Moldova participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf, Germany and selected their entry through a televised national final, O melodie pentru Europa (A song for Europe), organised by Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM). The Punk rock band Zdob şi Zdub won the selection with the song "So lucky".
O melodie pentru Europa 2011 was the national final format developed by TRM in order to select Moldova's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. The event took place at the TRM Studio in Chișinău, hosted by Dianna Rotaru and Gabriel Coveseanu, and included a final to be held on 26 February 2011. The show was broadcast on Moldova 1, TV Moldova Internațional and Radio Moldova as well as online via the broadcaster's official website trm.md.[1]
Format[]
The selection of the competing entries for the national final and ultimately the Moldovan Eurovision entry took place over three rounds. The first round occurred on 22 January 2011 where a jury panel shortlisted sixty entries from the received submissions based on criteria such as the quality of the melody and composition, vocals and manner of the performance and the originality of the song. The second round was a live audition of the 60 entries in front of a jury panel that took place on 29 January 2011. Entries were assessed on criteria such as voice quality, stage presence and strength of the composition. The panel selected 25 finalists to proceed to the third round, the televised national final. 25 finalists competed in the final on 26 February 2011 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 27 December 2010 and 16 January 2011. Artists were required to be of Moldovan nationality and could submit more than one song. Songwriters could hold any nationality.[2][3][4] At the conclusion of the submission deadline, 98 valid entries were received by the broadcaster.[5][6] A jury consisting of Geta Burlacu (singer, 2008 Moldovan Eurovision entrant), Aura (singer), Anatol Chiriac (composer), Victoria Melnic (professor at the Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts), Andrei Sava (composer), Liviu Stirbu (composer), Sorina Ștefârță (journalist), Vladimir Beleaev (composer) and Silvia Cărăuş (music critic) selected 60 out of the 98 received entries to proceed to the audition round.[7] The live audition round took place on 29 January 2012 at TRM Studio in Chișinău where 25 finalists were selected by the jury panel to advance.[8]
On 6 February 2011, "Solo por tu amor" performed by Katrina was disqualified from the competition and was replaced with the song "Ma pierd când o văd" performed by Dumitru Socican as the song had been published before 1 September 2010.[9] Among the finalists was 2007 Moldovan Eurovision entrantNatalia Barbu.
Results of the Live Audition Round – 29 January 2011
The final took place on 26 February 2011. Twenty-five songs 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 Vladimir Beleaev (composer), Anatol Chiriac (composer), Liviu Știrbu (composer), Andrei Sava (composer), Aura (singer), Geta Burlacu (singer, 2008 Moldovan Eurovision entrant), Victoria Melnic (professor at the Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts), Sorina Ștefârță (journalist), Vica Demici (songwriter), Ana Dubeli (Locals.md editor-in-chief), Viorel Ţigănaş (composer), Alex Calancea (instrumentalist and producer) and Ludmila Climoc (Orange Moldova representative).[10] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2011 Romanian Eurovision entrantsHotel FM performed as a guest. "So Lucky" performed by Zdob şi Zdub was selected as the winner.
Moldova competed in the first half of the second semi-final of the contest, on 12 May 2011, with starting position 7. The song was well received by the audience, however narrowly making it into the grand final with 10th place and 54 points.[11] It beat Belgium for the final spot by 1 point. The public awarded Moldova 8th place with 61 points and the jury awarded 13th place with 53 points.[12] Shortly after the second semi final, Moldova drew starting position 15 for the grand final on Saturday 16 May 2011. Moldova achieved 12th place after the voting had finished, with 97 points in total, with the public awarding Moldova 12th place with 98 points and the jury awarding 15th place with 82 points.[12][13]
Moldova
