Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

participated in the

Eurovision Song Contest 1999 The Eurovision Song Contest 1999 was the 44th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 29 May 1999 at the International Convention Center (Jerusalem), International Convention Centre in Jerusalem, Israel. Organised by the European Broadca ...

with the song "For a Thousand Years" written by Sašo Fajon and Primož Peterca. The song was performed by

Darja Švajger Darja Švajger (born 16 June 1965 in Maribor, SR Slovenia, SFR Yugoslavia) is one of Slovenia's most popular singers, perhaps best known internationally for having represented her country in the Eurovision Song Contest on two occasions. Early l ...

, who had previously represented Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

where she placed seventh with the song "

Prisluhni mi Slovenia was represented by Darja Švajger with the song "Prisluhni mi" in the Eurovision Song Contest 1995. Before Eurovision Slovenski izbor za pesem Evrovizije 1995 Slovenski izbor za pesem Evrovizije 1995 took place on 18 February 1995 ...

". Slovenian broadcaster

Radiotelevizija Slovenija Radiotelevizija Slovenija ( en, Radio-Television of Slovenia) – usually abbreviated to RTV Slovenija (or simply RTV within Slovenia) – is Slovenia's national public broadcasting organization. Based in Ljubljana, it has regional broadcastin ...

(RTV Slovenija) organised the national final ''EMA 1999'' in order to select the Slovenian entry for the 1999 contest in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, Israel. 17 entries competed in the national final where "Se tisoc let" performed by Darja Švajger was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from a four-member jury panel and a public televote. The song was later translated from Slovene to English for the Eurovision Song Contest and was titled "For a Thousand Years" . Slovenia competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 29 May 1999. Performing during the show in position 6, Slovenia placed eleventh out of the 23 participating countries, scoring 50 points.

Background

Prior to the 1999 contest, Slovenia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest five times since its first entry in . Slovenia's highest placing in the contest, to this point, has been seventh place, which the nation achieved in

with the song "Prisluhni mi" performed by

. The country's only other top ten result was achieved in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

when

Tanja Ribič Tanja Ribič (born 28 June 1968) is a Slovenian actress and singer. Biography Ribič graduated from the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television in Ljubljana. She has been a member of Ljubljana City Theatre since 1992. She represented ...

performing "Zbudi se" placed tenth. In

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, "Naj bogovi slišijo" performed by

Vili Resnik Vili Resnik (born November 27, 1963) is a Slovenian rock singer and guitarist. Biography Since his youth he was active in various sorts of bands as a guitarist and singer. He also learned to play violin at school. From 1990 to 1995 he was the ...

placed eighteenth. The Slovenian national broadcaster,

(RTV Slovenija), broadcasts the event within Slovenia and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. The Slovenian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest has traditionally been selected through a national final entitled '' Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA)'', which has been produced with variable formats. For 1999, the broadcaster opted to organise ''EMA 1999'' to select the Slovenian entry.

Before Eurovision

EMA 1999

''EMA 1999'' was the fifth edition of the Slovenian national final format '' Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA)''. The competition was used by RTV Slovenija to select Slovenia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1999 and took place on 26 February 1999 at the

RTV Slovenija Radiotelevizija Slovenija ( en, Radio-Television of Slovenia) – usually abbreviated to RTV Slovenija (or simply RTV within Slovenia) – is Slovenia's national public broadcasting organization. Based in Ljubljana, it has regional broadcastin ...

Studio 1 in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the a ...

. The show was hosted by Mojca Mavec and was broadcast on TV SLO1.

Format

Seventeen songs competed in a televised show where the combination of points from a four-member expert jury and a public televote selected the winner. Each member of the expert jury assigned scores as follows: 1–8, 10 and 12, while the public televote assigned scores which had a weighting equal to the votes of two jurors. The song that received the highest score when the votes were combined was determined the winner.

Competing entries

An expert committee consisting of

Miša Molk Miša Molk (born 6 September 1954) is a Slovenian journalist and television personality. Her professional career has always been tied to the television business and RTV Slovenija. Career Born in Vrhnika, Molk graduated from the Ljubljana Facu ...

(Head of Entertainment and Sports at RTV Slovenija),

Mojmir Sepe Mojmir Sepe (11 July 1930 – 24 December 2020), nicknamed ''Mojzes'', was a Slovenian composer, conductor, arranger and trumpeter. Career In 1949, he graduated from Celje First Grammar School ( gymnasium) in Celje. Later he studied piano an ...

(conductor and composer) and Andrej Karoli (music editor for

Radio Slovenija Radiotelevizija Slovenija ( en, Radio-Television of Slovenia) – usually abbreviated to RTV Slovenija (or simply RTV within Slovenia) – is Slovenia's national public broadcasting organization. Based in Ljubljana, it has regional broadcastin ...

) selected seventeen artists and songs for the competition from 71 received submissions. Among the competing artists was former Slovenian Eurovision contestant

who represented Slovenia in

Final

EMA 1999 took place on 26 February 1999. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 1997 Irish Eurovision entrant Marc Roberts performed as a guest. The combination of points from a four-member jury panel (2/3) and a public televote (1/3) selected "Še tisoč let" performed by

as the winner. The jury consisted of Roberts,

(Head of Entertainment and Sports at RTV Slovenija),

(conductor and composer) and Andrej Karoli (music editor for

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the bottom seven countries in the

contest competed in the final on 29 May 1999. On 17 November 1998, an allocation draw was held which determined the running order and Slovenia was set to perform in position 6, following the entry from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and before the entry from

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. At the contest, Darja Švajger performed the English version of "Še tisoč let", titled "For a Thousand Years". Slovenia finished in eleventh place with 50 points. The show was televised in Slovenia on RTV SLO1. The Slovenian spokesperson, who announced the Slovenian votes during the show, was Mira Berginc.

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Slovenia and awarded by Slovenia in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Croatia in the contest.

References

External links

Slovene National Final 1999
{{Eurovision Song Contest 1999

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school s ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1999

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pri ...