Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017
 |
| Eurovision Song Contest 2017 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |  Moldova | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | O melodie pentru Europa 2017 | |||
| Selection date(s) | Semi-final: 24 February 2017 Final: 25 February 2017 | |||
| Selected entrant | SunStroke Project | |||
| Selected song | "Hey, Mamma!" | |||
| Selected songwriter(s) | SunStroke Project Alina Galetskaya | |||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Semi-final result | 2nd, 291 points | |||
| Final result | 3rd, 374 points | |||
| Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
| ||||
Moldova participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. The artist and song that would represent Moldova in the 2017 contest was selected through the national final, O melodie pentru Europa 2017, organised by the Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM), on 25 February 2017.
Moldova was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 9 May 2017. Performing during the show in position 12, "Hey, Mamma!" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 13 May.
Background
Prior to the 2017 Contest, Moldova had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twelve times since its first entry in 2005.[1] The nation's best placing in the contest was sixth, which it achieved in 2005 with the song "Bunica bate toba" performed by Zdob și Zdub. Other than their debut entry, to this point, Moldova's only other top ten placing at the contest was achieved in 2007 where "Fight" performed by Natalia Barbu placed tenth. In the 2016 contest, "Falling Stars" performed by Lidia Isac failed to qualify Moldova to compete in the final.
For the 2017 Contest, the Moldovan national broadcaster, TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM), will broadcast the event within Moldova and organise the selection process for the nation's entry. TRM confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest on 25 October 2016.[2] Moldova has selected their entry via a national selection show since 2008, a procedure that was continued for their 2017 participation.[3]
Before Eurovision
O melodie pentru Europa 2017
O melodie pentru Europa 2017 was the national final format developed by TRM in order to select Moldova's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. Unlike in previous years, the event only included one semi-final and a final to be held on 24 and 25 February 2017, respectively.[3]
Format
The selection of the competing entries for the national final and ultimately the Moldovan Eurovision entry took place over two rounds. On 21 January 2017, all artists who submitted a song to the broadcaster were invited to take part in a live audition, where the fourteen semi-finalists were decided. The fourteen semi-finalists took part in a live semi-final on 24 February, where eight singers progressed to the live final on 25 February. The winner was decided by voting from the Moldovan public and a jury of music professionals.[3]
Competing entries
Interested artists and composers had until 18 January 2017 to submit their entries to the Moldovan broadcaster.[3] At the conclusion of the submissions period, the broadcaster had received 40 entries, all of which were invited to the live auditions.[4] One artist withdrew from the competition prior to the auditions, and another did not show up, leaving 38 candidates.[5] The fourteen semi-finalists were revealed on 21 January, following the live audition. Constantin Cobîlean and his song "Mama" were disqualified after it was discovered that a Russian language version of the song had been performed on the Russian television series Glavnaya Stsena in 2015. He was replaced by Nadia Moșneagu and the song "Never Give Up on Us".[6][7] On 24 January, Irina Kit decided to withdraw from the selection after it was revealed that heir chorus had similarities to the Akon song Bananza; She was replaced by Samir Loghin and the song "Glow".[8]
| Artist | Song (English Translation) | Composer(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Aurel Chirtoacă | "Dor de mamă" (Missing mother) | Aurel Chirtoacă |
| Big Flash Sound | "Logic" | Big Flash Sound - Eugenia Golomidova, Eugen Valeev |
| Diana Brescan | "Breath" | Andrei Tostogan, Liuba Perciun |
| Emilia Russu | "If Only You" | Samuel Bugia Garrido, Athanasios Nakos |
| Ethno Republic & Surorile Osoianu | "Discover Moldova" | Marcel Ștefăneț, Nelu Laiu |
| Marks & Ștefăneț | "Join Us in the Rain" | Ralph Siegel |
| Nadia Moșneagu | "Never Give Up on Us" | Johan Lundin, Vanessa Nordmark |
| Samir Loghin | "Glow" | Samir Loghin, Danil Murzac, Kälin Bogdan |
| Sandy C | "A Beautiful World" | Christian Alares, Malin Johansson, Christopher Wortley |
