About Bosnia-Herzegovina...

2006 Result
History (1956 to 2005)
This year's entry
What I predicted...
What you thought...
What actually happened...
What the bookies thought...

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2006 Result

Points in Semi Final: 267
Position in Semi Final: 2nd

Points in Final: 229
Position in Final: 3rd
More about the 2006 result for Bosnia-Herzegovina

2007 Contest: Directly qualified to Final

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History (1956 to 2005)

Bosnia-Herzegovina's previous appearances: 11 year(s) out of 50 [note]
Years participated: 1993-1997; 1999; 2001- [note]
Best result: 7th (1999)

While its ex-Yugoslav neighbours, Croatia and Slovenia, have regularly finished in the top ten at Eurovision, Bosnia's record has tended to be less impressive; however, given the country's conflict, still ongoing at the time of Bosnia's first appearance in 1993, its very participation was poignant and welcome.

Bosnia was marooned in the mid-teens for much of the 90s - 16th in 1993, 15th in 1994, 14th in 1995 and 13th in 1996, before falling back again to 22nd in 1997. Missing 1998 through relegation, the country did surprisingly well in 1999 when Dino and Beatrice hit the heights of 7th place with 'Putnici', performed in a combination of Bosnian and French. Unfortunately, the system of calculating each country's five year average meant that Bosnia had to miss 2000's contest, before resuming normal service with a 14th place in 2001, 13th in 2002, and 16th in 2003.

With the fabulous Deen and 'In the disco' finishing an impressive 9th in 2004, Bosnia deservedly found itself directly qualified for the 2005 Final, where Feminnem's 14th place for 'Call me' signalled a return to the usual form. With eight of Bosnia's eleven entries to date finishing between 13th and 16th place, no other country can presumably claim such a consistent record of underwhelming achievement. More importantly, though, 2005's result means that Bosnia must take part in the 2006 Semi Final if it is to stand any chance of finishing 14th again.
Get 'The Eurovision Song Contest: The Offical History' at Amazon.co.uk

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This year's entry

Position in Semi Final draw: 22
Position in Final draw: 13

What I said prior to the Semi Final:
"As this year's worst kept Eurovision secret, it is something of a relief to finally have confirmation that Hari Mata Hari will indeed represent Bosnia in Athens. Financial constraints have reportedly led broadcaster PBSBiH to opt for an internal selection rather than a national final in 2006, but the upside is that this has allowed Bosnia to come up with a formidable combination of performer and composer, both with an interesting Eurovision history.

The band Hari Mata Hari is essentially a vehicle for Hajrudin 'Hari' Varešanović, one of Bosnia's most famous and popular singers, with a career going back more than twenty years. Born in Sarajevo in 1961, Hari would ordinarily be one of the older participants in this year's Contest, but 2006 is turning into the year of the veteran, with 48-year-old Anna Vissi representing Greece and 53-year-old former winner Vicky Leandros trying (but failing) to represent Germany. While Anna makes her third attempt at Eurovision in 2006, this will be Hari's first time representing his country - however, it could have been very different. In 1999, Hari Mata Hari actually won the Bosnian national final with the song 'Starac i more' ('The old man and the sea'), a stunningly dramatic ballad. However, on 16 April, less than six weeks before the Contest, the song was disqualified when it found to have already been released in 1997, as 'Sydänveri', by the Finnish singer Janne Hurme, with Hari even credited on the album as composer, arranger and producer. As Eurobosnia.com notes, though Hurme had recorded a number of Hari's songs in the past, Hari maintained that he had never given his official permission for Hurme to record 'Sydänveri'; meanwhile, the recording company in Helsinki expressed its own regret for the mix up. Given that by now it was a month after the official deadline for submitting songs to the EBU, there were doubts about whether Bosnia would be allowed to send an alternative entry; however, the EBU gave the all clear, so the runner-up to 'Starac i more', Dino Merlin & Beatrice's 'Putnici', got the honour of going to Jerusalem instead. At least Bosnia was not alone in having to ditch its original choice of entry for the 1999 Contest, with Germany's 'Reise nach Jerusalem' taking part as a late replacement for Corinna May's disqualified 'Hör den kindern einfach zu'. Interestingly, both replacement songs performed extremely well; while Germany achieved its best result in years by finishing 3rd, the excellent 7th place achieved by 'Putnici' was - and remains - Bosnia's best Eurovision result to date, something that even 'Starac i more' would have been hard pressed to beat. However, having come so agonisingly close to representing his country seven years ago, no-one could deny that Hari deserves a shot at Eurovision success.

His chances of success are surely given a boost by the involvement of Željko Joksimović as composer, seeking to go one better than the 2nd place he achieved for Serbia & Montenegro (as both composer and performer) in 2004. Željko also came within a whisker of taking part as a composer in the 2005 Contest, with the song 'Jutro', performed by Jelena Tomašević, romping to victory in the Serbia's Beovizija contest before losing out to Montenegro's No Name and 'Zauvijek moja' in the combined Serbia & Montenegro final, thanks in part to some bizarre voting from the Montenegrin members of the jury. Nevertheless, 'Jutro' rightly remains a favourite of many Eurovision fans.

