Bosnia+&+Herzegovina

=Artist Biography: Regina = The band Regina was founded in 1990. They started out as a garage band with three of the members, Aleksandar, Bojan & Denis. They had a great deal of difficulty finding a singer for the group. Then they finally came upon Davor Ebner. Once the band was formed they had all sorts of success all over Yugoslavia. The band draws their inspiration from the famous Irish band U2.

They had a recognizable sound of the Sarajevo pop-rock school, which drew attention to all sorts of demographics ranging from teenagers to adults, the songs from Regina’s first album easily found their way to listeners. New stars were born. Their songs //Sleep!// ,//Do Not Ask Me// and //The Way She Was//, marked the first album, which was released in 1990 under the name "Regina".

//Love Is Not For Us// their second album and was released in 1991. It crossed the borders of Bosnia & Herzegovina and achieved success all over what was formerly known as Yugoslavia. The war circumstances separated the band members and the band ceased their work.

Once the new millenium began, Aleksandar Covic began a separate career under the name Aco Reginal and for Davor Ebner, he started a career with the group Gruntibugli, but they would never live up to the success of the former Regina. These independent careers ended in 2004 when the band met in Belgrade and agreed to restore Regina in its former cast: Aleksandar Čović, Davor Ebner, Bojan Milićević and Denis Čabrić. After ten month preparations, the group Regina recorded a new come-back album titled //I Can Do It All// and once again captured the public in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and Macedonia.

The success of this album was confirmed in a great concert tour all over Bosnia & Herzegovina. The peak of their career was their performance as a supporting act for the Rolling Stones at their concert in Budva in July of 2007.

Overall they have recorded 8 albums and in January 2009 Regina was chosen to represent Bosnia and Herzegovina at the 54th Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow with the song //Bistra Voda//.  All information was received from [|Wikipedia], the [|Eurovision Official website], and the [|BBC website]. 

Bosnia and Herzegovina has participated in the Eurovision song contest a total of 15 different times. They first joined in the Eurovision song contest in 1993 and have yet to win out of those 15 times. Though they have cam very close in 2006 where Bosnia and Herzegovina's best result was coming in 3rd place. Also Bosnia and Herzegovina had previously participated at Eurovision between [|1961]  and [|1991]  but in research it has not shown that this was an active and serious involvement in Eurovision. The singer was known as [|Yugoslavia] . He is an artist from Bosnia and Herzegovina had also competed to represent the [|Yugoslavia]  at Eurovision in [|1992] <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">.
 * __Eurovision Song Contest:__**

__**Narrative:**__ Regina the Bosnian rock band were inspired by U2, but were inactive for some time before the contest. Regina was expected to soar to the top of the popular music trends of their time. Regina will represent Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 54th Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. History of the Sarajevo pop-rock group Regina, whose members, go as far back as 1990 “decided” to get seriously involved in music life, recorded a very unhappy situation of not having a proper vocalist, at that time. After an unsuccessful audition, to which some “singers” even brought somebody else’s recordings, Davor Ebner appeared quite unexpectedly. At that time he was the vocalist in the Sarajevo group Konvoj (Convoy). After three months Ebner (current vocalist) finally conceded to the pressure and persuasion of Aleksandar Čovic, the front-man of the group Regina. An agreement was reached and first recordings done. Regina have a recognizable sound of the Sarajevo pop-rock school, adjusted to various generations, teenagers as well as admirers of a “harder” sound, the songs from Regina’s first album easily found their way to listeners. New stars were born. Songs //Sleep!// ,//Do Not Ask Me// and //The Way She Was//, were on the first album, released in 1990, under the name "Regina". Their second album, named //Love Is Not For Us//, released in 1991, crossed the borders of Bosnia & Herzegovina, achieving success all over former Yugoslavia. The war circumstances separated the band members and the band ceased their work.

The new millennium marked the beginning of separate careers for Aleksandar Covic, under the name Aco Reginal and for Davor Ebner with the group Gruntibugli, but they were overshadowed by the success of the former Regina. These independent careers ended in 2004 when, after meeting in Belgrade and only one discourse, they agreed to restore Regina to its former group: Aleksandar Čović, Davor Ebner, Bojan Milićević and Denis Čabrić. After ten month preparations the group Regina, in its former shape, recorded their new, come-back album – //I Can Do It All// and once again captured the public in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia. The success of this album was confirmed in a great concert tour all over Bosnia & Herzegovina. The crown of their career was their performance as a supporting act for the Rolling Stones at their concert in Budva, in July 2007. (Eurovision official site)

In January 2009 Regina was chosen to represent Bosnia and Herzegovina at the 54th Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow, with the song //Bistra Voda//.

Regina is continuing their promo tour through Europe. Having already been in FYR Macedonia and Turkey, they will appear in Albania and Montenegro next. Regina will appear as special guests in concerts of Dino Merlin (who represented Bosnia & Herzegovina with Beatrice in the 1999 Eurovision Song Contest and as a composer in 1993) in Gothenburg, Malmö and Horsens. Regina will perform their song //Bistra voda// 18th and last in the first semi final of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest on 12th May. In 2008, the country was represented by Laka who finished ninth in the first semi final and tenth in the final with his song //Pokušaj//.

http://escfans.com/news/read/13586

It is also possible that Regina will fly to London just before the rehearsals in Morcow start. They will also appear during one of Sakis Rouvas' concerts in Greece. http://escfans.com/news/read/13586

The broadcaster BHRT announced they received a total of 79 entries by the submission deadline of 20th of December, last year. Out of those a jury chose the representative of the Balcan country - Regina. Their song is called //Bistra Voda// (//Clear Water//) and is written by Aleksandar Čović. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Bosnia and Herzegovina reached the 10th place in the final of the 2008 edition of Europe's favorite TV-show in Belgrade with Laka's Pokušaj. Bistra Voda could be best described as an emotive, slow-burning anthem. Bistra Voda is sung entirely in Bosnian, so we haven’t got a clue what it’s all about, but its title translates into ‘Clear Water’ <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">.[]

The name of the song that Regina performed for the contest is called “Bistra Voda”, and it was both written and performed by Aleksander Covic. In English, the title of the song means “Clear Water.” The lyrics seem to be very random but the overall theme of the song is the story of a man who is not yet able to find love because he still needs to find his own soul. He is saying that his life will not be complete until he finds true love. The music video for the song was very interesting because throughout it there were many references to communism. The red and white flags along with the style that the drummer was marching made it very interesting and was much different than any type of video you would ever see in the United States. The language that the song is being performed in is called the Bosnian language, which is one of the three languages spoken in the country. The song was very well received well in its home country by most but some critics called the song superficial and it was to “pop” to be the song represented in Eurovision. Clearly the voters did not feel that way because they made it out of the first round of the contest. The song has a very Spanish feel to it, it almost sounded like an Enrique Iglesias song, at least until the chorus came. Once the chorus hits you can immediately hear the pop influence that went into the song. It starts off with a slow piano and a bass drum the gradually picks up. Then a guitar comes in when the song really starts to pick up. The reason the chorus sounds like a pop song is because of the flute like noise. The song has a good combination of slow and fast rhythm, and that along with great vocals provides a perfect song for Eurovision.
 * __Song Information:__**

http://lyricstranslations.com/eurovision-lyrics/eurovision-2009-bosnia-regina-bistra-voda