Serbia calling Lobster Phone Ringing at Eurovision

After last year’s victory of Konstrakta at the Pesma za Evroviziju and her 5th position at the Eurovision Song Contest final in Italy, all eyes of the Serbian public were focused on this year’s national festival, where as many as 16 participants competed in the grand final.

One thing was noticeable: many new, young artists showed considerable courage, talent, and attitude that many popular singers in our region do not have. As every year, a couple of favorites were singled out, which were also discussed a lot in the media days before the final itself, but no one could predict with certainty who would be the representative of our country at the competition in Liverpool this year.

The winner was chosen by the expert jury, giving 50% of the votes, while the other half of the votes came from the audience. After an unusual vote by the jury, the votes of the audience decided that the successor of Konstrakta at this year’s Eurovision would be Luke Black with the song Samo mi se spava (I only want to sleep).

Young musician Luka Ivanović, better known as Luke Black, has been in the music industry since 2012 and has released three EPs during this time. Interesting fact is that he was shortlisted in 2016 to possibly represent Serbia at Eurovision but didn’t end up doing so.

As the title of the song suggests, Luka wanted to show with his message and performance that, unfortunately, in a world full of bad things and troubles, people choose to close their eyes and sleep through what is happening, also alluding to the coronavirus pandemic, during which the artist wrote this song.

It seems that last year’s victory of the song In Corpore Sano by Konstrakta encouraged many artists in Serbia to take a new direction in music and to express criticism towards the state of society we live in today, which you have to admit is extremely brave, especially when the comfort zone, more conceptual and different from the bad musical taste that has unfortunately become mainstream.

Can Luke Black repeat last year’s success?

First of all, it is important to point out that as much as some circles in Serbia say that Eurovision is an irrelevant competition that brings nothing to our country, in reality it is not so.

KONSTRAKTA ENCOURAGED MANY ARTISTS IN SERBIA TO TAKE A NEW DIRECTION IN MUSIC AND TO EXPRESS CRITICISM TOWARDS THE STATE OF SOCIETY WE LIVE IN TODAY it comes from the younger generations who seem bolder and ready to fight for their rights and vision.

After the victory, Luke Black expectedly faced criticism from the Serbian media and certain public figures who assessed his performance as satanic, as something that cannot represent “Orthodox traditional Serbia” at any cost. Konstrakta received similar condemnations last year, but what is commendable is that despite all that, Serbia showed that it still appreciates something that is outside

The very fact that the previous final of this competition in Turin was watched by as many as 2.5 million people in front of TV screens in Serbia, shows that people are interested in this kind of show and that those patriotic emotions are still triggered on the night of Eurovision when we show the desire in each of us to achieve the best possible placement and for Europe to hear the Serbian language.

Serbia has enjoyed success in the Contest since its debut; it has only failed to qualify to the

Grand Final 3 times, missing out on a spot in the Grand Final by a small margin on each occasion and when Serbia won the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest, it became only the second country to win the competition with a debut entry since Switzerland’s victory at the very first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956.

After a few years of poor success in the grand final, Konstrakta managed to enter the top 5 last year, after which the public in Serbia welcomed her as a true winner and as someone who additionally regained interest in the grand competition.

The song Samo mi se spava is quite conceptual, as was the performance that accompanied the song at this year’s national festival, so it is possible that a certain group of expert judges at Eurovision will not like it, bearing in mind that they prefer classic pop compositions that have a certain structure and big vocal moments.

What is new this year is that in the semi-final evenings, only the votes of the audience decide who will pass to the Grand Final, and taking into account the reactions of fans from abroad, the Serbian representative has a great chance of repeating last year’s success.

There is still a little time left until the month of May when the 67th Eurovision Song Contest takes place. In the meantime, Luke Black announced a surprise performance in Liverpool that will surely generate interest in Europe and show that a country like Serbia has something to show and send a strong powerful message that we should wake up and let our voice be heard.

Lost Architecture

A solo exhibition by Stefan Petronijević

THE STEPENIŠTE GALLERY, BELGRADE

This series of paintings, drawings, and collages present memories and notes about a “pearl” of modern architecture in Kneza Miloša Street. The building of the German Embassy in Belgrade, designed by architect Bogdan Ignjatović, was built in 1979. This is the author who had a lot of significant and representative buildings of Belgrade at the time behind him, such as Hotel Slavija, on the square of the same name, the Executive Council of Serbia in Nemanja Street, and the Gallery of frescoes. The German embassy is one of the examples of unfortunate practices in the field of protecting Serbia’s modernist architectural heritage and misunderstanding its cultural heritage. During his studies in Belgrade, the author used to walk through Kneza Miloša street almost every day, next to the embassy building, and was a silent observer of its disappearance. For this reason, he had the need to record what he saw in his waywith pictures and drawings that testify to the closedness, absence of life, and disappearance. The exhibition is open to visitors every day until April 3, 2023. (including weekends) from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

22 APRIL 2023

BELGRADE SPRING 2023 FESTIVAL

The tradition of holding the prestigious entertainment and pop music festival “BELGRADE SPRING” continues. The festival will be held on April 22 at the site of the former Hall of Dom Sindikata, which is today known as MTS Dvorana. The well-known music festival, which after a long series of years, was renewed in 2022, in the place where it was born, will be held in the organization of Mts Dvorana.

21 APRIL 2023

Big return of Eros Ramazzotti

Italian pop-rock musician, singer, and songwriter, Eros Ramazzotti, marks his great return with his new album “BATTITO INFINITO”, the world tour of the same name, and a grand concert on April 21, 2023. from 9 PM in the Stark Arena. An amazing adventure, a world tour called “BATTITO INFINITO” will take place from September 2022 to May 2023, and the maestro Eros Ramazzotti will visit many cities around the world and embark on a real musical journey with his army of fans.

The Belgrade Philharmonic’s On the right track

The Belgrade Philharmonic’s concert season “On the Right Track” takes the audience on a promenade through different parts of the world. The orchestra is moving around the world through 25 concerts, accompanied by the best international soloists and conductors, with each concert carrying the name of a city. Each concert takes place in Kolarac Concert Hall.

07 APRIL 2023

Beijing

The program conducted by Daniel Raiskin called Beijing opens with the latest work by the Chinese-American composer Tan Dun, Three Muses in Video Game. This concerto for trombone and orchestra, inspired by the sounds of Chinese instruments, was premiered in November of 2021 by Jörgen van Rijen. The second part of the concert will feature Song of the Earth, described as Mahler’s “greatest symphony” – an orchestral song cycle for two voices and orchestra.

21 APRIL 2023

Buenos Aires

After several cancellations of the most famous accordion ambassador, Ksenija Sidorova, the audience will finally hear her performing Piazzolla’s Aconcagua concerto. Nil Venditti also gives the feminine stamp, a young Turkish-Italian conductor with the suite by Manuel de Falla El amor brujo, as well as Argentine works, Libertango by Piazzolla and Dances from Estancia by A. Ginastera.