When Hari's participation was confirmed, I said that "if Željko Joksimović's song for Hari Mata Hari - due to be heard for the first time on 5 March - is anything like as strong as his previous efforts, Bosnia might well be able to improve on that 7th place from 1999". Thankfully, the song, called 'Lejla', is everything that we might have hoped for and more. It is certainly unmistakably Željko Joksimović, with more than a whiff of 'Lane moje' - the whole feel of the song, from the instrumentation to the beautifully evocative lyrics, brings to mind the 2004 Serbia & Montenegro entry. However, 'Lejla' more than stands up as a quality Eurovision entry in its own right, with Hari's stunningly heartfelt vocals adding an emotional resonance that even exceeds that of 'Lane moje'. I've always loved Hari's voice, and he certainly uses it to good effect here, starting off gently before leading the song to a spinetingling finale. Regular readers of Soult.com Eurovision might well wonder why I'm so enthusiastic about 'Lejla' when I was initially rather unmoved by 'Lane moje'. Well, I suppose a lot has happened in the last two years. Indeed, even to a fan of Ruslana (which I was and still am), there is a limit to how many copycat Eurovision entries featuring shouty women and drumming you can tolerate. Against this backdrop of lots of rather noisy, energetic songs in 2005 and 2006, listening to something calm and relaxing is really quite appealing. Maybe I'm just getting old... "

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What I predicted...

My prediction for Semi Final: 1st to 2nd
My prediction for Final: Definite qualifier; 1st to 3rd, possible winner
See all my predictions for the 2006 Semi Final
See all my predictions for the 2006 Final

What I predicted prior to the Semi Final:
"Along with Belgium, I think the Bosnian song is one that most people would consider a dead cert for the Final - indeed, I would say they are the only two songs from the Semi Final that are real contenders to win the whole thing. This has been reinforced by a perfect draw, with Hari Mata Hari performing second from last in the Semi Final, sandwiched between uptempo entries from Estonia, Sweden and Iceland. With reports from rehearsals being almost universally enthusiastic, I have no doubt at all that this will qualify easily - the only question is whether Hari or Kate will win the Semi Final.

Assuming Hari reaches the Final - as I'm sure he will - this for me is the song most likely to win the Contest, particularly if he's lucky enough to secure one of the all-important vacant slots at the very end of the Final draw. I really believe that Željko may go one better than in 2004, and that we'll be off to Sarajevo in 2007. A jolly fine winner it would be too."
Want an alternative prediction? See Simon Hylands' 'Je t'adore, Eurovision!' site

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What you thought...

View the final leader board

In the run up to the Contest, 1,721 visitors to this site awarded points to their favourite songs in the Soult.com Eurovision Jury Vote 2006, voting as a representative of their own country's 'jury'. The votes awarded by representatives of each country were totalled, with each of the 38 participating countries (plus the 'Rest of the World') then awarding points - 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 - based on the overall voting preference of its representatives. The points awarded to the entry from Bosnia-Herzegovina are shown in the tables below:

Points awarded to Bosnia-Herzegovina overall:
AL	10	HR	12	GR	6	MK	12	PL	0	ES	4
AD	2	CY	1	IS	8	MT	0	PT	4	SE	8
AM	6	DK	6	IE	0	MD	0	RO	5	CH	0
BY	0	EE	0	IL	0	MC	7	RU	10	TR	10
BE	6	FI	8	LV	0	NL	4	CS	12	UA	4
BA	X	FR	3	LT	0	NO	12	SI	4	UK	0
BG	10	DE	7	WO	8	Last updated: 18 May 2006 Next scheduled update: None
Total points: 189, from 27/39 juries
Position: 4 out of 37

Points awarded to Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Semi Final:
AL	12	HR	12	GR	8	MK	12	PL	0	ES	7
AD	4	CY	6	IS	10	MT	0	PT	8	SE	10
AM	7	DK	10	IE	5	MD	0	RO	8	CH	1
BY	0	EE	0	IL	5	MC	10	RU	10	TR	10
BE	10	FI	12	LV	0	NL	7	CS	12	UA	7
BA	X	FR	5	LT	1	NO	12	SI	7	UK	5
BG	10	DE	10	WO	12	Last updated: 18 May 2006 Next scheduled update: None
Total points: 265, from 32/39 juries
Position: 2 out of 23

Points awarded to Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Final:
AL	10	HR	12	GR	6	MK	12	PL	0	ES	4
AD	4	CY	1	IS	8	MT	0	PT	4	SE	8
AM	6	DK	6	IE	0	MD	0	RO	5	CH	0
BY	0	EE	0	IL	0	MC	7	RU	12	TR	12
BE	6	FI	8	LV	0	NL	4