Moldova was one of the countries participating in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, hosted by Russia. TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM) held a national final to select its 2009 entry for the contest. Nelly Ciobanu with the song "Hora din Moldova" qualified in the second semi-final in Moscow on 14 May, and represented Moldova in the final on 16 May.
Before Eurovision
O melodie pentru Europa 2009
O melodie pentru Europa 2009 was the national final format developed by TRM in order to select Moldova's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009.
Format
The selection of the competing entries for the national final and ultimately the Moldovan Eurovision entry took place in two rounds. The first round involved a jury panel selecting twenty finalists from the received submissions to proceed to the second round, the televised national final. 20 finalists competed in the final on 14 February 2009 where the winner was selected based on the combined votes from an expert jury vote, a TRM committee vote and a public televote.
Competing entries
Artists and composers had the opportunity to submit their entries between 10 November 2008 to 20 December 2008. At the conclusion of the submission deadline, 39 entries were received by the broadcaster, two of which came from foreign composers.[1][2] A jury panel evaluated the submitted songs and selected 20 finalists for the competition.[3] The list of competing artists and songs were released on 9 January 2009.[4][5] The running order was revealed on 2 February 2009.[6][7] On 7 February 2009, "So Alive" performed by Natalia Gordienko, "Run Away" performed by Edict and "Love Is In the Air" performed by Olia Tira were withdrawn from the competition and replaced with the songs "Hei! Exploadează!" performed by Doiniţa Gherman, "Lerui - ler" performed by Veronica Stolli and "7 Days" performed by Corbus Albus.[8]
The four-hour long final took place on 14 February 2009 at the Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Chişinău, hosted by Rusalina Rusu and Serj Kuzenkoff.[9] The winner was selected based on the combination of votes from a public televote (1/3), an expert jury (1/3) and a TRM committee (1/3). "Hora din Moldova" performed by Nelly Ciobanu was selected as the winner, winning 61% of the televote and receiving top marks from both the jury and committee.[10] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2009 Romanian Eurovision entrantElena Gheorghe with "The Balkan Girls" and singer Ionel Istrati with "Uita-ma" performed as guests. 2009 Azerbaijani Eurovision entrantAySel also premiered a teaser of her Eurovision entry during the show.[11]
Moldova had to compete in one of the two semi-finals after Geta Burlacu came 12th in the 2008 semi-final. It qualified from the second semi-final and eventually finished 14th.
Moldova
