EMA (TV series)

EMA
Also known as	Evrovizijska Melodija
Genre	Music, entertainment
Country of origin	Slovenia
Original language(s)	Slovene
No. of series	19
Release
Original network	RTV SLO
Original release	10 February 1996 –; present
Chronology
Preceded by	Slovenski izbor za pesem Evrovizije
Followed by	Misija Evrovizija (2012); Internal Selection (2013)
External links
	Website

EMA (Evrovizijska Melodija; English: Eurovision Melody) is the national contest in Slovenia to select the country's entry since 1996 to the Eurovision Song Contest. The contest has been held since the country's debut in the Eurovision Song Contest, and has been held every year since, except for on two occasions (1994 and 2000) when Slovenia did not compete at Eurovision.

The contest is organized and broadcast by the Slovene broadcaster Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTV SLO). The contest was previously known as Slovenski izbor za pesem Evrovizije (literally Slovenian selection for the Eurovision Song Contest) in 1993 and 1995.

History

EMA has been the selection show for Slovene representative in the Eurovision Song Contest. Originally it was titled ‘’Slovenski Izbor za Pesem Evrovizije’’ (English: Slovenian Selection for the Eurovision Song Contest), however it was re-named into EMA in 1996.

After the break-up of former Yugoslavia, Slovenia gained independence and as RTV SLO became a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) in 1992, Slovenia was able to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 1993, for the first time as an independent country. RTV SLO organized the first "EMA" on 25 February 1993 in RTV SLO Studios in Ljubljana, Slovenia. It had 12 participants. Ironically 1X Band was not on the original participants list. However, after a disqualification of one of the original participants 1X Band was chosen to participate in the last minute. The winner was selected by 12 regional radio station juries from all over Slovenia. Each radio jury voted with Eurovision votes (1–8, 10, and 12 points).

Due to Slovenia's first appearance being placed in the bottom 7, Slovenia wasn't allowed to participate in 1994. Therefore, the contest wasn't held that year.

The contest followed the 1993 format in 1995 and 1996. But in 1996, only eleven participants appeared, because of the twelfth participant's disqualification before the contest was held.

In 1997, EMA saw major changes in the format. RTV SLO chose to invite 7 songwriters to each write 2 songs for the final, rather than to open a call for participants. And regional juries were re-placed by televoting. Both features stayed in production also in 1998.

In 1999, EMA dropped invitation format and once again opened a call for songs, RTV SLO eventually chose 20 songs, but 3 of them were disqualified which made the final participants list having 17 participants. Role of televoting was reduced to 1/3 of the final voting. Other than that Slovene Expert Jury and International Expert Jury voted. Each voting factor; televoting, Slovene jury and International jury vote with Eurovision votes (1–8, 10, and 12 points). During the show, the presenter (Mojca Mavec) called the international jury as Ireland, as its chairman was Marc Roberts (Irish representative in 1997). This edition caused high controversy as the televoting winner, Tinkara Kovač didn't won the selection.

In 2000, Slovenia was not allowed to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest due to poor average of results between 1995 and 1999.

In 2001, EMA returned, expending over 2 nights for the first time. In the semi-final 22 participants appeared. Televoting chose six and Jury chose 6 to proceed to the final. In the final, the voting was up to Televoting, Expert Jury and RTV SLO Jury. The format continued in 2002, however with only 18 semi-finalists and 10 finalists. In both editions, Karmen Stavec finished first in televoting and second in overall results. This caused big controversy, especially because her songs received much better reviews and bigger commercial success than any other participant in these two editions.

In 2003, the format was changed to being a one night show, once again. The contest was moved out of the RTV SLO Studios into Gospodarsko Razstavišče Hall A. The new venue is 5-times bigger that has room for an audience of 1,500. EMA contained sixteen participants. In round one, Televoting and International jury vote and top 3 are qualified forward. In round two, televoting selected the winner. The same format with minor changes returned in 2004. The controversial rule that jury votes overrule televoting votes in round one, resulted in elimination of viewers favorite Bepop in 2003 and Natalija Verboten in 2004 in the first round.

The 2004 format followed the 2003 format with introduction of four weekly semi-finals. Four semi-finals are held weekly, with the last being held 2 weeks before the final. Each semi-final contained 8 songs. Viewers chose 3 qualifiers and Jury chose 1 qualifier from each semi-final.

