Skopje Fest

{{more citations needed|date=September 2023}}

{{Infobox television

| image =

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| alt_name = Festival na zabavni melodii Skopje

| genre = Music, entertainment

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| country = North Macedonia

| language = Macedonian

| num_series = 24

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| location = Skopje

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| channel = MRT

| first_aired = {{Start date|1969|df=yes}}

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{{lang|mk-Latn|Skopje Fest|i=no}} ({{langx|mk|Скопје фест}}), officially {{lang|mk-Latn|Festival na zabavni melodii Skopje|i=no}} ({{langx|mk|Фестивал на забавни мелодии Скопје||Festival of entertaining melodies of Skopje|label=none}}), is one of the main musical events in North Macedonia, and formerly in Yugoslavia. The show, organized by national broadcaster Macedonian Radio Television (MRT), involves some of North Macedonia's most popular performers, singing original tracks usually accompanied by the orchestra of MRT (excluding some of its latest editions).

History

The festival began in 1968 at the Universal Hall in Skopje, and continued until 1980. Eminent Macedonian and Yugoslav singers such as Slave Dimitrov, Zafir Hadzimanov and Nina Spirova performed at {{lang|mk-Latn|Skopje Fest|i=no}} in that period. {{lang|mk-Latn|Skopje Fest|i=no}} was revived in 1994, after Macedonia gained its independence from Yugoslavia, and has since taken over {{lang|mk-Latn|MakFest|i=no}} as North Macedonia's chief music festival.

Since the late 1990s, {{lang|mk-Latn|Skopje Fest|i=no}} has also been used as the {{esccnty|North Macedonia|t=Macedonian national selections}} for the Eurovision Song Contest. The first Macedonian representative in Eurovision, Vlado Janevski, won {{lang|mk-Latn|Skopje Fest|i=no}} 1998 with the song "{{lang|mk-Latn|Ne zori, zoro|i=no}}" and went on to perform at the Eurovision Song Contest 1998. Ever since, {{lang|mk-Latn|Skopje Fest|i=no}} has been shadowed by many controversial debates regarding the strategies behind the song selections and the lack of transparence concerning the winner. Such allegations are not new to the contest, however, they intensified as the Eurovision participation became a factor. After the decision to make {{lang|mk-Latn|Skopje Fest|i=no}} the national Macedonian selection round, the traditional point award ceremony was eliminated and replaced by the controversial announcement of only the top three places. Neither the points of the jury nor the televoting results are made public.

Up until 2002, {{lang|mk-Latn|Skopje Fest|i=no}} used to be the biggest musical activity in the country. However, it has faced financial problems since then. In 2003, the festival was not held in order to save money to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. It returned in 2004 only to celebrate the 60th anniversary of MRT. After that, financial problems increased and the festival was not organised until 2008, when it was again used as the national final for Eurovision. In 2011, it was announced that {{lang|mk-Latn|Skopje Fest|i=no}} would continue being held as an independent event without being involved in the Macedonian selection process for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012.{{cite news|last=Миленковска|first=В.|title=Калиопи на Евросонг, Скопски фестивал во ноември|url=http://vest.com.mk/?ItemID=87C721F6A5784F49933D6F805AA62C17|access-date=21 November 2011|newspaper=Вест|date=19 November 2011}} It was used again as the Macedonian national final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2015, being dropped since then in favor of internal selections.{{cite web|title=FYR Macedonia: 2015 Participation Is Confirmed|url=http://eurovoix.com/2014/07/15/fyr-macedonia-2015-participation-is-confirmed/|publisher=Eurovoix|last=Granger|first=Anthony|access-date=15 July 2014|date=15 July 2014}}

Winners

class="wikitable sortable"
Year

! Song

! Artist

1968

| "{{lang|mk-Latn|Sramežlivi lugje|i=no}}" ({{lang|mk|Срамежливи луѓе}})

| Violeta Tomovska, Ljupka Dimitrova, Zafir Hadžimanov and Dime Tomovski{{cite web|title=Aleksandar Džambazov|url=http://www.andtheconductoris.eu/index.htm?http://www.eurovisionartists.nl/conductor/dir020.asp?ID=84/|publisher=And the conductor is...|access-date=20 September 2015}}

