The controversy continues with Moldova’s national selection O melodie pentru Europa. Semi-finalist Irina Kit has withdrawn from the contest. This follows the revelation earlier this week that her entry “Baby Don’t Cry” had a similar chorus to Akon’s 2006 hit “Bananza (Belly Dancer)”.
Moldovan broadcaster TRM has given Irina’s place at the semi-final to the next ranked act on their list — Samir Loghin with his song “Glow”.
After four years of trying, this is Loghin’s first time to make it to the O melodie pentru Europa semi-final. Since 2014 he has entered every year, but had previously not made it past the live audition stage.
https://youtu.be/-X-_Gn9Pbeg
The controversy around Irina Kit’s song was first pointed out by fellow contestant Serj Coston, whose did not make it to the semi-final. In an angry Facebook post he noted the striking similarities between Kit’s song “Baby Don’t Cry” and Akon’s 2006 hit “Bananza (Belly Dancer)”.
Irina Kit, whom you might remember as Irina Kitoroaga from the 2015 national selection, acknowledged the resemblance, but claimed innocence as she was not the songwriter. She was earlier quoted by the local media as vowing “to rectify the mistake and totally change the chorus.” (Update: Sweden Songsshe and her team were responsible for the chorus, the music publishing company that helped Irina with the song, says that ).
This is not the first controversy to affect O melodie pentru Europa 2017. Earlier in the week semi-finalist Constantin Cobilean was disqualified after it was discovered his song “Mama” had previously been performed by another artist in a 2015 Russian television performance. His place in the semi-final was given to Nadia Mosneagu and her song “Never Give Up On Us”.
Fans have criticised broadcaster TRM for not throughly screening the songs before selecting the list of semi-finalists.
What do you think? Is Samir a good choice for the semi-finals? Should TRM vet entries more thoroughly? Share your thoughts below!
What is plagiarism? I’ve heard a definition that said about 4 identical measures, other about 7 identical measures. It is ridiculous, there’s no new music today (like Douwe Bob said).
I agree with sufle… Nobody seems to have done a check for plagiarism before they staged the live auditions. Maybe it’s a lesson for the future?
I also agree with Héctor, Samir’s live audition was really bad compared to Max Fall’s.
Oooh I really this song 🙂 Helps that he is cute too 🙂 I really like his UIT-song as well 🙂
Kinda cute
And where is Max Fall with ‘If I Could’? I can’t understand the judges… This song isn’t bad, but his live is really weak.
Clearly Serj Coston is a snitch and STILL didn’t make it to the final.
Honestly it seems like whoever chooses Moldova’s songs just listened to them and either said they liked it or hated it without doing any proper checks for plagiarism. I love my Moldova drama, but this is ridiculous