Barbara Popović

Barbara Popović (Macedonian: Барбара Поповиќ, Macedonian pronunciation: [ˈbarbara ˈpɔpɔvic]; born on September 16, 2000[1]), also known as simply Barbara, is a Macedonian singer, who represented her country at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2013 as a teen.[2]

Barbara Popović
Popović performing in 2013
Background information
Born (2000-09-16) September 16, 2000
Skopje, North Macedonia
GenresPop
Occupation(s)Singer
InstrumentsVocals

Biography

Popović was born in Skopje, North Macedonia, on August 16, 2000.[1]

At the time she performed in the Junior Eurovision 2013 final, Popović was 13, but already an experienced artist, famous in her country.[3]

She was especially noted for her participation in the Macedonian children's music festival Super Zvezda ("Super Star"). She performed at the festival for the first time at the age of six,[4] and continued yearly until she was ten.[1] She had collaborated with many famous Macedonian artists, who composed for her, including Kaliopi, Jovan Jovanov, Darko Dimitrov, and Elena Risteska.[3][5] Kaliopi was the one who wrote one of the songs she was most known for, "Bongiorno" ("Бонџорно").[4][6]

Also, since the same age of six Popović had been studying piano in a music school,[3] her piano teacher reportedly being "Macedonia’s most famous piano professor".[7]

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2013
Popović and her team at rehearsal for Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2013

In 2013, Macedonian Radio Television (MRT) decided to return to the Junior Eurovision after a two-year gap. Barbara Popović was chosen by the organizer, i.e. MRT, at an internal audition, there was no public selection process.[8]

The song she performed at the Junior Eurovision contest was called "Ohrid i Muzika" ("Ohrid and Music"). It was written by Popović herself, with composer Kire Kostov helping with music and arrangement and Ognem Nedelkovski helping with lyrics. The song was inspired by an excursion trip to the ancient Macedonian town of Ohrid. As Popović revealed, the lyrics were dedicated to a boy from the Netherlands, and the song narrated the story of the "awakening of first love in her teenage heart".[4] The lyrics went like this: "I speak not a single word of Dutch, but your eyes are so warm... In my homeland everybody sings and dances. Don't be silly, join us. Give me your hand, you will love this music more than love!... With this song I'm crossing borders in an instant."[9][10]

On stage, Popović was accompanied by their dancers from the dance studio Eureka.[11] One of them (the blond girl) was Sara Kastratović, 13-year-old daughter of Zoran and Indira Kastratović, coaches of the women's handball team Vardar SCBT,[12] who didn't even think to follow up her parents' profession and pursues her passion for hip hop.[13]

According to Rede Spasovski, the chief of the Macedonian delegation, the initial reaction to Popović's rehearsals was positive.[11]

Despite the positive expectations, in the final Macedonia placed last out of the 12 countries, with 19 points[14] (12 of which are given to all participants at the start of the voting regardless of how well they did). Moldova, who took the penultimate place, received 41 points.[15]

The result was dubbed "catastrophic". It was reported that Macedonian Radio Television (MRT) was "seriously considering" to withdraw from the contest in the future.[16][17]

Macedonian artistic director of the Junior Eurovision Ljupcho Mirkovski defended the internal decision to send Popović without holding a national selection, saying that Popović was musically talented, and attributed her bad performance to stage fright. "Internal choice may not be the best solution, but this year we joined the dance a little bit too late, so there was no better solution that this. Barbara is a musical child and certainly could sing better, but stage fright has done its job. Not all children are immune to public performance," said he in an interview. He also stated that he didn't find it strange that the countries of the former Soviet Union didn't help Popović to place higher because in a song contest songs matter more than relationship between countries. As for the states of the former Yugoslavia, Macedonia was the only former Yugoslav republic competing that year.[16][17]

2018: Comeback

She returned to the stage at the 2018 Makfest festival, introducing a new song titled "Ne si ti kriv" ("It’s Not Your Fault").[18][19]

References
  1. Барбара Попович - Участники - Детское Евровидение 2013 - Первый Национальный канал (in Russian). Pershyi Natsionalnyi. Retrieved 2013-12-03.
  2. "Јуниорскиот Евросонг 2013" (in Macedonian). Macedonian Radio Television. 2013-11-21. Archived from the original on 2014-06-06. Retrieved 2013-12-04.
  3. "Вечерва детска Евровизија, бодрете ја нашата Барбара!" (in Macedonian). Вистина. 2013-11-30. Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2013-12-03.
  4. "Со песна за Охрид ќе ја освојува Европа". Nova Makedonija (in Macedonian). 2013. Archived from the original on 2014-11-09. Retrieved 2013-12-03.
  5. "Meet Barbara Popovic for FYR Macedonia News Junior Eurovision Song Contest - Kyiv 2013". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
  6. "Бонџорно - Барбара Поповиќ" (in Macedonian). Super Zvezda. Retrieved 2013-12-03.
  7. "Barbara Popović - Ohrid i muzika (F.Y.R. Macedonia 2013) Participant Profile Junior Eurovision Song Contest - Kyiv 2013". Junior Eurovision Song Contest official site. European Broadcasting Union. 2013-12-03.
  8. "Барбара во Kиев ќе пее за Охрид". Dnevnik Online (in Macedonian). 2013. Archived from the original on 2014-11-02. Retrieved 2013-12-04.
  9. "Original Lyrics Barbara Popović - Ohrid i muzika - F.Y.R. Macedonia 2013 Eurovision.TV".
  10. "English Lyrics Barbara Popović - Ohrid i muzika - F.Y.R. Macedonia 2013 Eurovision.TV".
  11. "Детска Евровизија вечерва во Kиев, реакциите за Барбара позитивни" (in Macedonian). Dnevnik Online. November 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-12-01. Retrieved 2013-12-03.
  12. "Ќерката на Кастратовиќ на Детската евровизија" (in Macedonian). Република Online. 2013-11-19. Archived from the original on 2014-01-02. Retrieved 2013-12-04.
  13. "Ќерката на Индира и Зоран Кастратовиќ Нема да бидам ракометарка (ВИДЕО)" (in Macedonian). Република Online. 2013-09-25. Archived from the original on 2014-01-02. Retrieved 2013-12-04.
  14. "Македонија пак последна на детската Евровизија!" (in Macedonian). Вистина. 2013-11-30. Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2013-12-03.
  15. "ПОВТОРНО ДЕБАКЛ: Македонија последна на детскиот Евросонг" (in Macedonian). Kanal 5. 2013-11-30. Retrieved 2013-12-03.
  16. "MРТ ќе се откаже од детската Евровизија" (in Macedonian). Република Online. 2012-12-03. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
  17. "МРТ размислува за повлекување од Детскиот евросонг (Dnevnik.mk via RedUP.mk)". Dnevnik Online (in Macedonian). Archived from the original on 2013-12-25. Retrieved 2013-12-03.
  18. "Barbara makes a welcome return with 'Ne si ti kriv' ...and participates in 2018 Makfest". ESC Covers. 2018-10-07. Retrieved 2020-05-14.
  19. "Barbara - Ne si ti kriv (Makfest 2018) - YouTube". 2018-10-10. Retrieved 2020-05-14.
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