Karolina
Goceva got her first big break at the age of 11 when she performed at
a children's festival with the song "Mamo, pušti me" ("Mum,
leave me alone"). Her career was just starting, so she used the national
festivals to promote her voice and talent. She became a regular participant
in SkopjeFest, debuting in 1994 when she performed the song "Koj
da ti kae" ("Who to tell you"). In the following
years she participated successfully, especially when SkopjeFest was used
to choose a song for Eurovision. In 1996, Karolina participated with "Ma,
ajde kai mi" ("Come on, tell me") and reached 9th
place. In 1998, she participated with "Ukradeni no?i" ("Stolen
nights") and was more successful, reaching 4th place with 10,454
televotes. In 2000, Karolina joined the record label, Avalon Productions,
who helped her release her debut album "Jas imam pesna" (I've
got a song). With her first album released, Karolina took port in the
SkopjeFest Eurovision song selection. Karolina nearly missed out coming
in 2nd with song "Za nas" ("For us") from Darko Dimitrov.
After promotion through concerts and festivals, Karolina released her
second album "Zošto sonot ima kraj" (Why the dream has
an end) in 2002. Karolina gained more popularity in former Yugoslavia,
by performing at Suncane Skale festival with the song "Jamajka"
("Jamaica"). On Karolina's album, she included three English
versions of her songs titled "I'm looking for Jamaica", "You
could", and "Tell me". 2002 became even more successful
for Karolina because she was crowned the winner of "Skopje Eurosong
2002 with "Od nas zavisi" ("It Depends on Us"), which
allowed her to represent Macedonia in front of a European audience. Some
controversy surrounded Karolina participation and it dealt with the language
of the song. MKTV submitted the participation form with the performing
language selected as Macedonian. Karolina and her record label thought
that this would be a handicap and that Karolina should sing in English
so she could successfully compete with the other nations. MKTV dragged
out the incident, threatening to send 2nd placed performer Andrijana Janevska
if Karolina did not sing in Macedonian. At last MKTV offered Karolina
the possibility of performing the song in Macedonian and English, but
she eventually declined. The deadline for changes passed and Karolina
ended up going to Tallinn with the Macedonian version of her song. She
finished in 19th place.
On March of 2003 she released her third album "Znaeš kolku
vredam" (You know how much I'm worth). She was featured on many television
programs on TV stations in Macedonia. After 2003, her career expanded
to include other Balkan nations. Karolina went into the studios and recorded
all of her songs from her third album in the Serbian language so she could
appeal to a wider market in those areas.
In 2005, Karolina participated once again at the Suncane Skale festival.
Her song "Ruza Ruzica" ("Red Rose") became an instant
hit placing her 4th in the festival. Karolina also released her new song
"Se lazam sebe" ("I'm lying to myself"), which was
written by the diva of Macedonian pop music, Kaliopi. At the end of 2005,
she released the album "Vo zaborav" (In Oblivion). However the
promotion of the album started with a scandal when the Czech based "Imperial
Video Production" accused Karolina of unprofessionalism during the
shooting of the "Plovime" video. Karolina had arrived in Prague
in late 2005 to shoot two music videos but left soon after the shooting
of the first video. The production company had taken Karolina to court
and had sued for 100,000 Euros in damages. Karolina continued with her
career releasing the Serbian version of her album called "U Zaboravu"
and a special Croatian version, which contained song sung in the Jekavski
dialect. Karolina recorded a successful duet with Aki Rahimovski titled
"Bela Pesna" ("White Song"), which became a big hit
in the Ex-Yugoslavian region. In early 2007, Karolina released a duet
with the popular Serbian group Flamingosi.
Karolina Goceva will participate in the Macedonian SkopjeFest competition
with the song "Mojot Svet". The song was written by Grigor Koprov
and composed by Ognen Nedelkovski. She will be the first artist to represent
Macedonia twice at Eurovision. |