Yugoslavia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1991 with the song "Brazil" (Бразил), composed by Zoran Vračrvić, with lyrics by Dragana Šarić, and performed by Šarić herself under her stage name Bebi Dol. The Yugoslavian participating broadcaster, Jugoslavenska radiotelevizija (JRT), organized a national final, JRT izbor za pjesmu Evrovizije – Sarajevo '91, to select its entry for the contest. This was the penultimate entry from Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Before Eurovision
Jugovizija 1991
TV Sarajevo (TVSa) staged the Yugoslav national final on 9 March 1991 at its television Studio A in Sarajevo, hosted by Draginja Balać and Senad Hadžifejzović.[1] The formal name of the contest was JRT izbor za pjesmu Evrovizije – Sarajevo '91.[2] There were 16 songs in the final, from all subnational public broadcasters.[3] This was the final Jugovizija participation for the broadcasters in Croatia, Macedonia, and Slovenia before the countries declared their independence later in the same year.[4]
The winner was chosen by the votes of twenty-four jurors coming from eight broadcasting stations, one three-member jury for each of the subnational public broadcasters of JRT. Each jury was consisted of at least two professionals within the music industry, and one under age of 30. Each of the jurors gave points to their favorite songs according to a system with the ascending format of going from 1–3, 5 and finally 7 points. The subnational public broadcasters could vote for their own entries. The winning entry was "Brazil [sr]", performed by Serbian singer Bebi Dol, composed by Zoran Vračević and written by Bebi Dol herself.[5]
The tensions in Yugoslavia at the time were showing through Jugovizija. The contest was held under the presumption that an entry from Croatian TV (HTV) wouldn't win the contest, with high tensions between the Yugoslav federal institutions led by the Serbian president Slobodan Milošević and the Croatian president Franjo Tuđman.[6] With Milošević exerting control over institutions Montenegro, Vojvodina and Kosovo - including the broadcasters - the three broadcasters were pressured to vote in a similar fashion to Serbian TV Belgrade (TVBg).[4] The winning song, "Brazil" by Bebi Dol, received points from Belgrade (Serbia), Titograd (Montenegro), Novi Sad (Vojvodina) and Priština (Kosovo), and received no points from Sarajevo (Bosnia & Herzegovina), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Skopje (Macedonia) and Zagreb (Croatia). [7] The favourite candidate from Croatia, "Daj, obuci levisice" by Danijel Popović, received no points from Belgrade and Priština.[6][4]
Bebi Dol was the first performer on the night of the contest, preceding Iceland. At the close of the voting the song had received only 1 point, coming 21st in the field of 22 competing countries, beating only Austria.[8][9] The Yugoslav jury awarded its 12 points to Israel.
