Slovenia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1999 with the song "For a Thousand Years", written by Sašo Fajon and Primož Peterca, and performed by Darja Švajger. The Slovene participating broadcaster, (RTVSLO), held the national final 1999 in order to select its entry for the contest. Švajger had previously represented .
17 entries competed in the national final where "" performed by Darja Švajger was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from a four-member jury panel and a public televote. The song was later translated from Slovene to English for Eurovision and was titled "For a Thousand Years" .
Slovenia competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 29 May 1999. Performing during the show in position 6, Slovenia placed eleventh out of the 23 participating countries, scoring 50 points.
Background
Prior to the 1999 contest, (RTVSLO) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Slovenia five times since its first entry . Its highest placing in the contest, to this point, has been seventh place, achieved in with the song "" performed by Darja Švajger. Its only other top ten result was achieved when "" performed by Tanja Ribič placed tenth. In , "" performed by Vili Resnik placed eighteenth.
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, RTVSLO organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. The broadcaster has traditionally selected its entry through a national final entitled (EMA), which has been produced with variable formats. For 1999, RTVSLO opted to organise 1999 (EMA 1999) to select its entry.
Before Eurovision 1999
1999 (EMA 1999) was the fifth edition of the national final format (EMA). The competition was used by RTVSLO to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1999 and took place on 26 February 1999 at its Studio 1 in Ljubljana. The show was hosted by Mojca Mavec and was broadcast on TV SLO 1.
Format Seventeen songs competed in a televised show where the combination of points from a four-member expert jury and a public televote selected the winner. Each member of the expert jury assigned scores as follows: 1–8, 10 and 12, while the public televote assigned scores which had a weighting equal to the votes of two jurors. The song that received the highest score when the votes were combined was determined the winner.
Competing entries An expert committee consisting of Miša Molk (Head of Entertainment and Sports at RTVSLO), Mojmir Sepe (conductor and composer) and Andrej Karoli (music editor for Radio Slovenija) selected seventeen artists and songs for the competition from 71 received submissions. Among the competing artists was former Slovenian Eurovision entrant Darja Švajger who represented .
Artist Song Songwriter(s) Avia Band "Ne izdajte me" Matjaž Vlašič, Urša Vlašič Babilon "Kot ocean" Marijan Merljak, Dada Kladnik, Sebastjan ArtičDarja Švajger"Še tisoč let"Primož Peterca Gianni Rijavec and Vladimir Čadež "Ljubezen je le ena" Gianni Rijavec, Miša Čermak Irena, Damjana and Sanja "Igra je končana" Karel Novak, Janez Zmazek Jan Plestenjak "Moja dežela" Jan Plestenjak Kantor "Drugačen dan" Mark Lemer, Tone Košmrlj Lara Baruca "Ti si se bal" Danilo Kocjančič, Drago Mislej Matjaž Zupan and Californija "Tisoč kilometrov" Matjaž Zupan Mitja "Čas je da najdem te" Aleš Berkopec, Mitja Šedlbauer Monika Tratnik "Sanje" Nenad Kokovič, Igor Misdaris Nude "Ši'z d bes" Gaber Marolt, Primož Pogelšek Nuša Derenda "Nekaj lepega je v meni" Matija Oražem, Damjana Kenda Hussu Sound Attack "Kje si zdaj" Simon Šurev, Pika Božič Tatjana Mihelj "Dlan okrog srca" Bor Zuljan, Marjan Kukovec Tinkara Kovač "Zakaj" Marino Legovič, Drago Mislej Victory "Le povejte ji" Martin Štibernik, Karmen Stavec
Final
EMA 1999 took place on 26 February 1999. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Marc Roberts, who represented , performed as a guest. The combination of points from a four-member jury panel (2/3) and a public televote (1/3) selected "" performed by Darja Švajger as the winner. The jury consisted of Roberts, Miša Molk (Head of Entertainment and Sports at RTVSLO), Mojmir Sepe (conductor and composer) and Andrej Karoli (music editor for Radio Slovenija).
+ Final – 26 February 1999 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place Votes Points 1 Mitja "Čas je da najdem te" 15 7 1,161 0 22 5 2 Tatjana Mihelj "Dlan okrog srca" 0 1 344 0 1 17 3 Monika Tratnik "Sanje" 3 0 835 0 3 16 4 Matjaž Zupan and Californija "Tisoč kilometrov" 4 0 1,308 2 6 15 5 Kantor "Drugačen dan" 2 5 760 0 7 13 6 Victory "Le povejte ji" 8 0 4,108 10 18 9 7 Irena, Damjana and Sanja "Igra je končana" 14 0 3,396 8 22 5 8 Lara Baruca "Ti si se bal" 22 0 682 0 22 5 9 Sound Attack "Kje si zdaj" 0 4 1,700 6 10 11 10 Darja Švajger "Še tisoč let" 32 12 8,465 20 64 1 11 Avia Band "Ne izdajte me" 10 0 4,493 14 24 4 12 Nuša Derenda "Nekaj lepega je v meni" 7 3 751 0 10 11 13 Nude "Ši'z d bes" 3 0 1,431 4 7 13 14 Babilon "Kot ocean" 5 6 983 0 11 10 15 Tinkara Kovač "Zakaj" 30 8 8,682 24 62 2 16 Gianni Rijavec and Vladimir Čadež "Ljubezen je le ena" 3 2 6,777 16 21 8 17 Jan Plestenjak "Moja dežela" 16 10 4,340 12 38 3
At Eurovision Slovenia performed in position 6, following the entry from the and before the entry from . At the contest, Darja Švajger performed the English version of "", titled "For a Thousand Years". Slovenia finished in eleventh place with 50 points.
The show was televised in Slovenia on RTV SLO1.
Voting Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Slovenia and awarded by Slovenia in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to in the contest.
RTVSLO appointed Mira Berginc as its spokesperson to announce the Slovenian votes during the show.
+ Points awarded to Slovenia Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
+ Points awarded by Slovenia Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
References