| Sergiu Pungă | "Ne-a fost iubirea un joc" (Our love was a game) | |
| SunStroke Project | "Hey, Mamma!" | SunStroke Project, Alina Galetskaya |
| THE ONE | "Dance" | Iurie Sceankin, Igor Cristov, Pavel Malișev |
| Valeria Pașa | "Freedom" | Eugen Doibani |
| Vozniuc feat. Vio Grecu | "Don't Lie" | Dan Vozniuc, Rodica Olișevschi |
Shows
Semi-final
Public vote qualifier Jury qualifier
| Semi-final – 24 February 2017 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote | Place | Result | ||
| 1 | Vozniuc feat. Vio Grecu | "Don't Lie" | 26 | 5 | 113 | 8 | Advanced | |
| 2 | Emilia Russu | “If Only You” | 21 | 2 | 81 | 12 | Out | |
| 3 | Sandy C | "A Beautiful World" | 25 | 4 | 108 | 9 | Out | |
| 4 | Valeria Pașa | "Freedom" | 36 | 6 | 120 | 7 | Advanced | |
| 5 | Sergiu Pungă | "Ne-a fost iubirea un joc" | 12 | 0 | 99 | 10 | Out | |
| 6 | Ethno Republic & Surorile Osoianu | "Discover Moldova" | 65 | 10 | — | 2 | Advanced | |
| 7 | Marks & Ștefăneț | "Join Us in the Rain" | 13 | 0 | 440 | 5 | Advanced | |
| 8 | Aurel Chirtoacă | "Dor de mamă" | 38 | 7 | — | 4 | Advanced | |
| 9 | Big Flash Sound | "Logic" | 17 | 1 | 34 | 13 | Out | |
| 10 | SunStroke Project | "Hey, Mamma!" | 67 | 12 | — | 1 | Advanced | |
| 11 | Diana Brescan | "Breathe" | 52 | 8 | — | 3 | Advanced | |
| 12 | Nadia Moșneagu | "Never Give Up On Us" | 3 | 0 | 16 | 14 | Out | |
| 13 | Samir Loghin | "Glow" | 8 | 0 | 335 | 6 | Advanced | |
| 14 | THE ONE | "Dance" | 23 | 3 | 86 | 11 | Out | |
| Detailed Jury Votes | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Song | A. Chiriac | I. Stepan | I. Mahovici | L. Panfil | V. Barbas | N. Țărnă | G. Burlacu | Total | Points | |||
| "Don't Lie" | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 8 | 2 | 26 | 5 | |||
| “If Only You” | 7 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 2 | |||
| "A Beautiful World" | 4 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 25 | 4 | |||
| "Freedom" | 8 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 36 | 6 | |||
| "Ne-a fost iubirea un joc" | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 12 | 0 | |||
| "Discover Moldova" | 6 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 12 | 7 | 65 | 10 | |||
| "Join Us in the Rain" | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 13 | 0 | |||
| "Dor de mamă" | 5 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 8 | 38 | 7 | |||
| "Logic" | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 17 | 1 | |||
| "Hey, Mamma!" | 10 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 7 | 4 | 12 | 67 | 12 | |||
| "Breathe" | 12 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 52 | 8 | |||
| "Never Give Up On Us" | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |||
| "Glow" | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 0 | |||
| "Dance" | 0 | 6 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 23 | 3 | |||
Final
| Final – 25 February 2017 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote | Total | Place | |||
| 1 | SunStroke Project | "Hey, Mamma!" | 88 | 10 | 1539 | 12 | 22 | 1 | |
| 2 | Samir Loghin | "Glow" | 34 | 3 | 217 | 7 | 10 | 7 | |
| 3 | Valeria Pașa | "Freedom" | 51 | 5 | 148 | 6 | 11 | 6 | |
| 4 | Aurel Chirtoacă | "Dor de mamă" | 56 | 6 | 63 | 3 | 9 | 8 | |
| 5 | Diana Brescan | "Breathe" | 80 | 8 | 127 | 5 | 13 | 3 | |
| 6 | Marks & Ștefăneț | "Join Us in the Rain" | 38 | 4 | 471 | 8 | 12 | 4 | |
| 7 | Ethno Republic & Surorile Osoianu | "Discover Moldova" | 90 | 12 | 598 | 10 | 22 | 2 | |
| 8 | Vozniuc feat. Vio Grecu | "Don't Lie" | 58 | 7 | 109 | 4 | 11 | 5 | |
Promotion
SunStroke Project made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Hey, Mamma!" as the Moldovan Eurovision entry. Between 3 and 6 April, they took part in promotional activities in Tel Aviv, Israel where they performed during the Israel Calling event held at the Ha'teatron venue.[9][10] On 8 April, they performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Selma Björnsdóttir.[11] On 15 April, they performed during the Eurovision Spain Pre-Party, which was held at the Sala La Riviera venue in Madrid, Spain.[12]
At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot.[13] On 31 January 2017, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Moldova was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 9 May 2017, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.[14]
Once all the competing songs for the 2017 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Moldova was set to perform in position 12, following the entry from Poland and before the entry from Iceland.[15]
Semi-final
SunStroke Project took part in technical rehearsals on 30 April and 4 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 8 and 9 May. This included the jury show on 8 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.
