Slovenia: Marijan Novak & Špela Velikanje win the 4th duel of EMA Freš 2022 Week Three

Slovenia: Marijan Novak & Špela Velikanje win the 4th duel of EMA Freš 2022 Week Three
Thursday, 16 December 2021

  • Marijan Novak & Špela Velikanje are the winners of the 4th duel of EMA Freš 2022 Week Three, the competition for young acts that will determine four spots for the Slovenian national final EMA 2022,  and has advanced to this week’s final. 

    The Slovenian broadcaster, RTVSLO, has announced that Marijan Novak & Špela Velikanje  are the winners of the fourth duel of EMA Fres Third Week of duels and will progress to Saturday's weekly final round. Marijan Novak began his musi career at the age of 14 with the  diatonic accordion. After high school he attended the Conservatory of Music in Ljubjana where he studied the piano accordion and singing for two years. Špela Velikanje started her musical career in the primary school choir. She attended piano and singing lessons at the Idrija Music School and achieved several good placings at the Idrija Dance club competition. 

    Marijan Novak & Špela Velikanje won with their song “I Am So in Love” after beating their opponent  Mia Vučković with “Telenovela”.  However, Mia will have one more opportunity to qualify to the semifinals via the second chance round.

     

    EMA Freš 2022

    The commentators of Saturday's webcasts will be the former Slovenian representative at the Eurovision Song Contest Eva Boto (10 years have passed since her victory at the Eurovision Song Contest, which took her to the big stage in Baku this year), Joker Out singer Bojan Cvjetićanin and rapper Arne. Photo: Adrian Pregelj

    For three weeks in a row, two performers will be presented on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and through an online poll, voters will choose one each day to qualify for Saturday’s weekly finals. Out of the four winners of the day, voters will be able to vote for two winners in the new round, also via an online poll, and one will be selected by an expert commission.

    In Saturday's weekly final webcasts by Ema Freš, the weekly finalists will be scrutinized by three commentators, representatives of the young generation of musicians: singer Bojan Cvjetićanin, singer Eva Boto and rapper Arne. In the weekly final on Saturday two acts will be selected by the public and one from the jury to comepte in the televised shows later in January. 

    Of the 24 songs, 14 will remain after four weeks of online pre-selection. The 14 newcomers will re-introduce themselves in January, this time in two Ema Freš televised shows during which 7 contestants will compete in each show.

    From each show, two songs will be included in the central selection of EMA 2022. One will be chosen by the audience by telephone voting, and the other by an expert jury. Thus, out of 14 finalists, only four will qualify for the EMA 2022 selection, where they will be joined by 16 other established musicians.

     

     

    Third week's duel results

    Two acts from each show will secure a spot in the  Ema 2022 selection. One qualifier will be determined by the public and one from the jury, with a total of four EMA FREŠ acts advancing in  the Slovenian national final for Eurovision 2022. 

    With the fourth duel of the third week completed on Saturday'the weekly final is taking place , during which three acts will progress to the televised semi final. Two will be selected by the public and one by the jury. 

    4thduel 3rdweek

     

    Slovenia in Eurovision

    Slovenia participated at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1993 with 1X Band and hasn’t won yet the competition. The country’s best results in the contest are the 7th placings, achieved  in 1995 (Darja Svajger) and 2001 (Nusa Derenda).

    Slovenia has competed 26 times in the contest since their debut in 1993, and has only missed out the contests of 1994 and 2000 when it had to stay out of the event due to the rules of the competition at that time. In 2018 Slovenia opted to select its Eurovision act and entry via its traditional national selection EMA. Lea Sirk flew to Lisbon with her entry Hvala, ne!, placing 22nd in the Grand Final.

    In 2019 the country was represented in Tel Aviv by the duo, Zala Kralj and Gašper Šantl and their entry “Sebi” which finished in 15th place in the Grand final, marking Slovenia’s fourth semi final qualification the last six years of participation.

    In 2020, Ana Soklič  won the national final with her entry ‘Voda’, EMA 2020, back in February and earned the right to represent Slovenia at the Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam. Unfortunately the Slovenian act saw her Eurovision journey stay incomplete as the contest was cancelled due to the covid-19 outbreak. 

    Nevertheless the Slovenian act was chosen internally for Eurovision 2021 having a second chance to complete her ESC journey in Rotterdam where she performed the song "Amen" in the 1st Semi final but failed to qualiied to the Grand final show. 

     

    News Source/ Image: RTVSLO