Balkanvision 4

The fourth edition of the Balkanvision Song Contest took place on **20 June 2021** at the Sarajevo National Theatre in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina. This edition was a special Eurovision edition, and had a separate set of rules than normal editions.

After missing out on the second and third editions, Bosnia and Herzegovina returned to compete in this edition. Turkey made its debut as a special guest country. Although Cyprus was eligible to compete as a special guest country, no Head of Delegation chose a Cypriot song to compete.

Surprisingly, after being the most-chosen country in the previous three editions, only one song represented Greece in this edition.

The edition was won by Marija Šerifović with her song "Molitva", representing Serbia, having earned the rare distinction of being a Eurovision winner and a fan contest winner.

## Host

### Venue

Sarajevo National Theatre, Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina

### Interval Act

Vasil performing 'SudBina' (live show)
Guessing game songs and reveal of the senders (results show)

## Participants

### Returning Countries

Bosnia and Herzegovina
Serbia
Slovenia

### Withdrawing Countries

Kosovo
North Macedonia

## Special ESC Edition Rules

1. All songs submitted for this edition must have either previously competed at the Eurovision Song Contest *or* in a national final that was organised by one of the Balkan nations for Eurovision.
	1. Examples of national finals include: Festivali i Këngës (Albania), Beovizija (Serbia), Ellinikos Telikos (Greece), etc.
		1. This did *not* include songs sung by Balkan singers that took part in non-Balkan national finals. The main example of this is Helena Paparizou (Greece 2001/2005) taking part in Melodifestivalen.
	2. This included any and all eligible songs that were due to take part in, or participated in the applicable national finals organised for, the cancelled 2020 Eurovision Song Contest. It also included national finals that were supposed to take place but were later cancelled in any given year.
		1. For example, Ellinikos Telikos was supposed to take place to select the 2018 Greek entry, but was eventually scrapped due to internal drama.
	3. This also included Evropesma, the national final that was used to determine Eurovision entries for Serbia and Montenegro from 2004-2006.
2. If a participant decided to send a song that represented/was in a national final for a country that no longer exists (for the purposes of this contest, Yugoslavia or Serbia and Montenegro), they must have entered it under the country of origin of the artist.
	1. For example, if the song “Jutro” by Jelena Tomašević (2nd place in Evropesma 2005) were sent, it would be competing as a Serbian entry, as the artist is Serbian.
3. Due to Kosovo having never debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest, Kosovo was *not* eligible to compete this edition.
	1. However, if a singer of Kosovar descent is eligible (for example, Rona Nishliu), they could have been sent.
4. Two countries were allowed one-time participations in Balkanvision as special guest countries, due to their close ties to the Balkans: Cyprus and Turkey.
5. Alternative versions of a song could have been sent; however, they had to comply with the original Balkanvision rules with regards to length. This did NOT include covers.
	1. For example, the original version of “Alcohol is Free” by Koza Mostra and Agathon Iakovidis (Greece 2013) was ineligible because it exceeds six minutes in length.
	2. The English version of “Više nisam tvoja” by Claudia (Croatia 2003), conversely, was eligible because it is under three minutes.
6. There was not a strict language rule for this edition, to give the opportunity to send the song that a participant truly wished to send. *However,* it was still strongly encouraged that you send a song that is in the official language(s) of your chosen country.
7. Withdrawn entries were eligible for this edition.
	1. However, if the entry was disqualified due to plagiarism, it was NOT eligible to compete. For example, “Starac i more” by Hari Mata Hari was due to represent Bosnia & Herzegovina in 1999, but was disqualified when it was discovered it was a cover of a song previously released by a Finnish artist.
8. Above all, *be creative.*

## Withdrawn Entries Eligible for This Edition

**Ten** withdrawn entries that were originally going to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest were eligible for this edition.

* Mr. Nobel - Anna Vissi (Originally slated to represent Greece in 1978)
* Pokora - Zorica Kondža and Josip Genda (Originally slated to represent Yugoslavia in 1985)
* Wagon-lit - Polina (Originally slated to represent Greece in 1986)
* Aleluja - Magazin (Originally slated to represent Croatia in 1992)
* Čija se - Toše Proeski (Originally slated to represent Serbia and Montenegro in 2003)
* Moja ljubavi - No Name (Originally slated to represent Serbia and Montenegro in 2006)
* Kismet - Elitsa & Stoyan (Originally slated to represent Bulgaria in 2013)
* Imperija - Esma & Lozano (Originally slated to represent North Macedonia in 2013)
* Diell - Elhaida Dani (Originally slated to represent Albania in 2015)
* Moment of Silence - Ovidiu Anton (Originally slated to represent Romania in 2016)

## Guessing Game

Like in the third edition, HoDs were asked to submit a song anonymously for players to guess who sent it (similar in concept to Elementvision). However, in this edition, the songs submitted were the second-choice songs of HoDs (as in, the songs they would have sent to this edition if the songs they selected did not exist). The songs for the guessing game were revealed on **12 June 2021,** which is also the day signups closed and the running order was published.

Curiously enough, one song was chosen by not one, but two, HoDs as their second-choice song.

## Trivia

* The intro and outro music used in the recap video is a traditional Bosnian song, "Poljem se vija".
* "Pleacă", one of the Romanian representatives, is the fiftieth song to be performed at Balkanvision.
* This edition marks the third that Ness has won, meaning that she has won 75% of the editions held.
* Two HoDs chose the same spokesperson to present their jury votes. This is the second time that it has occurred in Balkanvision.