At the end of the show, Moldova was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final.
Points awarded to Moldova
| Points awarded to Moldova (Semi-final 1) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Televote | ||||
| 12 points | 10 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |
| 5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |
| Jury | ||||
| 12 points | 10 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |
| 5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |
Final
Shortly after the first semi-final, a winners' press conference was held for the ten qualifying countries. As part of this press conference, the qualifying artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. This draw was done in the reverse order the countries appeared in the semi-final running order. Moldova was drawn to compete in the first half. After the completion of the second semifinal press conference, it was decided that Moldova would perform seventh in the grand final running order, following the entry from the Netherlands and preceding the entry from Hungary. At the close of voting, they finished in 3rd place in the combined ranking with 374 points, finishing in 8th place with the national juries (110 points) and 3rd place in the televote (264 points). The result gave Moldova its best-ever placing since their debut in 2005.
Points awarded to Moldova
| Points awarded to Moldova (Grand Final) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Televote | ||||
| 12 points | 10 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |
| 5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |
| Jury | ||||
| 12 points | 10 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |
| 5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |
Split voting results
| Split voting results from Moldova (Semi-final 1) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Country | Jury | Televote | |||||||
| Natan | N. Ciobanu | V. Barbas | P. Gamurari | A. Socolov | Average Rank | Points | Rank | Points | ||
| 01 |  Sweden |
3 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 10 | 1 |
| 02 |  Georgia |
8 | 9 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 2 |
| 03 |  Australia |
5 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 15 | |
| 04 |  Albania |
10 | 17 | 16 | 6 | 11 | 13 | 2 | 10 | |
| 05 |  Belgium |
13 | 15 | 6 | 12 | 14 | 12 | 12 | ||
| 06 |  Montenegro |
16 | 16 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 3 | 8 | |
| 07 |  Finland |
7 | 10 | 4 | 14 | 12 | 8 | 3 | 16 | |
| 08 |  Azerbaijan |
6 | 12 | 3 | 9 | 15 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 12 |
| 09 |  Portugal |
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 5 | 6 |
| 10 |  Greece |
4 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 11 | |
| 11 |  Poland |
9 | 7 | 12 | 13 | 10 | 10 | 1 | 8 | 3 |
| 12 | Moldova |
|||||||||
| 13 |  Iceland |
11 | 13 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 2 | 14 | |
| 14 |  Czech Republic |
15 | 14 | 14 | 11 | 6 | 14 | 17 | ||
| 15 |  Cyprus |
14 | 6 | 15 | 15 | 13 | 15 | 4 | 7 | |
| 16 |  Armenia |
2 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 10 | 7 | 4 |
| 17 |  Slovenia |
12 | 5 | 13 | 8 | 16 | 11 | 13 | ||
| 18 |  Latvia |
17 | 11 | 11 | 16 | 9 | 16 | 6 | 5 | |
| Split voting results from Moldova (Final) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Country | Jury | Televote | |||||||
| Natan | N. Ciobanu | V. Barbas | A. Socolov | D. Zubov | Average Rank | Points | Rank | Points | ||
| 01 |  Israel |
20 | 19 | 15 | 22 | 12 | 19 | 15 | ||
| 02 | Poland |
19 | 10 | 20 | 15 | 18 | 16 | 18 | ||
| 03 |  Belarus |
7 | 8 | 17 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 3 | 10 | 1 |
| 04 |  Austria |
12 | 5 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 2 | 24 | |
| 05 | Armenia |
10 | 11 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 25 | |
