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Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008

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Eurovision Song Contest 2008
Country Romania
National selection
Selection processSelectia Nationala
Selection date(s)Semi-finals
9 February 2008
16 February 2008
Final
23 February 2008
Selected artist(s)Nico & Vlad Miriţă
Selected song"Pe-o margine de lume"
Finals performance
Semi-final resultQualified (7th, 94 points)
Final result20th, 45 points
Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2007 2008 2009►

Romania selected its Eurovision Song Contest 2008 through Selecţia Naţională, a national final consisting of two-semifinals and a final. The eventual winners were Nico and Vlad Miriţă with the dual-language Romanian/Italian "Pe-o margine de lume". Romania took part in the first semi-final on 20 May 2008, and qualified to compete in the final. The duet has begun their European promotional tour starting with the Greek national selection on February 27, 2008.

National final

The Romanian National Final Selecţia Naţională 2008 was held on February 23, 2008. Artists were able to start submitting songs in December. A professional jury had to select 24 songs out of 282 to compete in the national final. Four reserve songs were also chosen in case of any disqualifications or withdrawals before the first semifinal.[1]

Maya from Slovenia was among one of the artists chosen to compete in the national final, but withdrew her song because it had been accepted in the Irish national selection. Maya & the composer of the song, Ziga Pirnat, thought that they would have a better chance in the Irish National Final because they would only have to compete against five other songs, as opposed to 23 in Romania.[1]

The band 3rei Sud Est had also announced their participation with the song Vorbe care dor but withdrew long before the semifinals.

Following the second semifinal, on the 19th of February, Catalin Josan decided to withdraw "When We're Together" from the contest so as to increase his chances for a better result (so fan votes would not be split between the two songs). Having the next best score, RailRoad, RailRoad by Rednex feat. Ro-mania entered the contest.

VH2 also withdrew their song, "Follow Me" because of a possible plagiarism claim. TVR received an email from a source wishing to remain anonymous, pointing out that the song was very similar to a 10-year-old song. Even though the band denied all accusations of plagiarism, they admitted that the two songs are very similar. Tied for the next finalist alongside New Effect feat. Gentiana, Nico decided to withdraw her solo song (Fight for Life) and only play the duet with Vlad Mirita. However, since New Effect, as well as Adrian Enache (who had the next closest score) announced they would be unavailable for the evening of the final, Yana with their song Ce'est la vie became that last lucky finalists.

In order to give all of the songs an equal change, a new jury was selected for the national final because the first jury would most likely have voted the same way as they had in the semifinals.[2]

Semifinals

Before the final there were be two Semi-Finals: on February 9 and February 16, 2008. A total of twelve songs participated in each Semi-Final and the top 6 from each qualified for the National Final. The voting was a mix of Televoting (50%) and a professional jury (50%). The National Final was held on Saturday, February 23, 2008.[3]

Semifinal 1

The 1st semifinal took place on the 9th of February and aired on TVR 1 & TVRi from 20:15 to 22:00

Singer Song Points
1 Nico & Vlad Mirita Pe-o margine de lume 284
2 Inesa La storia della pioggia 89
3 Adrian Enache Te Iubesc 114
4 LaGaylia Frazier Dr. Frankenstein 174
5 New Effect feat. Gentiana Zamira 119
6 Tabasco Love Is All I Need 170
7 Cătălin When We're Together 217
8 Daniela Nicol Why 112
9 Yanna C'est la Vie 113
10 Leo Iorga & Pacifica Prea mici sunt cuvintele 206
11 Ana Mardare & Irvin Doomes Heaven 87
12 Simona Nae The Key of Life 229
  • Song #7 was withdrawn from the competition
  • Songs #5, respectively #3 would have qualified, but singers were unavailable for the evening of the final
  • Song #9 qualified to the NF because of the withdrawal of several songs

Semifinal 2

The second semifinal took place on the 16th of February. It aired on TVR 1 & TVRi from 20:15

Singer Song Points
1 Monique Vânt de vară 45
2 Lucia Dumitrescu Dragostea Mea 99
3 Nico Fight For Life 119
4 Nicola Fairytale Story 206
5 Zero Come This Way 189
6 Rednex feat. Ro-mania Railroad, Railroad 158
7 VH2 Follow Me 186
8 V!per Mas Conmigo 63
9 Cătălin Josan Run Away 206
10 Imba Yeke, Yeke 95
11 Biondo Shine 278
12 Paula Seling & Provincialii Seven Days 228
  • Song #7 was withdrawn
  • Song #6 qualified for the NF because of the withdrawal of song #7
  • Song #3 could have qualified for the NF, but was also withdrawn

Final

The final took place on Saturday, February 23, 2008. Six songs from the first semifinal and six songs from the second semifinal had competed in order to decide which song will be sent to the Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade.

Singer Song Points
1 Leo Iorga & Pacifica Prea mici sunt cuvintele 164
2 Zero Come This Way 181
3 Paula Seling & Provincialii Seven Days 208
4 Nicola Fairytale Story 162
5 Tabasco Love Is All I Need 126
6 Rednex feat. Ro-mania Railroad, Railroad 96
7 LaGaylia Frazier Dr. Frankenstein 93
8 Biondo Shine 264
9 Cătălin Josan Run Away 197
10 Simona Nae The Key of Life 73
11 Yanna C'est la Vie 37
12 Nico & Vlad Mirita Pe-o margine de lume 271

At Eurovision

Romania qualified from Semi Final 1 to the Final. In the final they performed in 1st position, before United Kingdom where they picked up 45 points.

Points Awarded by Romania[4]

Points Awarded to Romania (Semi-Final 1)
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
Points Awarded to Romania (Final)
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

See also

References