Serbian Folk Music Festival: 'Lenka' Wins on Tiebreak
Two songs finished level on top votes on the opening night of the eighth Serbian Folk Music Festival, and 'Lenka' by Mladen Jovicic Misko took the win.
On the first night of the eighth Serbian Folk Music Festival, held on Tuesday, October 13, two songs ended level at the top of the vote count, so the festival’s rules had to pick the winner: in a tie, the composition that received the highest mark more often ranks higher. Among 16 songs from the old-town and romance repertoire, first place went to “Lenka,” performed by Mladen Jovicic Misko, who wrote both the lyrics and the music.
What decided between the two songs on top?
“Lenka” received the maximum number of points twice, while “Uvek moja, moja vise nikad” got it once, and that was enough to separate them. Second place therefore goes to the song with entry number 8, performed by Djordje Cavic, while third went to “Tvoje srce” (entry number 4), performed by Ivana Dimkovski.
The audience and the jury did not agree on the winner. Viewers voting by text message chose “Tvoje srce,” put “Bagrem beli” second and “Jelo, Jeleno” third. “Lenka” is not among the audience’s top three.
The festival handed out the following prizes:
- first place: 300,000 dinars
- second place: 200,000 dinars
- third place: 100,000 dinars
- audience award: 100,000 dinars
Who else won an award?
Nemanja Radivojsic won best lyrics for the song “Lena,” sung by Petar Nisic. Nemanja Mihajlovic received the award for best arrangement, for “Tvoje srce,” so that song and Ivana Dimkovski collected three honors: third place, the audience vote and the arrangement prize. Strahinja Zivanovic was named best interpreter, for “Vojnikova prica.”
What did the organizers say before the start?
The festival is jointly organized by Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) and the Association of Variety and Music Artists of Serbia (SEMUS). Before the opening, SEMUS president Dragisa Golubovic spoke about its aim:
From the very beginning, the mission was to try, through a festival like this at the national level, to keep our folk music alive in a new guise. The new era brings something new, and it seems we have succeeded.
Dusan Sukletovic, editor of the RTS Music Department, spoke about the orchestras that accompany the contestants:
As in previous years, the contestants will be accompanied by the SEMUS festival orchestra under the direction of Zoran Vlajic. On the first night the RTV Tamburitza Orchestra will play, and on the second night the RTS Folk Ensemble under the direction of Sinisa Vicentijevic.
That is how the first night went: the contestants were accompanied by the SEMUS Festival Orchestra and the Large Tamburitza Orchestra of Radio Television of Vojvodina. The script is by Slobodan Simojlovic, and the program was hosted for the first time by the trio of Marija Veljovic, Stefan Mrvaljevic and Ivana Milenkovic.
The Golden Bird and the guests of the night
The Golden Bird is SEMUS’s highest honor, meant for artists who have long and worthily represented the profession. Golubovic presented it to the ensembles “Tamburica 5” and “Svilen konac,” which opened the evening, and to Zvonko Bogdan. The honor also went to Branko Belobrk, a legend of the Folk Orchestra of Radio Television Belgrade.
While the audience vote was open, a short look back at the 2025 festival was shown, along with a performance by last year’s winner, Aleksandra Ivanov Cake.
What comes next, and how did the voting work?
The second competition night is on Thursday, October 15, at 9 p.m., broadcast live on RTS 2. In all, 32 new compositions compete across the two nights, and the non-competitive part of the program features Milance Radosavljevic, Zvonko Bogdan and Ana Bekuta.
The audience voted by text message, sending the song’s entry number to 5556. Each message costs 60 dinars, and a single phone could send at most 20 messages. RTS will direct part of the proceeds from the messages to the “Veljko Ramadanovic” School for Visually Impaired Students in Zemun, the only school in Serbia specialized in educating blind and partially sighted children.