The controversy that surrounded EMA over the past years as the viewer's favorite didn't win the selection in 7 years (since 1998), producers decided to drop the juries and select the winner solely by televoting. In 2005, the show returned to be recorded in RTV SLO studios and the winner was selected in two rounds of televoting. Thirteen participants were chosen from the submissions on the open call and one participant was the winner of Bitka Talentov (The Battle of Talents; RTV SLO singing talent competition).

In 2006, RTV SLO decided to modify the format with re-introducing the jury. Landline phones voting, mobile phones voting, and jury voting, each vote with Eurovision votes (1–8, 10, and 12 points). This voting format resulted in yet another-one of the viewers favorite being eliminated.

Due to controversy in 2006, RTV SLO decided to drop the juries voting and re-introduce 100% televoting. The 2007 edition consisted of 3 shows over three nights. All the show were staged in Gospodarsko Razstavišče Hall A. For the first time in 3 years, the winner was not the selected act from Bitka Talentov, as Eva Černe (Bitka Talentov winner) finished 2nd. It contained of 24 semi-finalists and 14 finalists. The format was repeated in 2008, with 20 semi-finalists and 10 finalists.

The 2009 edition was changed to two shows format. It had 14 semi-finalists, selected from the open call submissions and 6 automatic finalists, invited by RTV SLO. Eight semi-finals qualify to the final. In both shows 50% televoting and 50% jury voting is used.

In 2010, RTV SLO invited 7 songwriters and only 7 qualified from the semi-final. In both shows 100% televoting was used due to controversy in 2009.

In 2011, RTV SLO decided to have only songs by invited songwriters. They invited 10 songwriters. On the night expert jury eliminated 8 songs in round one and televoting chose the winner in round.

In 2012, RTV SLO decided to introduce a talent show titled Misija Evrovizija (Mission Eurovision). In this show, they got 2 contestants for Misija EMA (Mission EMA).

In 2013, EMA wasn't held for the first time and act was chosen internally. EMA would’ve been staged, but due to RTV SLO intention to withdraw and deciding in the last minute to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest, RTV SLO didn't have time to produce it.

In 2014, EMA will be a one night show with 7 songs, written by invited songwriters. The winner is selected by 100% televoting.

Language

Years	EMA	Eurovision	Notes
1993, 1995–1998	Slovene	Slovene	Eurovision rules stated that songs should be performed in country's official language.
1999, 2001–2002	Slovene	Song can be translated to other language, but RTV SLO should approve the song in other language.	In 1999 and 2000, both songs were approved by RTV SLO to be performed in English. But in 2002, Sestre planned to perform the song in German. Sestre pointed-out on various occasions that the German version is much better and they would most certainly receive more points if they would perform in German. But ultimately, RTV SLO committee didn't approve and they needed to perform in Slovene.
2003–2004	Any language	Song should be performed in same language as in EMA.
2005	Slovene	Song can be translated to other language, but RTV SLO should approve the song in other language.
2006–2009	Any language	Any language	RTV SLO should approve if a song would be translated to other language.
2010	Slovene	Slovene
2011–2017, 2019–present	Any language	Any language
2018	Slovene		Besides Slovene, also the recognized minority languages in Slovenia, which are Croatian, German, Hungarian, Italian, Romani and Serbian, are allowed.

Final Voting Process

Year	Finalists	Selection Process
1993; 1995–1996	12 (11 in 1996)	12 Regional Juries vote with 1–8, 10, and 12 points.
1997–1998	14 (13 in 1997)	Televoting votes.
1999	17	Slovene Jury, International Jury, and Televoting vote 1–8, 10, and 12 points.
2001–2002	12 (10 in 2002)	Expert Jury, RTV SLO Jury, and Televoting vote 1–8, 10, and 12 points.
2003–2005	3	Televoting votes.
2006	14	Jury, Landline Voting, and Mobile Voting vote 1–8, 10, and 12 points.
2007–2008	2	Televoting votes.
2009	14	Jury and Televoting vote 1–8, 10, and 12 points.
2010	14	Televoting votes.
2011–2012	2	Televoting votes.
2014–2016; 2019–present	10 (7 in 2014; 8 in 2015)	Jury chooses the top two and televoting selects the winner out of those two.
2017–2018	8	6 Slovene Regional Juries vote 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 points and Televoting distributes 252 points between the finalists

Venue

Venue	Years
RTV SLO Studios	1993, 1995–1999, 2001–2002, 2004 semi-finals; 2005–2006, 2008–2009, 2011–present
Gospodarsko Razstavišče (Hall A)	2003, 2004 Final, 2007,2017
Gospodarsko Razstavišče Marmorna Dvorana	2010

Guests

Through the years special guest have been asked to make an appearance. The guest list includes:Katrina Leskanich the winner of Eurovision Song Contest 1997, Lys Assia the winner of the first Eurovision Song Contest and in 2010 Alexander Rybak the winner of Eurovision Song Contest 2009.

