Moldova participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 and selected their entry through a national final, O melodie pentru Europa (A song for Europe), organised by Moldovan broadcaster TRM (TeleRadio-Moldova).
O melodie pentru Europa 2010 was the national final format developed by TRM in order to select Moldova's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. The event took place at the TRM Studio 2 in Chișinău, hosted by Dianna Rotaru and Iurie Gologan with Lucian Dumitrescu reporting from the green room, and included two semi-finals and a final to be held on 27, 28 February and 6 March 2010, respectively.[1][2] All shows in the competition were broadcast on Moldova 1, TV Moldova Internațional and Radio Moldova as well as online via the broadcaster's official website trm.md.[3]
Format[]
The selection of the competing entries for the national final and ultimately the Moldovan Eurovision entry took place over two rounds. The first round occurred on 16 January 2010 where a jury panel selected 25 semi-finalists from the received submissions to proceed to the second round, the televised national final, based on criteria including the quality of the melody and composition and the vocals and manner of the performance.[4] An additional five semi-finalists were selected via an online wildcard vote that took place between 29 January and 14 February 2010. 15 semi-finalists competed in each semi-final on 27 and 28 February 2010. Seven songs qualified to the final from each semi-final based on the combined votes from an expert jury and public televoting results. The fourteen qualifying entries competed in the final on 6 March 2010 where the winner was selected by the 50/50 combination of an expert jury vote and a public televote. In the event of a tie, the entry that receives the highest score from the expert jury vote was declared the winner.
Competing entries[]
Artists and composers had the opportunity to submit their entries between 15 December 2009 and 8 January 2010. New rules from the 2010 edition allowed for international artists to apply only if they were part of a duo or group where one of the lead vocalists were of Moldovan nationality and there were no more than two international acts. Songwriters could hold any nationality and international songwriters could either select the performers themselves or submit a demo recording with TRM assisting in selecting the performers.[5] Artists without a song also had the opportunity to submit their applications from 17 December 2009, which would then be matched with songs submitted by international songwriters.[4][6] At the conclusion of the submission deadline, 83 valid entries were received by the broadcaster.[7] A jury consisting of Ion Suruceanu (performer), Lidia Panfil (lecturer at the Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts), Nelly Ciobanu (singer, 2009 Moldovan Eurovision entrant), Vitalia Rotaru (producer, composer), Sergiu Gavriliţă (VIP Magazin editor-in-chief), Vlad Costandoi (producer), Liviu Știrbu (composer), Anatol Chiriac (composer), Marcel Ștefăneț (conductor and instrumentalist) and Anatol Caciuc (programme director of Radio Moldova) selected 25 semi-finalists out of the 82 received entries to advance.[8][9][10] An online SMS vote among 50 songs that were not selected as the semi-finalists ran between 29 January and 14 February 2010 and the top five entries proceeded to the national final. The 30 semi-finalists were allocated to one of the two semi-finals, each containing 15 entries, in a draw that was held on 15 February 2010.[1][2]
On 23 February 2010, "Towards the Sky" performed by Alex White, "Wait!" performed by Ionel Istrati, "Goodbye" performed by Olia Tira, "Believe" performed by SunStroke Project and "Padure, verde padure" performed by Victoria Mahu were withdrawn from the competition and replaced with the songs "The Robbery" performed by Constantinova & Fusu, "Day and Night" performed by Dana Marchitan, "So Many Questions" performed by JJ Jazz, "Poza ta" performed by Veronica Lupu and "Ţi-aduci aminte" performed by Vitalie Toderascu.[4]
The first semi-final took place on 27 February 2010. Seven songs qualified to the final based on the combination of votes from a public televote and the votes of an expert jury. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2006 Moldovan Eurovision entrantsArsenium and Natalia Gordienko, 2008 Moldovan Eurovision entrantArsenium, singers Serj Kuzencoff and Elena Demirdjean, and the ballet company Teodor performed as guests.[11][12]
The second semi-final took place on 28 February 2010. Seven songs qualified to the final based on the combination of votes from a public televote and the votes of an expert jury. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2009 Moldovan Eurovision entrantNelly Ciobanu, rock band Cezara and the ballet company Teodor performed as guests.[13][14]
The final took place on 6 March 2010. The fourteen songs that qualified from the preceding two semi-finals competed and the winner was selected based on the combination of a public televote and the votes of an expert jury. The jury that voted in the final included Jerome Poulain (Orange Moldova representative), Angela Sârbu (director of Moldova 1), Ana Diubeli (programme director of Radio Moldova), Marcel Ștefăneț (conductor and instrumentalist), Svetlana Bivol (director of the National Philharmonic Concert Hall), Liviu Știrbu (composer) and Vlad Costandoi (producer). In addition to the performances of the competing entries, singer InGrid and the ballet company Teodor performed as guests.[15] "Run Away" performed by SunStroke Project & Olia Tira was selected as the winner.[16]
SunStroke Project and Olia Tira performed in the first semi-final of the contest, on 25 May, as the first entry on stage, where they came 10th with 52 points and qualified for the final.[17] The public awarded Moldova 10th place with 54 points and the jury awarded 13th place with 42 points.[18] In the final on Saturday, 29 May, in 4th position and finished in 22nd place with 27 points, with the public awarding Moldova 18th place with 28 points and the jury awarding 23rd place with 33 points.[18][19]
After the Eurovision performance there was much discussion about the saxophone player Sergey Stepanov in Moldova's entry, who came to be known in an internet meme called 'Epic Sax Guy', although Stepanov didn't actually play the saxophone live as per Eurovision's rules on instruments.[22] This has led to online tribute videos being made by fans which have gone viral,[22] one of which is ten hours long.
Moldova
