Rajska Sevo, Kraljice Hrvata

Croatian gossip magazine Stars, via Severina's unofficial fanclub, has the unambiguous headline this week: Rajska Sevo, Kraljice Hrvata.

That's as in Rajska Djevo, Kraljice Hrvata (Heavenly Virgin, Queen of the Croats), one of the most famous Croatian hymns.

The epic-decasyllabic headline which appeared in Slobodna Dalmacija a day or two before Dora was one thing, but it doesn't get much more hyperbolic than this.

Severina herself is interviewed (again) in Novi list today, going over much the same ground as her other interviews this week.

Here she is defending Moja štikla again:

'It's like we're ashamed of something that is Croatian. We've got nothing to be ashamed of, Greece went with their own folklore last year [in Eurovision], Ukraine before that, and Turkey. It turns out that we're ashamed of what we are. and we can't cut outselves out from this territory and put ourselves somewhere else. I'm not ashamed of that, I sang 'Djevojka sa sela' [Village girl] even though I was born in Split. I don't have any problems with my origin. Aside from Dora, I could sing that song anywhere.'

Severina also confirms that she will shortly film a role in Mi nismo anđeli 3, directed by the Serbian director Srđan Dragojević, and that a video for Moja štikla is in preparation, which she would like to shoot in the song's birthplace of Dalmatinska Zagora.

The Gazette probably ought to take back its 'Ustani Seve' comment, before that shows up somewhere too...