Winners

Year	Participants	Nights	Song	Translation	Artist	Songwriter(s)	Final	Points	Semi	Points
1993	12	1	"Tih deževen dan"	A quiet rainy day	1X Band	Cole Moretti, Tomaž Kosec	22nd	9	1st	54
1995	12	1	"Prisluhni mi"	Listen to me	Darja Švajger	Primož Peterca, Sašo Fajon	7th	84	No semi-finals
1996	11	1	"Dan najlepših sanj"	The day of the most beautiful dreams	Regina	Aleksander Kogoj	21st	16	19th	30
1997	13	1	"Zbudi se"	Wake up	Tanja Ribič	Saša Lošić, Zoran Predin	10th	60	No semi-finals
1998	14	1	"Naj bogovi slišijo"	Let the gods hear	Vili Resnik	Matjaž Vlašič, Urša Vlašič	18th	17
1999	17	1	"Še tisoč let"	For still a thousand years	Darja Švajger	Primož Peterca, Sašo Fajon	11th (as "For a Thousand Years")	50
2001	22	2	"Ne, ni res"	No, not really	Nuša Derenda	Matjaž Vlašič, Urša Vlašič	7th (as "Energy")	70
2002	18	2	"Samo ljubezen"	Only love	Sestre	Robert Pešut, Barbara Pešut	13th	33
2003	16	1	"Lep poletni dan"	A nice summer day	Karmen Stavec	Martin Štibernik, Karmen Stavec	23rd (as "Nanana")	7
2004	32	5	"Stay Forever"	N/A	Platin	Simon Gomilšek, Diana Lečnik	Failed to qualify		21st	5
2005	14	1	"Stop"	N/A	Omar Naber	Omar Naber, Urša Vlašič			12th	69
2006	14	1	"Plan B"	N/A	Anžej Dežan	Matjaž Vlašič, Urša Vlašič			16th (as "Mr Nobody")	49
2007	24	3	"Cvet z juga"	Flower of the south	Alenka Gotar	Andrej Babić	15th	66	7th	140
2008	20	3	"Vrag naj vzame"	To hell with it	Rebeka Dremelj	Josip Miani-Pipi, Amon	Failed to qualify		11th	36
2009	20	2	"Love Symphony"	N/A	Quartissimo feat. Martina Majerle	Andrej Babić, Aleksandar Valenčić			16th	14
2010	21	2	"Narodnozabavni rock"	Folk rock	Ansambel Roka Žlindre & Kalamari	Marino Legović, Leon Oblak			16th	6
2011	10	1	"Vanilija"	Vanilla	Maja Keuc	Matjaž Vlašič, Urša Vlašič	13th (as "No One")	96	3rd	112
2012	2	1	"Verjamem"	I believe/I trust	Eva Boto	Vladimir Graić, Igor Pirkovič	Failed to qualify		17th	31
2014	7	1	"Spet/Round and Round"	Again	Tinkara Kovač	Aleš Vovk, Tinkara Kovač, Hannah Mancini, Tina Piš	25th (as "Round and Round")	9	10th	52
2015	8	1	"Here for You"	N/A	Maraaya	Aleš Vovk, Marjetka Vovk, Charlie Mason	14th	39	5th	92
2016	10	1	"Blue and Red"	N/A	ManuElla	Marjan Hvala, Manuella Brečko, Leon Oblak	Failed to qualify		14th	57
2017	16	3	"On My Way"	N/A	Omar Naber	Omar Naber	Failed to qualify		17th	36
2018	16	2	"Hvala, ne!"	No, Thanks!	Lea Sirk	Lea Sirk, Tomy DeClerque	22nd	64	8th	132
2019	10	1	"Sebi"	Oneself	Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl	Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl	15th	105	6th	167
2020	10	1	"Voda"	Water	Ana Soklič	Ana Soklič & Bojan Simončič	Event Cancelled

References

External links

EMA Official site (in Slovene)

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