There’s no signs of doner kebabs or donuts in this performance, y’all! The first rehearsal for Kaliopi from FYR Macedonia has just taken place inside the Globen Arena in Stockholm and she absolutely nailed her live performance. There were flames. There were dramatic backing singers. There was the famous Kaliopi high note. This performance had everything!

The performance is angled by the cameras to clearly make Kaliopi the stand out. The camera pans into a the songstress who is utilising her best instrument – her voice.

As the lighting of the stage expands into a beautiful hue of burnt orange, it is revealed that Kaliopi is joined by four female backing vocalists and a drummer. There are subtle homages to paganism in the design of the angled back LED. As the song progresses, the pagan angled structure begins to burn, as flames creep up the back wall.

The song continues with similar staging right up until the end of the performance, until the final moment where she unleashes her famous yet unnecessary high note. We are unsure if she is a guaranteed qualfier, but it’s definitely one to watch.

FYR Macedonia: First rehearsal at Eurovision 2016

Kaliopi’s “Dona”: Reviews and Reactions

Read all of our Eurovision rehearsal reviews

Photo: Eurovision.tv (EBU)

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Mei International
Mei International
7 years ago

Seriously if this qualifies, I will eat crow a la Wendy Williams/Kim Kardashian wedding

Marie
Marie
7 years ago

Kaliopi is surely one of the female singers if not the best in this contest!! She deserves a high ranking hope her singing will be appreciated. Goodluck Kaliopi !

Afrivision
Afrivision
7 years ago

My queen! I pray this qualifies… She really deserves too.

Džordž
Džordž
7 years ago

I dunno… Maybe she surprise us all and qualifies. I wouldn’t mind..
I think this song suits her… Live preformance is in her case always better… And considering her age, this song really makes her stand out. It would be silly that woman of her age sings about taking revenge to her boyfriend or some silly crush… She took it to the next level… She, Sanja and Hovi have the best vocals this year.

Gav
Gav
7 years ago

Amazing. And even more so as no stage gimmicks. Just her amazing presence and voice. I hope she does well and I’m sure guaranteed a massive cheer on the night. I will be !

katra
katra
7 years ago

I don’t know if she will qualify or not but she comes across as a true lady. Good luck!

Paddy
Paddy
7 years ago

From some camera angles she also looks lie Trijingje Oosterhuis

cheesecake
cheesecake
7 years ago

I reckon this will struggle, because it’s dated and simply not that good. Vocally she’s great of course, but her voice is not that mass-appealing like Sanja’s for example. Some people might not like that kind of smoky tone.
Borderline at best.

Leaf
Leaf
7 years ago

@Mei International
Nothing wrong with cheering for my country ….. I wouldn’t say defending since everyone should be allowed to support their representative.
And what is flawed is your perception of things ….. Out of 42 songs the chances of all of us having the same list of favorites is next to impossible.
So I would just say, ENJOY the music …… And If you don’t enjoy it, simply don’t vote for it (There is always someone that will).
PEACE

Toms
Toms
7 years ago

Mei, you are seriously so lame. First of all, there are a lot of people who like this song, and many of them are not from Balkan region. It’s a nice song, nice melody, and in nice language. She is amazing singer, great person, good looking and simply nice. So ok, you don’t like the song. I don’t like Lithuanian. Or song from Malta. But I let other people like or love it. And of corse, you can tell your opinion, but at least try to elaborate it. What exactly you don’t like? And – seriously, not every song is… Read more »

MTD
MTD
7 years ago

@Mei International – oh, you…not all songs have to be liked by you. Piece.

Mei International
Mei International
7 years ago

Denis…are you hearing impaired? how can you nominate THIS as the best vocalist.

Leaf…your logic is so flawed. you are defending an act you openly admit is going to come next to last

Denis
Denis
7 years ago

If people don’t like it, then don’t vote for it. My God! Don’t make everything so complicated!
So far the best vocalist of the competition. And she’s experienced enough to make it pass!

Leaf
Leaf
7 years ago

@Mei International
Someone has to be 37th out of 42 ……
and also, not everyone goes to win …..And If you hate something, don’t vote for it … simple as that.

Mei International
Mei International
7 years ago

@Leaf this is a song CONTEST (not convention). Contestants don’t just go through all this work and exposure on the biggest stage in the world just to “participate”…why bother showing up if you don’t think you will win or in the very least qualify. I understand not every song is radio friendly, but seriously, there are no redeeming qualities about this song. She’s lucky she has Albania and Serbia in her semi to possibly give her some points. Otherwise she seriously deserves nil points. The polls and OGAE rankings are accurate. She is ranked low there because it’s where the… Read more »

Leaf
Leaf
7 years ago

@Mei International

If it’s widely known in the Eurovision community doesn’t mean It’s WIDELY known and I explained it all in the post bellow ……

Leaf
Leaf
7 years ago

@Mei International I agree that this isn’t a radio-friendly song but that doesn’t make it junk …. I personally don’t find it particularity strong BUT she makes any song come alive and the thing about eurovision is that in a sea of songs that might be radio-friendly you need something different …. Another things is that most of these songs we tend to classify as international or radio-friendly rarely make it on the radio. It’s safe to say that she isn’t aiming for the win, and Macedonia will NOT win so the successful scenario would be a qualification that will… Read more »

Mei International
Mei International
7 years ago

@leaf…which is widely known as one of the biggest flukes in the contest of recent years.

really? how will it backfire? you are endorsing a song that is, in a word, garbage. get outta here

Mei International
Mei International
7 years ago

Serious question (this also applies to other songs, such as Serhat’s)
Would you seriously download this? Or stream this? Or sing along if you heard it on the radio or in a bar or cafe? I am seriously at a loss for figuring out how people genuinely like this song (ok, I get it, she’s a big star in the Balkan region)

Rashad
Rashad
7 years ago

This woman got stucked in 2012. She’s the Serhat’s woman version of this year. You can take part of this contest with the song you want but forget about competing for a top place.

She still has a great voice, but only a powerful voice doesn’t get you anywhere at Eurovision these days.

Leaf
Leaf
7 years ago

@Mei International I believe that Mei INTERNATIONALLY got only 2 points in 2014…. So let’s not discuss taste, cos it will backfire at some point.

BTW

Kaliopi brought doughnuts for all the reporters during her meet&greet …… So I adore how she can take a JOKE !!!
Perfect vocal performance and an amazing backdrop …. Good JOB !!!

Mei International
Mei International
7 years ago

This is by far the worst song in the competition. Anyone who backs this has no taste.

Thank you Wiwi for moderating my scathing review in my first article…censorship is wonderous

NN
NN
7 years ago

MTD

You are not right. They post video from ireland and macedonian reharsal before serbia video on their wiwibloggs youtube channel.
And article abotu Serbia is waiting to long, and we article about Lisa Ajax replace Wiktoria was be before article about Serbia.

MTD
MTD
7 years ago

And for the record, the official rehearsal videos are coming straight from the eurovision.tv team, not Wiwi, so go there and complain.

James
James
7 years ago

@Maca
maybe its just because there is a team of people out there uploading at different speeds and times. I am certain there is no conspiracy against anyone. just be patient.

Maca
Maca
7 years ago

Why Wiwibloggs try so hard to ignore Serbia and Sanja.

Maca
Maca
7 years ago

Where is video about Serbia rehearsals , we can see video of Ireland, Macedonia rehearsals, and that countries have rehearsals after Serbia.

Igor
Igor
7 years ago

Amazing!!!

Alvaricomg
Alvaricomg
7 years ago

she is just amazing, I really want her to go to the final, she deserves it! the whole package is GREAT!