1969

| "{{lang|mk-Latn|Soul Makedonijo|i=no}}" ({{lang|mk|Соул Македонијо}})

| Bezimeni

rowspan="2" | 1971

| rowspan="2" | "{{lang|mk-Latn|Samo ti|i=no}}" ({{lang|mk|Само ти}})

| Zoran Milosavljević

Miki Jevremović
rowspan="2" | 1972

| "{{lang|mk-Latn|Odi si|i=no}}" ({{lang|mk|Оди си}})

| Dragan Mijalkovski

"{{lang|mk-Latn|Prispivna za rekata|i=no}}" ({{lang|mk|Приспивна за реката}})

| Senka Veletanlić

rowspan="2" | 1973

| "{{lang|mk-Latn|Tivko tivko|i=no}}" ({{lang|mk|Тивко тивко}})

| Goce Nikolovski

"{{lang|mk-Latn|Na ovoj den|i=no}}" ({{lang|mk|На овој ден}})

| Nina Spirova

rowspan="2" | 1974

| "{{lang|mk-Latn|Golubica|i=no}}" ({{lang|mk|Голубица}})

| Dragan Mijalkovski

"{{lang|mk-Latn|V oblak sonce|i=no}}" ({{lang|mk|В облак сонце}})

| Maja Odžaklievska

1978

| "{{lang|mk-Latn|O, ljubov neverna|i=no}}" ({{lang|mk|О, љубов неверна}})

| Zafir Hadžimanov

1994

| "{{lang|mk-Latn|Ne me dopiraj|i=no}}" ({{lang|mk|Не допирај ме}})

| Maja Odžaklievska

1995

| "{{lang|mk-Latn|Što te nema|i=no}}" ({{lang|mk|Што те нема}})

| Lidija Kočovska

1996

| "{{lang|mk-Latn|Samo ti|i=no}}" ({{lang|mk|Само ти}})

| Kaliopi

1997

| "{{lang|mk-Latn|Manastirski son|i=no}}" ({{lang|mk|Манастирски сон}})

| Pece Ognenov

1998

| "{{lang|mk-Latn|Ne zori, zoro|i=no}}" ({{lang|mk|Не зори, зоро}})

| Vlado Janevski

1999

| "{{lang|mk-Latn|Sejačot|i=no}}" ({{lang|mk|Сејачот}})

| Sašo Gigov Giš

2000

| "{{lang|mk-Latn|100% te ljubam|i=no}}" ({{lang|mk|100% те љубам}})

| XXL

2001

| "{{lang|mk-Latn|Nostalgija|i=no}}" ({{lang|mk|Носталгија}})

| Andrijana Janevska

2002

| "{{lang|mk-Latn|Od nas zavisi|i=no}}" ({{lang|mk|Од нас зависи}})

| Karolina Gočeva

2007

| "{{lang|mk-Latn|Mojot svet|i=no}}" ({{lang|mk|Mojoт свет}})

| Karolina Gočeva

2008

| "{{lang|mk-Latn|Vo ime na ljubovta|i=no}}" ({{lang|mk|Во име на љубовта}})

| Tamara, Vrčak, and Adrian

2009

| "{{lang|mk-Latn|Nešto što kje ostane|i=no}}" ({{lang|mk|Нешто што ќе остане}})

| Next Time

2010

| "{{lang|mk-Latn|Jas ja imam silata|i=no}}" ({{lang|mk|Јас ја имам силата}})

| Gjoko Taneski feat. Billy Zver and Pejčin

2011

| "{{lang|mk-Latn|Rusinka|i=no}}" ({{lang|mk|Русинкa}})

| Vlatko Ilievski

2013

| "{{lang|mk-Latn|Kje te čekam jas|i=no}}" ({{lang|mk|Ќе те чекам јас}})

| Lambe Alabakovski

2014

| "{{lang|mk-Latn|Lisja esenski|i=no}}" ({{lang|mk|Лисја есенски}})

| Daniel Kajmakoski

2015

| "{{lang|mk-Latn|Ubava|i=no}}" ({{lang|mk|Убава}})

| Eye Cue

References

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