FYR Macedonia – The Macedonian national broadcaster MKRTV announced tonight, that popular pop-diva Kaliopi will represent the Balkan country in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku. Kaliopi is one of the most recognisable names of the Balkan music scene and has received numerous awards. She is known for her strong voice and signature high-pitch scream.She was the Macedonian representative in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 but didn’t make it past the qualification round.
In 2005 she was selected as one of five artist who were going to compete in the national final. She finally withdrew as she did not agree with the rules of the competition. In 2009 she participated in the national final again. The song “Rum Dum Dum“, written by Kire Kostov, was performed in a duet with Macedonian folk singer Naum Petreski. The duet managed to win the second semi-final of the competition, securing a place in the final. Kaliopi and Naum Petreski overall ended up in 2nd place that year.
The song Kaliopi will sing for Macedonia will be selected in a televised national final to be held early next year. No information about the number of songs has been announced yet.
Here are some of Kaliopi’s songs:
One of her older songs and biggest hits Bato:
Her latest single “Ti“
I loooove Bato…!!! much better than Ti! I hope she goes back to her roots for the entry…
It is great that this fine singer finally gets her chance to represent Macedonia. I really liked her duet with Naum in the 2009 NF. If I remember correctly, the song was a tribute to Tose Proeski too:
thanks! I’ll add that
Good singer. I wonder if Croatia will go for internal also. I think from now on certain countries’ singers will have to cover the costs of going themselves.
Hopefully better times will come for Europe….
And better times here too. It seems almost every country’s a hot mess :p
Money is tight and you’re probably right. Luis. Macedonia’s choice is very promising. I love ‘Rum dum dum’ and the two other songs featured here are not bad at all. Good luck.
Aaaaaa “bato” not bad?? :O
Just “not bad”!
How you dare?!
I’m joking of course…but “Bato” is a legendary song of Yugoslavian music scene really!!
OMG, OMG, OMG the best singer from macedonia!! i ADORE her!!!!!
Her voice is MAGICAL! My friend also adore her so she will watch ESC next year with me! YAY!!! 
Just give her song like “Bato” and smth similar – had vocally! She can sing in English good too!
I loved “Rum dum dum” it was such a quality ethnic entry, but it won’t work in ESC, and i don’t wanna see my Kaliopi doing bad!
Couldn’t agree more! Bato is the kind of song I would love and the juries too!
* I meant vocally difficult!!
im really hopeful this is great news
Macedonia will join Bosnia and Serbia as the positive countries of the year, and oh my god, just like the 05-06 years, the return of the great Balkans? If only Croatia for once would be good
Macedonia is last on my 2005 list …
me last in 06 but i never liked macedonia except for karolina
I only like Karolina’s first attempt. 2007 is pretty boring imo. But I like MK 2004 a lot and absolutely adore MK 2008 (would be in my all-time top 50 if I had such a list). MK 2006 was abysmal but I think that Armenia and Belarus were even worse, in particular live. Well, 2006 was one of the weakest contests ever imo. Ireland 2006 is another Yuck! one for me. That one was so tacky that I am at a loss for words …
2006 is the weakest esc of all time in my list
I actually like MK 08 and 09 as well, but not as much as 02 and I like 07 as a guilty pleasure (that dancer is so fucking hot, and the song’s ok)
as for 06 i hate everything or almost, but there’s Bosnia, always Bosnia! I even have Russia and Romania in my top 5, that’s how bad 06 was, though Dima’s first song is really good, and he performed as Dima, not as a eurovision queen like in 08…
I agree. BiH was a mile above the rest in 2006 but I like Norway and Germany too. Andorra and Russia complete my top 5, at least according to my last ranking 5 years ago. I haven’t reached the 2000s yet. Watching France 99 atm. Those screamy songs always work better live for me, and thus Nayah has just climbed from 1/12 to 5/12.
Romania 2006 will never get anywhere on my list. I do not like the song much and am no fan of Mihai’s voice either. I could accept all that but gramatically incorrect lyrics? No!
The best Macedonian entry for me is 2000 – XXl “100% te ljubam”
Then 2006 Elena Risteska, and both Karolina’s entries are ok!
1998 singer was so good..but song so so…but for me it sounds so Yugoslavian and looks that way so I like image of it!
“1998 singer was so good..but song so so…but for me it sounds so Yugoslavian and looks that way so I like image of it! ”
I thought exactly the same when I watched that performance this morning. In the end, I gave a 7/12.
heheheh that’s great, he looks like in Opatija festival, only in Macedonian language!
If Kaliopi qualified for ESC in 1996 with “Samo ti” it would be my favorite Macedonian entry!
I also think that out of all 1996 songs that did not qualify only Kaliopi deserved to qualify.
I liked Monica Anghel & Sincron – “Rugă pentru pacea lumii” it was so dramatic
, backing vocalists were so great!
But thanks God Monica Anghel represented Romania later with Marcel Pavel – “Tell Me Why”
I have never been a fan of Monica’s voice but she has given me one of the most funny moments in ESC history ever. Halfway through “Tell Me Why” my mum asked: “Do they really sing ‘now I masturbate’?” Thanks to Diggiloo Thrush we found out later that they sang “Now I must obey” …
Btw, if Leon had qualified in 1996, Germany would be the only country that participated in all contests.
But he sucked..
Yes onica Anghel’s English is not so good (accent), but her live singing is great, unlike some Romanian (house music) stars today, she has such a powerful voice..
Of course he sucked. After all he is a hairdresser like Claudia Beni …
Copying a conversation between two Macedonians on another site:
http://vest.com.mk/?ItemID=87C721F6A…3D6F805AA62C17
Today was announced that Skopski Festival will stop deciding the participant from Macedonia to Eurovision for next years. It will be just a festival, which will be held on 13.11.2012 but the next participants will be announced in different contests.
It is more likely Macedonia from now to chose internal every participant, or making a few participants contest, but festival NO MORE, the decision is definitely made. They said that this is decide because of the bad results in past few years.
For the non-Macedonian speakers: It is also written that there is no final decision about the way how the song will be selected. They can hold a NF, or it will be internally selected as well. The details will be revealed in Friday on a press conference.
Then I hope next year they choose Vlatko Lozanoski!
He really should have won in 2010 instead of “jas ja imam silata”.
Kaliopi seems just so-so, probably won’t be among the worst entries, but not likely to be high on my list either. Time will tell.
Hmmm…
My thought: Eurovision Song Contest is not about the singer, but about the SONG!
Obviously, MRTV make the same mistake again.
Maybe the song is great… We don’t know it yet….