# Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006

Macedonia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with the song "Ninanajna" (Нинанајна), composed by Darko Dimitrov, with lyrics by Rade Vrčakovski, and performed by Elena Risteska. The Macedonian participating broadcaster, Macedonian Radio Television (MRT), organised the national final Specialen Evroviziski Den 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, Macedonian Radio Television (MRT) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Macedonia five times since its first entry in 1998. Its best result in the contest to this point was fourteenth, achieved in 2004 with the song "Life" performed by Toše Proeski. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004, 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
### Specialen Evroviziski Den

Specialen Evroviziski Den ("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, 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 (composer and conductor), Trajče Organdžiev (MRT), Avni Veliu (MRT) and Susana Pavlovska (MRT). The twenty competing artists and songs were announced on 23 January 2006 during a press conference.
| Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) |
| Adnan | "Kje prespijam na kauč" (Ќе преспијам на кауч) | Aleksandar Ristovski-Princ |
| Adrijan and Esma | "Ljubov e..." (Љубов е...) | Jovan Jovanov, Elvir Mekić, Borče Nečovski |
| Arči | "Skokotaj me" (Скокоткај ме) | Alexandr Stefanovski-Jablan |
| Bagaž | "Mala odmazda" (Мала одмазда) | Trajko Karov, Aleksandar Stefanovski |
| Bojana Atanasovska | "Posle nas" (После нас) | Grigor Koprov, Ognen Nedelkovski |
| Bojana Atanasovska | "Svetlina" (Светлина) | Branka Kostić |
| Bojana Atanasovska | "Vo mojot son" (Во мојот сон) | Hari Kotlarovski, Kristijan Gabroski |
| Džoksi | "Zlatni žici" (Златни жици) | Džoksi, Ognen Nedelkovski |
| Elena Risteska | "Ninanajna" (Нинанајна) | Darko Dimitrov, Rade Vrčakovski |
| Enedin Biševac and Daria Ilievska | "Podaj raka" (Подај рака) | Enedin Biševac |
| Eva Nedinkovska | "Taan i med" (Таан и мед) | Garo Tavitjan, Kaliopi |
| Filip Jordanovski | "Bidi diva" (Биди дива) | Blaže Temelkov |
| Ibrahim Islamoski | "Zemi se" (Земи се) | Ibrahim Islamovski, Robert Milevski |
| Kaliopi | "Silna" (Силна) | Kaliopi |
| Lambe Alabakovski | "More od solzi" (Море од солзи) | Darko Dimitrov, Elena Risteska |
| Maja Odžaklievska | "Koj pat da izberam" (Кој пат да изберам) | Grigor Koprov, Ognen Nedelkovski |
| Nataša Gulevska | "Kje blesne zrak za nas" (Ќе блесне зрак за нас) | Nataša Gulevska, Ognen Nedelkovski |
| Nataša Mijatović | "Cvet vo postela" (Цвет во постела) | Nataša Mijatović |
| Panta Rei | "Mori mome" (Мори моме) | Koce Dinev, Aco Stoyanov |
| Petar Mehandžiski | "Moja najmila" (Моја најмила) | Jovan Vasilevski |

#### Final

The final took place on 4 March 2006. The running order was determined through a draw held on 27 January 2006 during the MRT programme Urban Šik. Twenty entries competed and public televoting exclusively selected "Ninanajna" performed by Elena Risteska as the winner. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the competition featured a guest performance by the Rebis Ballet Studio.
Final – 4 March 2006 :
| Draw | Artist | Song | Televote | Place |
| 1 | Bojana Atanasovska | "Svetlina" | 435 | 14 |
| 2 | Eva Nedinkovska | "Taan i med" | 631 | 10 |
| 3 | Bagaž | "Mala odmazda" | 189 | 19 |
| 4 | Ibrahim Islamoski | "Zemi se" | 1,976 | 5 |
| 5 | Bojana Atanasovska | "Posle nas" | 204 | 17 |
| 6 | Kaliopi | "Silna" | 1,700 | 6 |
| 7 | Enedin Biševac and Daria Ilievska | "Podaj raka" | 456 | 13 |
| 8 | Nataša Mijatović | "Cvet vo postela" | 1,052 | 8 |
| 9 | Nataša Gulevska | "Kje blesne zrak za nas" | 164 | 20 |
| 10 | Bojana Atanasovska | "Vo mojot son" | 473 | 12 |
| 11 | Adrijan and Esma | "Ljubov e..." | 6,866 | 2 |
| 12 | Adnan | "Kje prespijam na kauč" | 316 | 16 |
| 13 | Filip Jordanovski | "Bidi diva" | 202 | 18 |
| 14 | Lambe Alabakovski | "More od solzi" | 5,282 | 3 |
| 15 | Petar Mehandžiski | "Moja najmila" | 616 | 11 |
| 16 | Džoksi | "Zlatni žici" | 2,348 | 4 |
| 17 | Elena Risteska | "Ninanajna" | 6,999 | 1 |
| 18 | Maja Odžaklievska | "Koj pat da izberam" | 982 | 9 |
| 19 | Arči | "Skokotaj me" | 528 | 15 |
| 20 | Panta Rei | "Mori mome" | 1,105 | 7 |

### 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 Evropesma-Europjesma 2006.

## 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 2005 contest 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 Monaco and before the entry from Poland. 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 Russia and before the entry from Romania. 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 (who represented Macedonia in 2005) 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 Albania in the semi-final and to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the final of the contest.