2009: Elena - The Balkan Girls

Elena really is a Balkan girl! Born to Romanian-Macedonian parents on the 30th of July, 1985 in Bucharest, she can definitely sing her song with conviction. An strange but fascinating fact is that Elena comes from a family of priests, with many of the ancestors on her father’s side having been orthodox priests. Her mother played an important role in nurturing her musical interest, herself being a folk musician who Elena even performed with aged just 3 years old. A few years would pass before Elena really began to lay the foundations for her music career. Aged 11, she was enroled at the Children’s National Palace where she was given singing lessons. A mere 4 years later, in 2000, she won her first competition, taking home first place in the Little Bear contest. She followed up her success by participating in the Mamaia Festival the following year.

Her professional music career began to take off way back in 2003, upon joining the group Mandinga, a hugely popular latino band. They tried their hand in the Romanian preselection in 2005, but could only manage 4th place with My Sun, which went on to become a huge hit at home. In the beginning of 2006, Mandinga and Elena went their separate ways with the release of Elena’s first solo album following shortly after (June 2006) entitled Vocea Ta (Your Voice). Her single with the same name reached #8 in Romania, #175 in Russia and #88 in the Ukraine.was nominated for Best Song in 2006 and she also won the Radio România Actualitaţi prize for best performing act in 2007. The success continued, with Elena bagging the prize for Best Song of 2007 with Ochii Tăi Căprui (Your Brown Eyes).

2209 saw renewed success for Elena, with two consecutive #1 singles on the Romanian charts, The Balkan Girls and Disco Romancing. A A third single, Midnght Sun climbed to #5. Elena has also released two more studio albums during her career, Lilicea Vreariei (Flower of Love) and Te Ador (I Love You), re-released as a special edition with the addition of The Balkan Girls as a bonus track.

Participant Profile

In the final

In the semi final