Tinkara Kovač (born 3 September 1978) is a

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

n singer and

flautist The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

. She represented her country in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2014 The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 was the 59th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the with the song "Only Teardrops" by Emmelie de Forest. Organised by the European B ...

in Copenhagen, finishing in 25th place.

Career

Career in general

Her professional career as a singer started in 1997, when she won "Most promising singer award" at the Portorož festival. Her appearance was encouraged by known local composer Danilo Kocjančič, which together with lyrics writer Drago Mislej – Mef and Marino Legovič wrote the winning song and later the whole material for her first album. In 2004, at the time of her fourth concert in

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

's Cankar Centre, she invited

Ian Anderson Ian Scott Anderson (born 10 August 1947) is a British musician best known for being the chief vocalist, Flute, flautist, and acoustic guitarist of the British rock band Jethro Tull (band), Jethro Tull. He is a multi-instrumentalist who also p ...

(singer of the group Jethro Tull), which greatly contributed to her decision to start playing

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

. At Anderson's reverse invitation she participated as a guest during the band's tour in

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, Italy,

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and Germany. Later she sang also with

Robert Plant Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band Led Zeppelin from its founding in 1968 until their breakup in 1980. Since then, he has had a successful solo ca ...

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

and other musicians, like Carlos Núñez Muñoz, Dan Lavery, Massimo Bubola, Bungaro and Paul Millns. Her musical influences are U2,

KT Tunstall Kate Victoria "KT" Tunstall (born 23 June 1975) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and musician. She first gained attention with a 2004 live solo performance of her song "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" on ''Later... with Jools Holland'', and h ...

Imogen Heap Imogen Jennifer Jane Heap ( ; born 9 December 1977) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and entrepreneur. She is considered a pioneer in pop music, particularly electropop, and in music technology. While attending the ...

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

Coldplay Coldplay are a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer and percussionist Will Champion, and manager Phil Harvey (band m ...

and Jethro Tull.

Eurovision Song Contest

Kovač had made three previous attempts to represent Slovenia. In Slovenia's 1999 national final, she won the televote but finished second after the jury vote was given. She also finished fifth in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

and 10th in

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

. She later attempted to represent Slovenia in

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, and finished fourth in the national final. *

: ''Veter z juga'' (Danilo Kocjančič - Drago Mislej - Marino Legovič) – 10th (574 televotes) *

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

: ''Zakaj'' (Marino Legovič - Drago Mislej - Marino Legovič) – 2nd (62 points) *

: ''Sonce v očeh'' (Tinkara Kovač, Sergej Pobegajlo - Zvezdan Martič - Sergej Pobegajlo) – 4th (18 points) *

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

: ''Spet/Round and Round'' (Raay - Tinkara Kovač, Hannah Mancini, Tina Piš - Raay) – 1st (7.932 televotes) *

: ''Forever'' (Aleš Klinar - Anja Rupel - Miha Gorše) – 4th On 8 March 2014, Kovač was announced as the winner of Slovenian selection, EMA 2014 with her bilingual song " Spet/Round and Round" meaning she will represent Slovenia in the

in Copenhagen, Denmark. The song was written by Kovač, Raay, Tina Piš, and the Slovene representative in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013, Hannah Mancini. She managed to get into final evening and finished 25th out of 26.

Slovenian song festival 1998

She participated with the song "Moški in ženska" ("Man and Woman").

Singles

* 1993: "Odločitev" * 1995: "Moje flavte nežni zvok" * 1997: "Veter z juga" * 1997: "Ne odhaja poletje" * 1998: "Moški in ženska" * 1999: "Zakaj" * 2001: "Sonce v očeh" * 2003: "Reason Why" * 2005: "Spezzacuori" * 2009: "Če je to vse" * 2012: "Je to res" * 2013: "Mars in Venera" * 2014: "Spet" / "Round and Round" * 2014: "2X2" * 2014: "Cuori di ossigeno" * 2015: "Ocean" * 2015: "Canzone per te" / "Pesem zate" (with Perpetuum Jazzile) * 2020: "Forever"

Discography

* ''Ne odhaja poletje'' (1997) * ''Košček neba'' (1999) * ''Na robu kroga'' (2001) * ''O-range'' (2003) * ''Enigma'' (2004) * ''aQa'' (2007) * ''The Best of Tinkara'' (2009) * ''Rastemo'' (2012) * ''Zazibanke'' (2013) * ''Round and round/Spet'' (2014)

Personal life

Kovač achieved formal music education as a professor with a degree in

playing at the Giuseppe Tartini conservatory in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

. She lives near the

Karst Plateau The Karst Plateau or the Karst region (, ), also locally called Karst, is a karst plateau region extending across the border of southwestern Slovenia and northeastern Italy. It lies between the Vipava Valley, the low hills surrounding the val ...

together with her partner and two daughters. She is of partial Hungarian ancestry.Interview from a Hungarian portal (Mosaic Online)
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References

External links

Official web site

Tinkara Kovač on youtube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kovac, Tinkara Living people Musicians from Koper 1978 births 21st-century Slovenian women singers 20th-century Slovenian women singers Slovenian pop singers Slovenian women pop singers Slovenian flautists Slovenian women flautists Slovenian people of Hungarian descent Articles containing video clips 20th-century flautists 21st-century flautists Eurovision Song Contest entrants