The names of the winners in the Europe in Harmony competition, launched by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), a EU consultative body, have now been announced. Out of close to 70 participants, third prize went to secondary school students from Silistra – Svilena Georgieva and the DoReMi music studio. The competition is for music videos based on the Ode to Joy. The video challenge to the young video-makers is to use music and video interpretations to show what the European Union means to them. An instrumental version of an excerpt of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy was accepted as the European anthem in 1971. In their experiments, the participants had to use the vocals from the famous work, transforming it any way they chose to.

The online vote singled out 10 videos for the semifinals. A jury of committee members as well as representatives of the media made the evaluation and compiled the final standings. The competition does not set down any strict professional rules and there are no age restrictions. The only requirement is for the participants to be amateurs. The idea is to popularize European values and of course – the work of the EESC. There were all kinds of participants in terms of nationality and age but most demonstrated an enviable flight of imagination. Some obviously had sufficient financial and moral support; others had to make do on much more modest funding. The results are vibrant, witty and optimistic and convey their message within the space of just a few minutes. At times naïve and not very subtle, they are nevertheless sincere.

Svilena found out about the competition from her school’s headmistress Magdalena Atanassova, but there was very little time left until the deadline. She had just a few days to get a clear picture of her concept, to write the script and organize the shoot for the low-budget video.

“I am 15 and I study at the Peyo Yavorov foreign language school in Silistra,” she says. “I took up music when I was six and my first teacher was Bonka Skorchelieva. I started singing with her music studio DoReMi, so part of my childhood passed there. I was really thrilled to take up the challenge of the European Economic and Social Committee and come up with my own interpretation of the Ode to Joy. The requirement was for it to be performed by a vocal group or choir. So I immediately thought of DoReMi. I performed the solo. Almost 70 videos from all parts of Europe took part in the competition so I was overjoyed to have been selected by the jury. The first place went to Delta Q from Germany and the second – to the video Only Words from Spain. The singers who recorded it were not able to attend the award ceremony, only members of the technical crew were there. So, I had the great honour of singing the Ode to Joy at the ceremony. The atmosphere in Brussels was amazing, I met so many interesting people there.”

Svilena was one of the youngest Europe in Harmony soloists and she was awarded her prize by Jane Morrice, Vice-President of the committee. In their motivation the jury wrote: “Difficult to imagine such a young singer with such a mature, jazzy, raunchy, creative tone. The children's choir is very tuneful, as is the choir of older girls bringing another dimension to the musical level of the video.” This is the second award for Svilena for the year. Days before the award ceremony in Brussels she won the grant prix at the Golden Key international francophone song contest, organized by the Alliance Francaise in Plovdiv. She admits she has a long way to go yet, but the first steps towards becoming a professional pop and jazz singer have been taken.

English version: Milena Daynova