Dino Merlin (Bosnia & Herzegovina) 1st press conference

He represented his country again in Jerusalem in 1999 with Putnici, where he placed seventh.

Rehearsing his song entry Love in Rewind in Düsseldorf, Germany’s Esprit Arena today felt like a homecoming for Dino, who has performed many concerts in this country before, given that many former Yugoslavians settled in Germany after the civil war in the 1990s. Asked why he was performing in the Contest again, he replied: “I want to keep the child in myself alive.”

The first rehearsal went very well. The delegation team is very pleased with the atmosphere and professionalism of everyone involved. They consider the stadium venue for the concert to be an advantage, since Dino is used to playing in front of very large crowds, having promoted his best-selling album ‘Sredinom’ in Kosevo Olympic Stadium in Sarajevo in front of 80,000 fans and performing there on a number of other occasions.

Dino has written 125 songs in his native language (plus a couple in German and Arabic), but Love in Rewind is his very first song written in English. “I always wanted to be different and surprise myself. And this was one more way.”

Asked what he enjoys about Germany, Dino responded: “Every person in Sarajevo drives a Golf or an Audi. We like Germany’s perfection and order. It’s something that I would like to have more of in my family and my country!”