a

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...

version of the song in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, a practice he would repeat with his follow-up song " Henna", a duo with Khaled, again partly in Cameron Cartio's constructed language, but released in Spain in a Spanish-language version.

References

{{Reflist 2005 songs Cameron Cartio songs Song recordings produced by Alex P Melodifestivalen songs of 2005 Sony BMG singles