FYRomantic guy from Macedonia

The Macedonians seem to take ESC rather seriously, and we suppose it’s a nice opportunity to celebrate and display their national identity. Because of the name dispute with the Greek, we have to call them FYR Macedonia, needless to say that FYROM has not received many points from their Greek neighbours since their debut in 1998. Still, with a little help from their friends, they have managed to qualify for the final every year, but was twice unlucky in 2008 and 2009 after having finished 10th in the televoting, when the jury gave their wildcards to Sweden and Finland.

We find ourselves being a little indifferent towards FYR Macedonia’s entry this year. It's not good, it's not bad, there's just nothing there to really catch our attention. If this is what the Macedonians want to share with Europe, we simply think that we don’t share the same taste in music. To us it sounds outdated, and quite frankly like a bit of a mess. Within less than 3 minutes we get a pale Macedonian version of Bruce Springsteen or Eros Ramazotti (can't quite make up our minds), mixed with some ridiculously bad rapping and a horrible puddle rock guitar solo. What’s that all about? We just don’t get it.

Perhaps this is the kind of music that really catches on in more southern parts of Europe, perhaps you will hear Gjoko’s voice on the radio in a bar in Split or Ljubljana during your summer holiday this year. Perhaps you will grow to like it then, in a different setting, listening to it with a different mindset.

At the end of the day we must admit that we understand why the jury has kicked the Macedonians out of the final twice, in favour of our Nordic neighbours. We do however predict that it will not happen again for the third time this year. This year’s entry will not even come close to finishing among the 10 qualifiers in semi-final 1.