The Melodije Istre i Kvarnera 2023 was the 53rd edition of the annual Melodije Istre i Kvarnera, a song contest held annually in multiple towns in the Istria and Primorje-Gorski Kotar counties of Croatia. The show was held between 19 and 24 June 2023, and presented by Lena Stojiljković and Borna Šmer. Andrej Baša served as the artistic director for the competition.
Format The 2023 edition of the Melodije Istre i Kvarnera festival had four host cities/munincipalities; Opatija, Rijeka, Barban and Krk. The four host cities would organize five nights with Krk hosting the last two shows with the grand final. The artistic director for the competition was Andrej Baša.
Each of the ticket holders for the live shows received a voting ballot where they could cast their votes for the main public's award. Each night, after all performances, the top 3 placed songs of the current show were revealed with the general ranking winner being announced on the last night in Krk.
On 27 March 2023, all competing entries and host cities were revealed. The main show consisted of 18 competing entries. 17 of them were sung in Croatian (mainly in the Chakavian dialect) and one entry had its lyrics in Italian.
Awards Additional to the main award, these awards were given out: Best New Artist Critic's Choice Čakavski Sabor Award for Best Lyrics "Nello Milotti" Award for Best Traditional Production Radio Istra Award for Best Song Production Radio Rijeka Award for Best Vocal Performance
Competing entries +Competing songs and artists, showing writers and results achieved Song, performing artist(s) and writer(s) Rank Other Melodije Istre i Kvarnera Awards "Suza s Kvarnera" – Voljen Grbac, Joso Butorac & klapa Tić 1 rowspan="3" "Ženske za feštu" – Tamara Brusić i ženska klapa Hreljin 2 "Pod ruku me ćapaj" – Nevia Rigutto & Duško Jeličić 3 "Bit ćeš se moje" – Božidarka Matija Čerina & ž.v.s. Luštrin —Critic's Choice winner "Guštan more" – Melanija — rowspan="1" "Istria mia" – Eleonora Dobrović & Luka Brgić —Best New Artist Critic's Choice second place "Kožna jaketa" – Kožne jakne — rowspan="3" "Kokodak" – ženska klapa Hreljin — "Kažuni" – Marinella — "Leta su pasala" – Katja Budimčić Sabljar —Radio Rijeka Award for Best Vocal Performance "Ja bin jopet bija njen" – Lado Bartoniček — rowspan="1" "Metal je ča!" – Po' metra crijeva —"Nello Milotti" Award for Best Traditional Song Production "Na vrh Učke" – Matej Plavček & Maja Miljavac — rowspan="2" "Na škaline" – Daniel Moscarda — "On ni doša" – Alen Vitasović —Radio Istra Award for Best Song Production Critic's Choice third place "Porat ud neba" – Erik Balija —Čakavski Sabor Award for Best Lyrics "Sad razumin" – Dino Guščić — rowspan="2" "Zavavik tu" – ženska klapa Vejanke —
Shows First night The first show was held in Opatija. + First night: 19 June 2023 Draw Artist Song Ballot vote ranking1ženska klapa Vejanke"Zavavik tu" —2Matej Plavček & Maja Miljavac"Na vrh Učke" —3Eleonora Dobrović & Luka Brgić"Istria mia" —4Katja Budimčić Sabljar"Leta su pasala" —5Dino Guščić"Sad razumin" —6Melanija"Guštan more" —7ženska klapa Hreljin"Kokodak" —8Božidarka Matija Čerina & ž.v.s. Luštrin"Bit ćeš se moje" —9Marinella"Kažuni" —10Kožne jakne"Kožna jaketa" —11Po' metra crijeva"Metal je ča!" —12Lado Bartoniček"Ja bin jopet bija njen" —13Alen Vitasović"On ni doša" —14Daniel Moscarda"Na škaline" —15Erik Balija"Porat ud neba" —16Nevia Rigutto & Duško Jeličić"Pod ruku me ćapaj" 117Voljen Grbac, Joso Butorac & klapa Tić"Suza s Kvarnera" 218Tamara Brusić i ženska klapa Hreljin"Ženske za feštu" 3
