Beovizija 2008


Beovizija 2008 was the 6th Beovizija music festival. The semi-finals were to be held on February 19, 2008 while the finals were to be held a day later. However, due to unilateral declaration of independence of its southern province Kosovo, the festival was delayed until March 9 when the semi-finals took place and the finals which took place on March 10. The winner of this Beovizija represented Serbia in the grand final of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest on May 24, 2008, at the Belgrade Arena in Belgrade, Serbia

Format and winner

The same format set by Radio Television of Serbia in Beovizija 2007 took place in 2008. The deadline for the submission of songs by artist to the national broadcaster was on December 15, 2007. One of the requirements for entry was that the songs must be performed in Serbian, however, the winning song can be sung in any language for Eurovision. On December 24, 2007, 20 semi-finalists were selected by a group of RTS judges: Ana Milićević, Anja Rogljić, Zoran Dašić, Nikoleta Dojčinović, Jelena Vlahović, Bilja Krstić and Miki Stanojević.
The semi-finalists performed on March 9, 2008. Via public televoting and a 3 team judging panel the scores were combined and the 10 highest ranking songs preceded to the finals. These were songs Oro, Zavet, Kvar, Iznad nas, Dunav, Beli jablan, Da si tu, Sada ili nikada, Čudesni svetovi and Čućemo, čućete. The same voting procedure occurred on the finals night, March 10, 2008, where a winning song was chosen - Oro.
For the first time there were 2 host couples hosting the show.

Interval acts

The 2008 Beovizija semi-finals interval act included singers Stefan Filipović representing Montenegro, Rebeka Dremelj representing Slovenia, Kraljevi Ulice and 75 cents representing Croatia, Tamara, Vrčak and Adrian Gaxha representing the Republic of Macedonia, Elvir Laković Laka representing Bosnia and Herzegovina and Isis Gee representing Poland. The tragically deceased singer Toše Proeski received a lifetime achievement award. There was also a special tribute to him. Proeski was the winner of the first ever Beovizija in 2003.
In the finals interval act the Serbian music industry awards were handed out.

Stage

Beovizija is known to have one of the best stage designs in the national selection process for Eurovision. This year the stage symbolised the host city of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest - Belgrade. The stage represented a large public city square and a large amount of special effects and lighting were used to make the stage more attractive to the public.

Host couple

RTS as the host broadcaster of the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 aired a show called Evropsko lice. Through a team of expert judges and televoters each week couples battled for a chance to be the hosts of Beovizija 2008. They also have a chance to become the green room hosts at the Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade. Every week a couple was voted out based on public voting.
It was decided that there will be two host couples at Beovizija, both hosting over two nights. The winners of European face are Nina Radulović and Đorđe Maričić and Kristina Radenković and Branislav Katić. Kristina Radenković and Branislav Katić was the couple voted through to co-host the semi-final and final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade with Jovana Janković and Željko Joksimović. They were voted via public tele-vote. During both the semi-final and final the couples sang songs dedicated to the Eurovision host city Belgrade.

Results

Semi-final

The semi-finals were held on March 9, 2008 starting at 21:00. Songs that qualified for the final are in bold. The jury was composed of Vladimir Marićić, jazz pianist and composer; Katarina Gojković, actress; and Aleksander Peković, director of music production, RTS.

Final

The following are songs that competed in the final on March 10, 2008 aired at 21.00CET on RTS1, RTS SAT, RTRS, rts.rs and eurovision.tv.