Bosnia & Herzegovina: Lejla

Bosnia & Herzegovia best result, a 7th place, happened in the 1999 contest with the song Putnici by Dino and Beatrice. The other curious fact about this is that Putnici was not the winning song of the Bosnian national final. Starac i more by Hari Mata Hari was the winner but was later disqualified because it had already been released in Finland some years before, thus postponing the participation of Hari Mata Hari, one of the most famous groups of the Balkans in the Eurovision.
This year they have another chance to represent Bosnia with the song Lejla, composed by Željko Joksimović and lyrics by Fahrudin Pecikoza and Deja Ivanović.
And what a comeback for Hari Mara Hari. Lejla is one of the best songs of this year contest and has a very good chance of becomming Bosnia best result ever.
This beautiful love ballad follows the footsteps of Lane moja and is a top contender for victory in Athens. The lyrics are top quality, the song is very pleasant overall, it develops well, but maybe a bit more enthusiasm in the end would be nice.

The video is also very professional, showing us the beautifull city of Mostar that was declared by the UNESCO a World Heritage site in 2005.
Points for the song: 12 (from 1-8, 10 and 12)

And for the video: 5 (from 1 to 5)

Belgium calling… Lejla is probably one of the best compositions of this year. It’s a very beautiful song musically.
It’s a very simple melody that has been enhanced with lots of different instruments. Also a very good voice from the lead singer.
Clearly Joksimović style.
This is a song that can grow with the live performance and attrack the attention by the way it is composed, building up towards the end
Clearly a quality song and therefore 18 points in 20.

Welcoming this song in the contest is Eimear Quinn with The voice, the last ballad to win the Eurovision in 1996.