Bulgaria have only had two previous appearances at Eurovision, and on both occasions, failed to make it past the Semi-Final, coming 19th of 25 in 2005 and 17th of 23 in 2006.  Consequently, they find themselves performing in the Semi-Final again before they can make it through to the Final of 2007.

 

 

On their first attempt, Bulgaria simply didn't do well because the song was, well, terrible.  On their second, we saw a big improvement, but the song just wasn't for everyone and the draw was poor, so it's third time lucky for Bulgaria.  This year, their hopes rest with Elitsa and Stoyan, singing 'Voda (Water)', and it really is something very different, and something very good indeed.  It has a haunting tibetan flavoured chant, with a wonderful techno backing which will bring the song to life on stage.  This is a very strong entry, and certainly one of a kind when it comes to any Eurovision song contest, so without officially predicting, I see no reason why this won't make the Final on May 12th - they surely stand a better chance than most!

 

 

Eurovision hasn't really seen anything like this but the closest entries to compare it to are Romania's two previous attempts, 'Let Me Try' and 'Tornero'.  Both were dance tracks with an ethnic feel, and while this takes ethnic to an asian level, I still think it will do well enough to make it into the Final comfortably and then achieve a safe top ten position when it gets there.  Don't discount it from winning though.

 

 

 

 

With this year’s main dance track Bulgaria pulled through the Semi-Final for the first time and mustered up an impressive 5^th place in the Final.  The performance was good – everything it should have been, though, in my opinion, nothing extra special.  Watching back on the DVD I can’t help but think that much of the song depended upon the backing track, but Elitsa’s vocals were generally very impressive apart from that one note she totally missed in the Semi.  ‘Water’ apart from being very unique, was well staged and successfully performed, appealing across the board as I predicted and finishing within my bracket of 4^th-6^th place… phew!