interview with saa lendero

1. Dear Saa, how would you describe yourself in one sentence?
I think I am a person with a good heart. therefore good person. I think that's the most important.

2. Has your life changed after performing on Ema?
Yes, it has. Even less time for myself, I'm always in a hurry, performances, interviews, media exposure and untidiness at home (laughter), but absolutely less free time. I have received great response from the audience and media with the song "Metulj" and I am very thrilled. The song became a great hit on almost all radio stations even on those which usually don't play "my" music. I have a feeling that the number of my audience expended greatly. I will do my best in the future not to disappoint them.

3. Were you satisfied with the second place on Ema? I am very satisfied and happy. The competition was really hard besides all, I was sick and had a sore throat. I was extremely happy that I reached the super-final as there were only three places available. I strongly believe that each thing happens with the reason and for me the destiny was to achieve the second place. It's all right. 4. Let us say that Omar would call off his performance in Kiev, what would be the first steps you would have to for your performance on the 50th Eurosong? Believe it or not I wouldn't go there. I think that this would be totally wrong as people choose Omar with the televoting and therefore this path wasn't meant to me. I would replace him just in case something unpredictable happened but even the deadline for final decision was on the end of March therefore there's no possibility for me to go.

5. Can you explain us how it is possible that Saa Lendero sings the song which it was supposed to be sung by Nua Derenda on Dora 2004?
It seems that this song came to me by some weird coincidence. It is true that Nua Derenda supposed to sing this song last year but I know she is not angry with me as she has no ground for it. As long someone doesn't purchase the song it belongs to the author; and Nua haven't decided to purchase the song for reasons known just to her. Andrej Babi (he was a back singer on Ema) heard me singing on the stage and also he heard some of my songs, so he concluded that I could interpret the song well. As Werner was in Croatia that time he asked him if he can bring the song to me. I liked the song. I bought it and applied it to Ema. But before that we renewed the song, I wrote the Slovene lyrics as before it had only lyrics in English and Croatian language.

6. Perhaps the song Metulj represent for you new challenge, the change for your carrier or it's just unique occurrence? And furthermore which Slovene singer is your favorite?
The song truly led me to a new crossing. I decided that I won't abandon my loyal listeners as I really like pop music. But I will try new styles in the future; country music or ethno or something different. There are quite a few paths open. In every way I want to produce quality songs in my style. As goes for Slovene singers; I couldn't make a decision, there are quite a lot of good singers. I particularly like the vocal and interpretation of Ana Deman.

7. The song, in the original named "Poput leptira", sang by Nua Derenda wasn't successful in classifying for Dora. Why not? It was said unofficially to the author of the song that even though he is from Croatia, the singer from Slovenia on Dora isn't welcome. End of story. 8. As the butterfly is the symbol of transformation do you feel as you were butterfly yourself? Let us put the one in the lyrics beside. Indeed I feel like a butterfly as I gained lots of free space; if I identify myself with the butterfly I could say that I have more wings under my wings. I can gladly tell you that the single Metulj was just released in Slovenia with 8 different language and style variants.

9. Now that you've won the OGAE Slovenia second chance contest, how would you comment the fact that the members of the club persuaded your song Metulj and that the song will be heard by almost half a million Europeans?
I really don't know what to say. Thank you very much. and. I'm very happy.

10. Do you consider organizing your own concert, where to the contrary to so far you would invite Slovene lead singers and not the other way around? As far as I know you haven't had your own concert yet.
It's true I didn't have a concert on my own yet and I'm thinking about it a lot. Above all I want the project to be performed on the high quality level with some exceptional musicians and great stage spectacle. The idea is very complex and organizational demanding so I'm in advance very afraid of it. But when it comes to it I hope it will be a success. But before the concert I'm planning a new album in autumn.

11. Can the duo Saa Lendero and Miha Herzog be compared to duo Platin regarding one's work?
Straight away I must tell that for my taste Simon and Diana are amazing and as well their performance at Eurosong was great, I watched them with tears in my eyes; I was so proud of them. We are quite alike regarding our work, we too have a record studio at home, we write lyrics and produce, we are couple too and we live together for quite a while.

12. Do you think that choosing various talents, idols and other new singers raises the quality of Slovene music scene?
I think that various competitions do provides some new singers who can sing well and have charisma but nevertheless one can hardly say that this raises quality.

13. Miha Herzog was on Ema 2004 last year with the group Pop design, and you were on this years Ema. Have you ever considered joint performance? We have some duets but we haven't exposed it too much except for songs "Sunce izlazi" and "Ti si" whit which we performed on international festival Marco Polo on Korcula last year and the year before. On both occasions we received gold. In future we might try it again, you never know.