Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017

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.

Eurovision Song Contest 2017
Country Moldova
National selection
Selection processO melodie pentru Europa 2017
Selection date(s)Semi-final:
24 February 2017
Final:
25 February 2017
Selected entrantSunStroke Project
Selected song"Hey, Mamma!"
Selected songwriter(s)SunStroke Project
Alina Galetskaya
Finals performance
Semi-final resultQualified (2nd, 291 points)
Final result3rd, 374 points
Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2016 • 2017 • 2018►

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
Main article: Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest

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. The first round was a live audition of the received submissions in front of a jury panel that took place on 21 January 2017. Entries were assessed on criteria such as voice quality, stage presence and strength of the composition. The panel selected 14 semi-finalists to proceed to the second round, the televised national final. 14 semi-finalists competed in the semi-final on 24 February 2017. Eight songs qualified to the final; four of the qualifiers qualified based on the votes from an expert jury, while the remaining four qualifiers were the entries that achieved the highest televote score from the remaining entries. The eight qualifying entries competed in the final on 25 February 2017 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 public televote was declared the winner.[3]

Competing entries

Artists and composers had the opportunity to submit their entries until 18 January 2017.[3] At the conclusion of the submission deadline, 40 valid entries were received by the broadcaster. The live audition round took place on 21 January 2017 where 14 semi-finalists were selected to advance. One entry was withdrawn before the auditions and one did not attend the auditions and therefore was disqualified.[4]

After the auditions, "Mama" performed by Constantin Cobîlean was disqualified from the competition as a Russian language version of the song had been performed on the Russian television series Glavnaya Stsena in 2015.[5] He was replaced with the song "Never Give Up on Us" performed by Nadia Moșneagu.[6] On 14 February 2017, "Călător" performed by Boris Covali was withdrawn and replaced with "Ne-a fost iubirea un joc" performed by Sergiu Pungă.[7] On 24 January 2017, "Baby, Don't Cry" performed by Irina Kit was withdrawn after it was revealed that heir chorus had similarities to the Akon song "Bananza". She was replaced with the song "Glow" performed by Samir Loghin.[8]

ArtistSong (English translation)Composer(s)
Aurel Chirtoacă "Dor de mamă" (Missing mother) Aurel Chirtoacă
Big Flash Sound "Logic" Big Flash Sound - Eugenia Golomidova, Eugen Valeev
Boris Covali "Călător" (Traveller) Șerban Cazan, Theea Miculescu
Constantin Cobîlean "Mama" Artur Petrosyan, Iurie Carp
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
Irina Kit "Baby, Don't Cry" Irina Kitoroagă, Hans Olof Furberg, DJ Kirumba
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) Sergiu Pungă
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

The semi-final took place on 24 February 2017 at TRM Studio in Chișinău, hosted by Liviu Gulica and Mihaela Cîrnov. Eight songs qualified to the final. A jury panel first selected four songs to qualify. The remaining ten entries then faced a public televote which selected an additional four qualifiers. The jury that voted in the semi-final included Anatol Chiriac, Ilona Stepan, Iurie Mahovici, Lidia Panfil, Valeria Barbas, Nicu Țărnă and Geta Burlacu.

  Public vote qualifier   Jury qualifier

Semi-final – 24 February 2017
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Result
1 Vozniuc feat. Vio Grecu "Don't Lie" 26 6 113 4 Advanced
2 Emilia Russu “If Only You” 21 9 81 8 Eliminated
3 Sandy C "A Beautiful World" 25 7 108 5 Eliminated
4 Valeria Pașa "Freedom" 36 5 120 3 Advanced
5 Sergiu Pungă "Ne-a fost iubirea un joc" 12 12 99 6 Eliminated
6 Ethno Republic & Surorile Osoianu "Discover Moldova" 65 2 — — Advanced
7 Marks & Ștefăneț "Join Us in the Rain" 13 11 440 1 Advanced
8 Aurel Chirtoacă "Dor de mamă" 38 4 — — Advanced
9 Big Flash Sound "Logic" 17 10 34 9 Eliminated
10 SunStroke Project "Hey, Mamma!" 67 1 — — Advanced
11 Diana Brescan "Breathe" 52 3 — — Advanced
12 Nadia Moșneagu "Never Give Up On Us" 3 14 16 10 Eliminated
13 Samir Loghin "Glow" 8 13 335 2 Advanced
14 THE ONE "Dance" 23 8 86 7 Eliminated
Final

The final took place on 25 February 2017 at TRM Studio in Chișinău, hosted by Liviu Gulica and Mihaela Cîrnov. The eight songs that qualified from the preceding semi-final competed and the winner was selected based on the combination of a public televote and the votes of an expert jury. At the conclusion of the voting, there was a tie for the first place between "Hey, Mamma!" performed by SunStroke Project and "Discover Moldova" performed by Ethno Republic & Surorile Osoianu. "Hey, Mamma!" performed by SunStroke Project received the most votes from the televote and thus was selected as the winner.

