Country Macedonia Selected entrant Toše Proeski | Selection date(s) February 14, 2004 Selected song "Life" | |
Selection process Artist: Internal Selection
Song: National Final Semi-final result Qualified (10th, 71 points) | ||
The Republic of Macedonia was represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 by Tose Proeski and the song "Life". The Macedonian broadcaster decided to select the performer internally and to hold a competition to select the song.
Contents
National final
On February 14, the Macedonian national final took place at the Universal Hall in Skopje and hosted by Aneta Andonova & Karolina Petkovska. Tose Proeski sang all the songs and the winner was chosen by televoting (1/3), an "expert" jury (1/3) and Tose himself (1/3) - "Angel si ti" was the favourite with all three. The song was written by Jovan Jovanov, who also participated in the Macedonian National Final in 2007 and came fourth.
All eight songs from the final were recorded in Macedonian and appear on Proeski's album Den Za Nas. Six of the songs from the final were recorded in Serbian and appear on the Serbian version of the album entitled Dan za nas. All eight songs were recorded in English and a small sample of each of these were played after each song was performed at the national final, lasting approximately 40 seconds each. This was to give viewers an idea as to what the song would sound like in English. "Life" appears on both versions of the album as well as the official Eurovision Song Contest 2004 compilation album, however the full English versions of the other seven songs have yet to be released.
Tose Proeski also participated in 2000 Macedonian National Final and 1998 as well. In 2000, Tose Proeski won the televote (with about 38,000 votes) and XXL were 2nd (with about 30,000 votes). In 1998 he came eighth.
Proeski won Beovizija in Belgrade on April 2003, with a Serbian song entitled "Čija Si" ("To Whom Do You Belong?"), a song which became a huge hit in Macedonia and the other former Yugoslav republics. This song was due to represent Serbia and Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 but the EBU stated that too many countries wanted to enter in that year and so some would be forced to withdraw. Serbia and Montenegro (who participated as one country at the time) were one of them.
At Eurovision
At Eurovision, Proeski created an ethno sound on the Istanbul stage. The performance contained elaborate choreography and dancers who wore very little clothing. Tose was dressed in white, while the backing vocals were dressed in black. The performance contained attention grabbing shots, which placed Macedonia in the 14th position.