Το συγκρότημα Ishtar εκπροσώπησε το Βέλγιο στον Διαγωνισμό Τραγουδιού της Eurovision 2008, ο οποίος διεξήχθη στο Βελιγράδι, με το τραγούδι “O Julissi”. Η ζωντανή αυτή ερμηνεία κατά την πρώτη ημιτελική φάση επιδεικνύει μια ξεχωριστή folk αισθητική, που ταξιδεύει το κοινό μέσα από τις ιδιαίτερες μελωδίες και τις πολυφωνικές αρμονίες. Παρά την αγάπη του κοινού, το τραγούδι δεν κατάφερε να προκριθεί στον τελικό. Το “O Julissi” κυκλοφόρησε το 2008 και συνέβαλε στη διατήρηση της παράδοσης και της κουλτούρας του Βελγίου στη σύγχρονη μουσική σκηνή της Eurovision.
Το Video “Ishtar – O Julissi (LIVE) | Belgium 🇧🇪 | First Semi-Final | Eurovision 2008” αναρτήθηκε 25/07/2025 στο Youtube κανάλι Eurovision Song Contest







































Very charming!
🙄
I think I was the only person in that hall who didn't care for this song
I love it 💕
So creative ,they made a bunch of gibberish into a great song that sounds super sweet by repeating the same gibberish and making sound like an actual language
What a lovely song! ❤
Nəhayət ki, ən sevdiyim çıxışlardan birini yüksək keyfiyyətdə izləyə biləcəm. Alternativ janr, mövcud olmayan xəyali dil, qeyri-adi musiqi alqoritmi. "Sanomi" və "O Julissi": Belçika bu işi bacarır!
One of my favourites even today ♥
God bless 😊amazing
I love Soetkin's tribute to the Strawberry Cornetto.
I've always thought this feels like a tribute to Alice in Wonderland
I don't care what people say, this is a gem. It's catchy, it's funny, the people in the arena clearly loved it; what's not to love?
I really liked this song. This was peak ESC for me. Weird, unique, camp, charming. They really don't make songs like this today
this is what not having a unified national identity does to you
The vocalist look so much another girl, but I don't know whom.
LOL
This song feels like a fairytale.
Perhaps a lesson that a trick won’t work twice on viewers. Belgium very nearly won with a song in an imaginary language in 2003, so it tried one again in 2008, and no one was keen.
I'm tired of listening to this song on a non-stop hi😔
This performance was choreographed by the rapper Ricardo Overman, member of the Dutch hip hop duo R'n'G', founded in 1996.
The Belgian performance featured the members of Ishtar performing on stage with lead singer Soetkin Baptist in a red and white dress and walking intermittently between the other members throughout the song. Due to the band originally consisting of ten members, four of them were not featured during the performance.
Ishtar's website claimed that the song was in an imaginary language. There was, however, a certain similarity to Ukrainian; in particular, the first line is fully understandable (Ukrainian "Ой у лісі на ялині", meaning "Oh, in the forest on a spruce").
and to think this song somehow won a national final
Belgium should mix the languages they used in Eurovision 2003 and 2008 and create a new "national Belgian language". That would eliminate all the disputes and problems between Flanders and Wallonia…
If you forget the lyrics of this song you can improvise and no one will notice the difference.
her clothes has the pattern of an old Japanese flag
I mean it's not on a "Sanomi" level but still a good and catchy song. Belgium is definitely not afraid to send unique songs even if the results are not doing them any favours. Belgium really needs to take a risk because their last two songs are one of the weakest song they've ever sent!
This song is based off of the Ukrainian folk song "Oj, u lisi na jalyni" (English: "Oh, in a forest on a spruce), the song is about a poor girl Marusyna who asks her sister to help her lull her babies, the sister refuses saying that she should have listened to their mother and father who warned them about the noble guy that makes girls fall for him and leaves them with misbehaved children.
And yes, it is one of only three Eurovision Song Contest entries to be performed in a constructive language, alongside "Sanomi" and "Amambanda". Think of "O julissi" as a fairytale-ish version of "Now we are free" from the movie Gladiator.
❤👍
❤👍
I get that they tried to cash in on Sanomi on being the song in an imaginary language, it just didn't quite work the same way.
I really liked this entry of my own country 😊