Serbia: Sanja Ilić & Balkanika – Nova deca

Shi: Let me be honest. I love ethno music in Eurovision. Throughout my many years as a fan, I have been forgiving to many up-tempo ethno tracks from different genres and with different levels of quality. Add a beat and an ethnic instrument from any region east of Italy and I’m yours. I didn’t mind “Make My Day” back in 2005, I have a soft spot in my heart for the instrumental sections of “The Balkan Girls”, and to this day I mourn that Albania didn’t make it to the final in 2006. Now, with that in mind, let’s progress to my thoughts about this year’s Serbian entry.

WHAT IS THIS NONSENSE???

It’s like they came up with demos for 12 different ethno songs, all bad, and figured that if they put a little bit of each song in the mix and rotate it around, maybe no segment will last long enough for people to realize it’s horrendous. A little part of me wants to believe that this is actually a very clever parody of every ethnic entry in Eurovision ever, but the entire performance takes itself way too seriously for me to consider buying that. Not for the first time in this line-up check series, I find myself saying: Hvala, ne.

Felix: H. O. R. R. I. B. L. E. – do I need to say more? Maybe just to add that this isn’t even my last place. *peers hard at the last 2 words of Shi’s post*

Martin: Oh gosh, I actually really want to like this – it’s a stalwart of the Serbian music industry trying to bring a kind of updated world music to the Eurovision scene, and in principle that’s something to be commended. But the whole thing is basically a good idea in desperate search of a song.

video and title image source: eurovision.tv