Third in Europe, first in Serbia

After returning from Azerbaijan where the 57th ESC was held, the team that represented Serbia was hosted by RTS. As a good host RTS general manager - Mr. Aleksandar Tijanic, welcomed Zeljko Joksimovic, the members of the "Ad Hoc Orchestra", and the RTS team that accompanied our representative to Baku.

Zeljko Joksimovic thanked for being chosen to represent Serbia and for the help he received in organizing his performance, stressing that he is convinced that he has met the of our viewers.

Mr. Tijanic congratulated him on a great song and an excellent performance, pointing out that good news for Serbia are very important, and that these naturally include a third place in the world's largest music competition. Hinting to the fact that the organizational costs of this year's "Eurovision" have reached 52 million Euros, the RTS general manager also jokingly noted:
"It should be known that as he was leaving I forbade him to win. I now believe that their the third place is a serious breach of their instructions!"

Mr. Tijanic recalled Zeljko Joksimovic's previous successes and the outstanding result by Maria Serifovic, underscoring that according to European pundits the Belgrade organization of "Eurosong" set production standards which remain unsurpassed.

Chatting with media representatives in the RTS lobby, the representative of Serbia thanked everyone who supported him and voted for the song "Synonim" - from his family members and the Serbian delegation in Baku, to the spectators him who gave him their votes.

"It was not easy. But given the fact that we got zero points from as many as 12 countries, our third place is a fantastic success" - Joksimovic said.

The "Ad Hoc Orchestra" accompanied Zeljko Joksimovic on the Crystal Hall stage in Baku. Its members are Ksenija Milosevic (violin and backing vocals), Olga Vujovic (violin and backing vocals), Milos Nikolic (clarinet, kaval and backing vocals), Dusan Alagic (instrumentalist and backing vocals) and Dragan Krstic (percussion and backing vocals). Zeljko, of course, did not miss the opportunity to thank them.

According to Joksimovic the team was excellent, and it meant a lot that some of the musicians were also with him the previous time he competed in the Eurovision Song Contest.

"Zeljko Joksimovic had the biggest responsibility for he had only three minutes to represent his country," said ESC executive director in Serbia Duska Vucinic-Lucic, adding that there were also some difficult moments for the Serbian delegation during their stay in Azerbaijan.

"The hosts thanked us for the fact that we have brought in one of the biggest Eurovision stars. My impression was that the competitors even feared Zeljko Joksimovic." - Ms. Duska Vucinic-Lucic said.

The competition for the "Eurovision Song Contest" has a 57 years-long history. However, the fact is that only a few of the winning songs have become evergreen. "Synonim" ("Ljubav nije stvar") surely will.