Rajko Dujmic represented Yugoslavia at Eurovision 1987 as a member of the group Novi fosili. They placed fourth with the song ‘Ja sam za ples’ ( I wanna dance ). Two years later he showed up at Eurovision once again, this time as the composer of the winning entry “Rock me baby”, sung by the group Riva. It may be difficult to believe today, but once upon a time Croatia was actually responsible for a Eurovision winner!
Let’s review. Novi fosili perfoming at Eurovision 1987:
The first and only victory of Yugoslavia at Eurovision:
It’s also nice to mention that Novi fosili won second place in the OGAE Second Chance Contest in 1996 with the song “Spray”. They have competed at Dora, the Croatian national selection, a total of four times. The last time was 2001.
And this is what Emilija Kokic, the lead singer of Riva, said in an interview on the radio program Petkom s Petkom.
“I had the long hair in minival and when they cut it off for the performance I was crying so heavily. But today, I’d let them cut it off to nothing just to repeat everything again.” That’s the spirit!
Rajko was also a guest and he expressed the wish to perform on the Eurovision stage again. He didn’t reveal whether he would like to participate as a composer or performer with his group Novi fosili.
“Never say never. I’ve been thinking about it lately. When I saw them, I had a vision of big stage. They were my hallucination.” He did not clarify what he meant by ‘them’.
I don’t know how this would actually work. It would probably do well if we were in 1989…but it’s nearly 2014.
What do you guys think? Should Croatia go vintage in 2014? Are you still dancing to ‘Rock me baby’?
Mario Saucedo contributed this report from Croatia. Follow the team from WiwiBloggs.com on Twitter @wiwibloggs. And while you’re at it, like our Facebook page to stay up-to-date with the latest Eurovision news and gossip.
Photo:
This one of the only things that Croatia hasn’t tried in recent years. Who knows, it might actually work.
Ja Sam Za Ples, Rock Me, Hajde Da Ludujemo, and Brazil are some of my favourite Yugoslav entries, anything from the twilight years of Yugoslavia making a return (purely in terms of Eurovision obviously) is hugely welcome in my books!
Although back then I felt both entries were fun, I have a hard time considering them good to the point of being worthy winners specially the winning one from 1989 that won luckily. I don’t think at all that this sound works today, it sounds way dated and despite being fun it just doesn’t sound exciting anymore compared to how much music has evolved over the years. Unless they are able to bring something way fresh and new to the table … which I doubt. At least one can say that from 1987 to 1990 … Yugoslavia had fun with… Read more »