Serbia celebrates Eurovision victory

14/05/2007

Belgrade will host the 2008 Eurovision after Serbian singer Marija Serifovic won this year's song contest late Saturday, lifting spirits in her home country.

(Independent, The Guardian, Radio Netherlands - 14/05/07; AP, Reuters, AFP, Bloomberg, B92 - 13/05/07; BBC, Ireland Online, Official Eurovision website - 12/05/07)

Marija Serifovic (centre) of Serbia celebrates with her group after winning the finals in the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday (May 12th) in Helsinki, Finland. [Getty Images]

Some 30,000 Serbs gathered in the centre of Belgrade on Sunday evening (May 13th) to welcome home Marija Serifovic, the winner of the 2007 Eurovision song contest. The finale was held at Finland's Helsinki Arena the previous night.

"I won for Serbia, I won for all of you!" the 22-year-old singer said upon her return.

Serifovic secured her country's first award in the competition with the emotional ballad "Molitva" ("Prayer"), scoring 268 points in a 42-nation telephone vote count. Her win marked Serbia's Eurovision debut as an independent nation and entitled it to host the next Eurovision contest in May 2008.

"I'm so glad it wasn't some war song," Aleksandar Tijanic, the head of Serbia's RTS state television, said on Sunday. "Hosting this event in Belgrade next year will mean we have finally crossed into normality."

Serifovic won the award after eight nations, including all former Yugoslav republics, gave her the highest possible score of 12 points. Under the competition's rules, viewers can vote for performers from other countries, but not for those from their own.

The Serbian singer's victory over competitors from 23 other nations brought crowds into the streets of Belgrade late Saturday. Lawmakers, who were still debating the formation of a pro-reform government, interrupted their session to applaud the winner.

"Well done Marija! The whole of Serbia is proud tonight and celebrates, thanks to you," Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said in a letter to the singer.

President Boris Tadic and the heir to the Serbian throne, Prince Alexander, also greeted the winner.

"It has been a European vote for European Serbia," EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said, congratulating the country on its victory.

Serifovic also described her win as marking a new start for her country.

"I honestly think that a new chapter has opened in Serbia and not only in music," she said. "This victory is for the new Serbia."

The Eurovision contest, which has been held annually since 1956, has been dominated in the past by Western singers. This year, however, Eastern European performers took 14 of the top 16 spots in the final, watched by more than 100 million viewers.

Ukrainian drag queen Verka Serduchka, whose country won the 2004 Eurovision contest, finished second on Saturday. He won 235 points for his song, "Dancing Lasha Tumbai". The Russian trio Serebro came next with 207 points for their "Song No. 1".

Turkey's Kenan Dogulu was fourth, winning 163 points with "Shake It Up, Shekerim". Bulgarian drumming duo Elitsa Todorova and Stoyan Yankoulov came in fifth with 157 points for their folk-based piece, "Water".

Of the other Southeast European countries that went to the final, Greece finished seventh with a score of 139 points, four spots ahead of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which won 106 points. Romania and Macedonia took the 13th and 14th positions with 84 and 73 points, respectively.