Second night The second show was held in Rijeka. + Second night: 20 June 2023 Draw Artist Song Ballot vote ranking Updated general ranking1Nevia Rigutto & Duško Jeličić"Pod ruku me ćapaj" — 22Voljen Grbac, Joso Butorac & klapa Tić"Suza s Kvarnera" 1 13Tamara Brusić i ženska klapa Hreljin"Ženske za feštu" 2 34Božidarka Matija Čerina & ž.v.s. Luštrin"Bit ćeš se moje" 3 —5Melanija"Guštan more" — —6Eleonora Dobrović & Luka Brgić"Istria mia" — —7Kožne jakne"Kožna jaketa" — —8ženska klapa Hreljin"Kokodak" — —9Marinella"Kažuni" — —10Katja Budimčić Sabljar"Leta su pasala" — —11Lado Bartoniček"Ja bin jopet bija njen" — —12Po' metra crijeva"Metal je ča!" — —13Matej Plavček & Maja Miljavac"Na vrh Učke" — —14Daniel Moscarda"Na škaline" — —15Alen Vitasović"On ni doša" — —16Erik Balija"Porat ud neba" — —17Dino Guščić"Sad razumin" — —18ženska klapa Vejanke"Zavavik tu" — —
Third night The third night was held in Barban. + Third night: 21 June 2023 Draw Artist Song Ballot vote ranking Updated general ranking1Voljen Grbac, Joso Butorac & klapa Tić"Suza s Kvarnera" — 22Tamara Brusić i ženska klapa Hreljin"Ženske za feštu" 1 13Božidarka Matija Čerina & ž.v.s. Luštrin"Bit ćeš se moje" — —4Melanija"Guštan more" — —5Eleonora Dobrović & Luka Brgić"Istria mia" 3 —6Kožne jakne"Kožna jaketa" — —7ženska klapa Hreljin"Kokodak" — —8Marinella"Kažuni" — —9Katja Budimčić Sabljar"Leta su pasala" — —10Lado Bartoniček"Ja bin jopet bija njen" — —11Po' metra crijeva"Metal je ča!" — —12Matej Plavček & Maja Miljavac"Na vrh Učke" — —13Daniel Moscarda"Na škaline" — —14Alen Vitasović"On ni doša" 2 —15Erik Balija"Porat ud neba" — —16Nevia Rigutto & Duško Jeličić"Pod ruku me ćapaj" — 317Dino Guščić"Sad razumin" — —18ženska klapa Vejanke"Zavavik tu" — —
Fourth night The fourth night was held in Krk. It served as a main dress rehearsal prior to the final thus no voting occurred. + Fourth night: 23 June 2023 Draw Artist Song1Tamara Brusić i ženska klapa Hreljin"Ženske za feštu"2Alen Vitasović"On ni doša"3Eleonora Dobrović & Luka Brgić"Istria mia"4Božidarka Matija Čerina & ž.v.s. Luštrin"Bit ćeš se moje"5Melanija"Guštan more"6Kožne jakne"Kožna jaketa"7ženska klapa Hreljin"Kokodak"8Marinella"Kažuni"9Katja Budimčić Sabljar"Leta su pasala"10Lado Bartoniček"Ja bin jopet bija njen"11Po' metra crijeva"Metal je ča!"12Matej Plavček & Maja Miljavac"Na vrh Učke"13Daniel Moscarda"Na škaline"14Erik Balija"Porat ud neba"15Nevia Rigutto & Duško Jeličić"Pod ruku me ćapaj"16Dino Guščić"Sad razumin"17Voljen Grbac, Joso Butorac & klapa Tić"Suza s Kvarnera"18ženska klapa Vejanke"Zavavik tu"
Fifth night The fifth and final night was held in Krk. + Fifth night: 24 June 2023 Draw Artist Song Ballot vote ranking Final general ranking1ženska klapa Vejanke"Zavavik tu" 2 —2Matej Plavček & Maja Miljavac"Na vrh Učke" — —3Kožne jakne"Kožna jaketa" — —4Eleonora Dobrović & Luka Brgić"Istria mia" — —5Dino Guščić"Sad razumin" — —6Marinella"Kažuni" — —7Nevia Rigutto & Duško Jeličić"Pod ruku me ćapaj" — 38Lado Bartoniček"Ja bin jopet bija njen" — —9ženska klapa Hreljin"Kokodak" — —10Božidarka Matija Čerina & ž.v.s. Luštrin"Bit ćeš se moje" — —11Melanija"Guštan more" — —12Daniel Moscarda"Na škaline" — —13Po' metra crijeva"Metal je ča!" — —14Katja Budimčić Sabljar"Leta su pasala" — —15Erik Balija"Porat ud neba" — —16Tamara Brusić i ženska klapa Hreljin"Ženske za feštu" 3 217Alen Vitasović"On ni doša" — —18Voljen Grbac, Joso Butorac & klapa Tić"Suza s Kvarnera" 1 1
Special guests The special guests of Melodije Istre i Kvarnera 2023 included:
Singers / musicians: Gianluca Draguzet, Damir Kedžo, Vesna Nežić-Ružić, Sergio Pavat, Danijel Rubeša, Mauro Staraj, Nikolina Tomljanović
Official album Melodije Istre i Kvarnera 2023. is the official compilation album of the contest. It was released by Melody Records in CD format on 9 June 2023. The album features studio versions of all 18 entries.
The album debuted at number 33 on the Croatiand Albums Chart issued weekly by Top lista. It charted for a total of two weeks making it the festival's first compilation album to chart.
+Weekly chart performance for Melodije Istre i Kvarnera 2023 Chart (2023) PeakpositionCroatian Domestic Albums (Top lista)33
References