Slovakia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009
Slovakia returned to the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 after an 11-year absence in the Eurovision Song Contest.
After withdrawing from the Eurovision Song Contest after three poor results from 1994 to 1998, Slovenská Televízia was reluctant to return to the contest due to budget problems in the broadcaster, however, after 11 years, Slovakia returned to the contest in Moscow. The program director of STV stated that pressure from local artists was the driving force behind the country's return.
The fourth Slovak entry at Eurovision was chosen through a national final, held between 15 February and 8 March 2009. the final winner was Kamil Mikulčík and Nela Pocisková with "Leť tmou".
Before Eurovision
Eurosong 2009
Eurosong 2009 was be the national final format developed by STV in order to select Slovakia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009.Format
The initial format of the competition consisted of four shows: three semi-finals on 15 February, 22 February and 1 March 2009 and a final. The three semi-finals each were to feature ten competing entries from which four were selected to advance to the final: three selected by a public vote and one selected by a jury panel from the remaining seven entries. This was later changed due to the high amount and quality of submissions received, with the competition consisting of six shows: five semi-finals on 15 February, 20 February, 22 February, 27 February and 1 March 2009, and a final on 8 March 2009. The five semi-finals each featured ten competing entries from which three were selected to advance to the final: two selected by a public vote and one selected by a jury panel from the remaining eight entries, completing the fifteen-song lineup in the final.The seven-member jury panel participated in each show and selected entries to advance in the competition. The jury consisted of:
- Laco Lučenič – musician and music producer
- Katarína Hasprová – 1998 Slovak Eurovision entrant
- Marcel Palonder – 1996 Slovak Eurovision entrant
- Anton Popovič – composer
- Mirka Brezovská – singer
- Dezider Kukoľ – editor at The News Agency of the Slovak Republic
- Lukáš Machala – STV representative
Competing entries
Semi-final 1
The first semi-final took place on 15 February 2009. Desmod & Lucia Nováková were allocated to perform in the first semi-final, however they did not due to an accident during rehearsals, and were reallocated to perform in the fifth semi-final instead. Three entries qualified to the final. The nine competing entries first faced a public televote where the top two songs advanced: "Prines si ten kľúč" performed by Andrea Zimányiová and "Môj anjel spí" performed by Robo Šimko & MassRiot. An additional qualifier was selected from the remaining seven entries by the jury: "Hviezdy" performed by VIP.Semi-final 2
The second semi-final took place on 20 February 2009. Three entries qualified to the final. The ten competing entries first faced a public televote where the top two songs advanced: "Búrka" performed by Mária Čírová and "Každý z nás" performed by Tomáš Bezdeda. An additional qualifier was selected from the remaining eight entries by the jury: "Ja sa mám" performed by Mukatado. "To čo chceš" performed by Samo Tomeček & Free Inna Cage were later announced as the jury wildcard after the conclusion of the last semi-final.Semi-final 3
The third semi-final was originally scheduled to take place on 22 February 2009, but was later postponed to 23 February 2009 due to a tragic accident in Bratislava a day before the scheduled date, which was declared a day of mourning in Slovakia and all entertainment shows were postponed or cancelled. Three entries qualified to the final. The ten competing entries first faced a public televote where the top two songs advanced: "Nebudem stáť" performed by Peter Bažík & Andrea Súlovská and "Prší" performed by Robo Opatovský. An additional qualifier was selected from the remaining eight entries by the jury: "7 nocí" performed by Komajota.Semi-final 4
The fourth semi-final took place on 27 February 2009. Three entries qualified to the final. The ten competing entries first faced a public televote where the top two songs advanced: "Taram ta rej" performed by Janais and "Krídla" performed by Martina Schindlerová. An additional qualifier was selected from the remaining eight entries by the jury: "Bolo bolo" performed by Zachariáš Hubáček.Semi-final 5
The fifth semi-final took place on 1 March 2009. Three entries qualified to the final. The ten competing entries first faced a public televote where the top two songs advanced: "Leť tmou" performed by Kamil Mikulčík & Nela Pocisková and "Posledná minúta" performed by Desmod & Lucia Nováková. An additional qualifier was selected from the remaining eight entries by the jury: "Proti prúdom" performed by Michal Chrenko. After the fifth semi-final, Desmod & Lucia Nováková withdrew from the final. As a result of this, "Na čom záleží" performed by Smola a hrušky advanced to the final instead.Final
The final took place on 8 March 2009. The winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, the top three entries were selected by a public televote to proceed to the second round, the superfinal: "Ja sa mám" performed by Mukatado, "Každý z nás" performed by Tomáš Bezdeda and "Leť tmou" performed by Kamil Mikulčík & Nela Pocisková. In the superfinal, the jury selected "Leť tmou" performed by Kamil Mikulčík & Nela Pocisková as the winners.In addition to the performances by the competing artists, guest performances included 2009 Azerbaijani Eurovision entrants AySel and Arash performing their entry "Always" and 2009 Czech Eurovision entrants Gipsy.cz performing their entry "Aven Romale".
At Eurovision
Since Slovakia was returning to the contest after an 11-year absence it had to compete in one of the two semi-finals. At the semi-final allocation draw on 30 January, it was decided that the country would compete in the second semi-final on 14 May 2009.Kamil and Nela performed for Slovakia 8th in the running order of the semi-final, following Cyprus and preceding Denmark, however they failed to qualify Slovakia to the final on 16 May, finishing second last with just eight points.