Macedonia was represented at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2006 The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was the 51st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Athens, Greece, following the country's victory at the with the song "My Number One" by Helena Paparizou. Organised by the European Broadcas ...

with the song "Ninanajna" , composed by

Darko Dimitrov Darko Dimitrov ( ; born 21 January 1973) is a Macedonian songwriter, record producer, arranger and record executive. Highly acclaimed for revitalising the Yugoslav mainstream pop music scene, which also influenced the surrounding Balkan countries ...

, with lyrics by

Rade Vrčakovski Rade may refer to: * Rade people The Rhade or Êđê (Rade language: ''Rang De'') are an indigenous Austronesian peoples, Austronesian ethnic group of southern Vietnam (population 398,671 in 2019). Etymology The term ''Rhade'' is an old French ...

, and performed by

Elena Risteska Elena Risteska (, ; born 27 April 1986), sometimes known as simply Elena, is a Macedonian singer. She represented Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens with the song " Ninanajna", and finished in 12th place; this was the highes ...

. The Macedonian participating broadcaster,

Macedonian Radio Television Macedonian Radio Television (), or MRT () for short, is the public broadcasting organisation of North Macedonia. It was founded in 1993 by the Assembly of North Macedonia, Macedonian Assembly. Its legally defined service is the production and ...

(MRT), organised the national final in order to select its entry for the contest. Twenty entries competed in the competition on 4 March 2006 where "Ninanajna" performed by Elena Risteska was selected exclusively by a public televote, receiving 6,999 votes. Macedonia competed in the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 18 May 2006. Performing during the show in position 11, "Ninanajna" was announced among the top 10 entries of the semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 20 May. It was later revealed that Macedonia placed tenth out of the 23 participating countries in the semi-final with 76 points. In the final, Macedonia performed in position 11 and placed twelfth out of the 24 participating countries, scoring 56 points.

Background

Prior to the 2006 contest,

(MRT) had participated in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

representing Macedonia five times since its first entry in . Its best result in the contest to this point was fourteenth, achieved with the song "

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

" performed by

Toše Proeski Todor "Toše" Proeski (, ; 25 January 1981 – 16 October 2007) was a Macedonian singer and songwriter. Considered a top act of the local Music of North Macedonia, Macedonian and Balkan music, Balkan music scene, Proeski's music was popular acro ...

. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the , it had featured in every final. As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, MRT organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. The broadcaster had previously selected their entry for the contest through both national finals and internal selections. MRT confirmed its intentions to participate at the 2006 contest on 20 December 2005. Since 1996, the broadcaster selected its entries using a national final, a procedure that continued for its 2006 entry.

Before Eurovision

("Special Eurovision Day") was the national final organised by MRT to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. Twenty entries participated in the competition which took place on 4 March 2006 at Studios 2 and 3 of MRT in

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

, hosted by Biljana Dragičević and Zoran Ljutkov and was broadcast on MTV 1 and MTV Sat.

Competing entries

A submission period was opened for interested artists and composers to submit their songs between 20 December 2005 and 15 January 2006. MRT received 51 submissions at the closing of the deadline and twenty entries were selected by a four-member committee consisting of

Ilija Pejovski Ilija Pejovski (Macedonian: Илија Пејовски) (born 1947) is a Macedonian composer, arranger and pianist. One of the Macedonian composers who began to treat jazz professionally and evolve the genre of Macedonian Jazz, Twenty entries competed and public televoting exclusively selected "Ninanajna" performed by

as the winner. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the competition featured a guest performance by the Rebis Ballet Studio.

Promotion

Elena Risteska specifically promoted "Ninanajna" as the Macedonian Eurovision entry on 11 March 2006 by performing the song during the Serbian-Montenegrin Eurovision national final '.

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country, the " Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) and the ten highest placed finishers in the are required to qualify from the semi-final on 18 May 2006 in order to compete for the final on 20 May 2006; the top ten countries from the semi-final progress to the final. On 21 March 2006, a special allocation draw was held which determined the running order for the semi-final and Macedonia was set to perform in position 11, following the entry from and before the entry from . At the end of the show, Macedonia was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. It was later revealed that Macedonia placed tenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 76 points. The draw for the running order for the final was done by the presenters during the announcement of the ten qualifying countries during the semi-final and Macedonia was drawn to perform in position 11, following the entry from and before the entry from . Macedonia placed twelfth in the final, scoring 56 points. The semi-final and final were broadcast in Macedonia on MTV 1 and MTV Sat with commentary by Karolina Petkovska. MRT appointed

Martin Vučić Martin Vučić (, sr-Cyrl, Мартин Вучић) is a Macedonian pop musician. Biography He finished elementary school in Skopje and expressed his interests in music at an early age. He started playing drums at the age of 3 and at the age ...

(who represented ) as its spokesperson to announce the Macedonian votes during the final.

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Macedonia and awarded by Macedonia in the semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to in the semi-final and to in the final of the contest.

Points awarded to Macedonia

Points awarded by Macedonia

Notes

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 2006

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Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster submits an origina ...