Serbia's classy try to win again!

The very last rehearser today at the Belgrade Arena was the local, Serbian representative Jelena Tomašević. She was to have her first rehearsal for the upcoming final at the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest on 24th of May where she will try to carry the burden of winning - just as Marija Šerifović did last year in Helsinki. In the beginning of the rehearsals there were a few problems with the earphones, but that was quickly taken care of. Jelena Tomašević gave several outstanding performances, and she is capable to bring the intensity and romance of the song to the full. Jelena Tomašević is backed by a male and a female singer who also do a very slow choreography which of course suits the slow tempo of this traditional and ethnic sounding song. Moreover there are a guitar player and a flute player on stage, and during the performance a wind machine was used. The colours used on the LED screen in the background and on the stage are in dark, blue colours. Jelena was wearing a long, slightly purple dress with a unique pattern, and the female back-up was wearing likewise dress. Moreover Jelena had a large, black belt on and a quite big, silver bracelet. Being on home ground, Jelena Tomašević and the rest of the Serbian team received loud applause from the present fans, guests and the press.

Jelena Tomašević had her breakthrough at the 2003 Budva Festival and finished second at the prestigious festival Slavjanski Bazar in Belarus the same year. In 2004, she participated with great success in the Beovizija festival. In the Serbia-Montenegro national final for the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest she sang the song Jutro composed by Željko Joksimović and written by Aleksandra Milutinović which came second. Later that same year, she sang the soundtrack to the film Ivkova Slava which was written by Željko Joksimović. The film pulled in a record number of viewers. In early 2008, Jelena decided to enter the Beovizija again - the Serbian national final for the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. She was offered the song Oro composed by Željko Joksimović again and written by Dejan Ivanović which she gladly accepted. On the 10th of March she won the Serbian national selection having received the highest number of points from both the jury and the televoters.

In her press conference, unbelievable scenes happened! Hundreds of people were giving Jelena a fantastic reception with loud clapping and cheers! All the Serbians present were extremely proud to have the incredibly talented Jelena Tomašević as their entry for the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest here on home ground in Belgrade! Jelena opened the press conference by singing her contest song Oro, and she was also asked to sing other songs from her repertoire which consists of mainly traditional Serbian music. The Serbian singer also gave some information about the promotional tour she undertook in the weeks preceding the contest: she went to Belgium, Greece, Bosnia and Croatia among others.