Final – 25 February 2017
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place
1 SunStroke Project "Hey, Mamma!" 88 10 1,539 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. In the first semi-final, Moldova placed second with the public televote receiving 180 points and fourth with the jury vote with 111 points.

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, their previous record was the sixth place in their debut in 2005.

Points awarded to Moldova
Points awarded to Moldova (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

Points awarded by Moldova

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 Sweden3283238101
02 Georgia8910236592
03 Australia537775615
04 Albania10171661113210
05 Belgium1315612141212
06 Montenegro16161717171738
07 Finland710414128316
08 Azerbaijan612391574112
09 Portugal1111111256
10 Greece485544711
11 Poland9712131010183
12 Moldova
13 Iceland111391089214
14 Czech Republic1514141161417
15 Cyprus1461515131547
16 Armenia2424521074
17 Slovenia125138161113
18 Latvia1711111691665
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 Israel20191522121915
02 Poland19102015181618
03 Belarus78177983101
04 Austria1251111109224
05 Armenia10114645625
06 Netherlands1121212231120
07 Moldova
08 Hungary4125171410111
09 Italy25202310132174
10 Denmark1591920151521
11 Portugal1372354756
12 Azerbaijan62265665210
13 Croatia21252225242519
14 Australia9158877417
15 Greece8131014211347
16 Spain14182524222322
17 Norway523913111214
18 United Kingdom1731418201416
19 Cyprus18142416192013
20 Romania11111112112
21 Germany1616169251723
22 Ukraine2217182181812
23 Belgium23241319172292
24 Sweden267433883
25 Bulgaria3432221038
26 France24212123162465

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 from the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. This has led to online tribute videos being made by fans which have gone viral, one of which is ten hours long.

gollark: Of course they would do horrible accursed C things. That is the point of C.
gollark: You're obviously saying that to distract us from how you wrote it.
gollark: Unless you wrote it, of course, which you did.
gollark: Done!
gollark: Neutralizing matches via apiocryoform...

References
  1. "Moldova Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  2. Granger, Anthony (25 October 2016). "Moldova: NTU director general confirms Eurovision 2017 participation". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  3. Granger, Anthony (12 December 2016). "Moldova: Eurovision 2017 national final on 25 February". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  4. Granger, Anthony (18 January 2017). "MOLDOVA: 40 SONGS SUBMITTED FOR O MELODIE PENTRU EUROPA 2017". eurovoix.com. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  5. Gallagher, Robyn (23 January 2017). "MAMA MIA! MOLDOVAN SEMI-FINAL ENTRY "MAMA" PERFORMED ON RUSSIAN X FACTOR IN 2015". wiwibloggs.com. Wiwibloggs.
  6. Honciuc, Bogdan (23 January 2017). "MOLDOVA: NADIA MOSNEAGU REPLACES DISQUALIFIED SINGER CONSTANTIN COBILEAN". wiwibloggs.com. Wiwibloggs.
  7. "Moldova 2017". ESCKAZ.
  8. Granger, Anthony (25 January 2017). "MOLDOVA: IRINA KIT WITHDRAWS FROM O MELODIE PENTRU EUROPA". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix.
  9. Kavaler, Ron (22 March 2017). "ISRAEL CALLING! EUROVISION PROMO EVENT SET FOR APRIL 3 TO 6". wiwibloggs.com. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  10. Laufer, Gil (5 April 2017). "Tonight: Israel Calling 2017 to be held with 28 participating countries". esctoday.com. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  11. Jordan, Paul (29 March 2017). "Eurovision in Concert sets a new record with 33 acts". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  12. Fuster, Luis (1 April 2017). "MADRID CALLING! 19 ACTS WILL TAKE PART IN EUROVISION SPAIN PRE-PARTY". wiwibloggs.com. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  13. Jordan, Paul (25 January 2017). "Semi-Final Allocation draw to take place in Kyiv". eurovision.tv. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  14. Jordan, Paul (31 January 2017). "Results of the Semi-Final Allocation Draw". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  15. Jordan, Paul (31 March 2017). "Semi-Final running order for Eurovision 2017 revealed". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
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