| 06 |  Netherlands |
11 | 2 | 12 | 12 | 23 | 11 | 20 | ||
| 07 | Moldova |
|||||||||
| 08 |  Hungary |
4 | 12 | 5 | 17 | 14 | 10 | 1 | 11 | |
| 09 |  Italy |
25 | 20 | 23 | 10 | 13 | 21 | 7 | 4 | |
| 10 |  Denmark |
15 | 9 | 19 | 20 | 15 | 15 | 21 | ||
| 11 | Portugal |
13 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 6 |
| 12 | Azerbaijan |
6 | 22 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 10 |
| 13 |  Croatia |
21 | 25 | 22 | 25 | 24 | 25 | 19 | ||
| 14 | Australia |
9 | 15 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 17 | |
| 15 | Greece |
8 | 13 | 10 | 14 | 21 | 13 | 4 | 7 | |
| 16 |  Spain |
14 | 18 | 25 | 24 | 22 | 23 | 22 | ||
| 17 |  Norway |
5 | 23 | 9 | 13 | 11 | 12 | 14 | ||
| 18 |  United Kingdom |
17 | 3 | 14 | 18 | 20 | 14 | 16 | ||
| 19 | Cyprus |
18 | 14 | 24 | 16 | 19 | 20 | 13 | ||
| 20 |  Romania |
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 1 | 12 |
| 21 |  Germany |
16 | 16 | 16 | 9 | 25 | 17 | 23 | ||
| 22 |  Ukraine |
22 | 17 | 18 | 21 | 8 | 18 | 12 | ||
| 23 | Belgium |
23 | 24 | 13 | 19 | 17 | 22 | 9 | 2 | |
| 24 | Sweden |
2 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 8 | 3 |
| 25 |  Bulgaria |
3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 3 | 8 |
| 26 |  France |
24 | 21 | 21 | 23 | 16 | 24 | 6 | 5 | |
After Eurovision
After the Eurovision performance there was much discussion about the saxophone player Sergey Stepanov in Moldova's entry, who was the main focus of the 'epic sax guy' Internet meme. This has led to online tribute videos being made by fans which have gone viral, one of which is ten hours long.
References
- ^ "Moldova Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
- ^ Granger, Anthony (25 October 2016). "Moldova: NTU director general confirms Eurovision 2017 participation". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
- ^ a b c d Granger, Anthony (12 December 2016). "Moldova: Eurovision 2017 national final on 25 February". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
- ^ Granger, Anthony (18 January 2017). "MOLDOVA: 40 SONGS SUBMITTED FOR O MELODIE PENTRU EUROPA 2017". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
- ^ Honciuc, Bogdan (21 January 2017). "MOLDOVA: 14 ACTS ADVANCE TO SEMI-FINAL AFTER LIVE AUDITIONS". wiwibloggs.com. Wiwibloggs.
- ^ Honciuc, Bogdan (23 January 2017). "MOLDOVA: NADIA MOSNEAGU REPLACES DISQUALIFIED SINGER CONSTANTIN COBILEAN". wiwibloggs.com. Wiwibloggs.
- ^ Gallagher, Robyn (23 January 2017). "MAMA MIA! MOLDOVAN SEMI-FINAL ENTRY "MAMA" PERFORMED ON RUSSIAN X FACTOR IN 2015". wiwibloggs.com. Wiwibloggs.
- ^ Granger, Anthony (25 January 2017). "MOLDOVA: IRINA KIT WITHDRAWS FROM O MELODIE PENTRU EUROPA". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix.
- ^ Kavaler, Ron (22 March 2017). "ISRAEL CALLING! EUROVISION PROMO EVENT SET FOR APRIL 3 TO 6". wiwibloggs.com. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
- ^ Laufer, Gil (5 April 2017). "Tonight: Israel Calling 2017 to be held with 28 participating countries". esctoday.com. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
- ^ Jordan, Paul (29 March 2017). "Eurovision in Concert sets a new record with 33 acts". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
- ^ Fuster, Luis (1 April 2017). "MADRID CALLING! 19 ACTS WILL TAKE PART IN EUROVISION SPAIN PRE-PARTY". wiwibloggs.com. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
- ^ Jordan, Paul (25 January 2017). "Semi-Final Allocation draw to take place in Kyiv". eurovision.tv. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
- ^ Jordan, Paul (31 January 2017). "Results of the Semi-Final Allocation Draw". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
- ^ Jordan, Paul (31 March 2017). "Semi-Final running order for Eurovision 2017 revealed". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
External links
