ABBA to Host Romanian Eurovision

I know. I also had a mini-heart attack when I read Romanian broadcaster TVR’s attention-grabbing headline. Alas, they are actually talking about the national semifinals and final being hosted by a two-female, two-male team consisting of Paula Seling and Ovi, and comedian Marius Rizea and my personal favourite Andreea Banica.

Despite a serious financial crisis that threatened to force Romania’s first withdrawal from the contest, TVR is going all out this year. The budget stays the same as last year (200,000 euros). And they’ve added live auditions, two semi-finals and a final, hosted by a powerful quartet (should we also expect ABBA covers? Let’s hope so!). This makes the economically challenged but musically talented Eastern-European nation one of the more ambitious countries this year. Colour everyone excited!

In other news, TVR also adds that 13 more songs were received after the submission deadline and were accepted because they had been sent before February 3. This means that 148 songs are now battling for Romania’s Eurovision national selection, 50 more than last year!

Apart from Electric Fence and Dean, who unveiled their songs a while ago, a spate of new contenders have started to come out almost every other hour on YouTube. I especially like Elena Carstea’s Lady Gaga-like “Spinning” ballad, which is quite certainly going to reach the final on March 9:

Another interesting contender is Leticia, who is going for this year’s Eurovision slogan, “We Are One”:

Surprise-surprise, Natalia Barbu is not the only Moldovan entering the Romanian competition. Geta Burlacu (who failed to get past the semifinals with “A Century of Love” on behalf of her native country in 2008) is trying with “The Other Side” this year:

We should also note that the admittedly beautiful Goddess Andreea (I know, lofty), who gets my kudos for submitting a song in Romanian – “O fi ea?” (“Could it be her?” – interesting insinuation!):

And—drum roll, please!—we now have Luminita Anghel’s song “Unique” which is already being compared to Adele’s “Skyfall”. It’s like a 007 Tango!

Oh yes, and Romanian transgender singer Naomi was the first to withdraw this year, because three of her songs did not meet the requirements, and the fourth song she tried to enter was not actually submitted by the composer, because allegedly he had not been paid for it. The Romanian press is still reeling.

If you’re on Twitter and you want to listen to new entries and find out more Romanian Eurovision related news as it comes out, you should follow me at @stingoo.