Lighthouses and genre-blending songs have worked for them in the past. And in 2020 Croatia’s DORA will try once more to find a song to get them to the Eurovision final after two years of non-qualification. This time the show will take place on Leap Day — a date that only exists every four years. Yep, February 29 just got a lot more special, as Croatia is joining the likes of Iceland and Portugal to decide on their Eurovision act on the day.
According to Eurosong.hr, the broadcaster HRT has singed a contract with the City of Opatija for the so-called HRT music days for the end of February. The Eurovision national selection DORA will be the highlight. It will take place in the Marino Cvetković hall in Opatija.
And it’s still not too late for musicians to apply. The broadcaster will accept submissions until December 15. Once the deadline passes, a panel of experts will listen to all of the submissions. This preliminary jury will be made up of reps from HRT itself, as well as HDS and HGU — that’s the Croatian Composers’ Society and the Croatian Musicians’ Union, respectively.
Sixteen songs will go on to compete in the one-shot Dora final.
The release concludes with some basic rules. Along with the standard Eurovision regulations regarding length and release dates, the guide also stipulates that songs must be performed by Croatian citizens. However, songwriters may come from anywhere. The songs can be performed either in Croatian, English, French or Italian. Again, there will be some sort of jury/televote mix. The exact voting procedure will be decided by January. That’s when tickets will go on sale as well. Just in case you want to pack your bags for a trip to beautiful Opatija next year.
Who will be in the running?
Croatians know how to build hype and are already teasing us with dream candidates for DORA 2020. Eurosong.hr asked fans for suggestions on who they want to see representing Croatia in Rotterdam next year. Together with experts and journalists, a whole bunch of artists have been named.
One of the big favourites among fans for a DORA 2020 appearance is Dino Jesulic. He of course was the first ever winner of Junior Eurovision back in 2003. These days Dino is a popular rock singer in Croatia. Fans and experts also agreed on Franka. Many want to see her in the selection trying her luck once more. The Croatian beauty already left us speechless after her sensual yet powerful Eurovision performance in Lisbon. But would she consider a Eurovision return only two years later?
Other candidates on the wishlist are famous singer Maja Šuput, who has been big in the business for many years now. Other perennial favourites include Eurovision 2006 star Severina, Jelena Rozga and last year‘s fan favourites Lorena and Luka Nižetić.
Who do you think we’ll see at DORA 2020? Will you watch the show on February 29? Let us know in the comments below.
Croatia in the 90s used to be a powerhouse in Eurovision, so many great entries, they need to do a big comeback. My syggestion is Jelena Rozga
Luminize are the best choice. They are great singers, look good and have very good songs. They also were in dutch The Voice and now work in the Netherlands.
The worst possible choices are Jacques, Maja Suput, Severina and Lidija Bacic. Those three are b*tches and Jacques is very egoistic.
My opinion, as a Croat.
Leap years are lucky for Sweden and Ukraine.
Dang it! Next year is a Leap year! One extra day longer to wait for Eurovision to begin! 🙁
No Jaques let loose on this year entry please.
BTW in Daily mail online I just noticed a massive ouch news item about Hungarian withdrawal that hasn’t landed down wiwi yet. Made me quite angry.
French and Italian? No one in Croatia speaks French, yet alone sing in it..
french is an official language of the eu that’s why they allow it i guess. italian bc in istria some ppl still speak it