Moldova’s window for submissions closed today at 4PM CET, and so far the only official information is that 25 candidates submitted songs for jury consideration by 9pm last night. See the update at the end of the article.

Yesterday, Moldovan broadcaster Teleradio Moldova (TRM) basically confirmed the previous reports that the interest for Eurovision this year is rather low, announcing that, by 9pm last night, only 25 candidates had submitted their songs. TRM added that “most of the names are new.” By today, however, more candidates were expected to submit their bids. Last year, the number of candidates was 49.

Now the jury will listen to the songs both as recordings and then live, selecting 24 songs internally. They will be split into two semi-finals, on 11 and 13 of March, and the winner will be chosen on the 15th of March. The winner will be selected by a 50/50 mix of televote and jury votes.

There is a new twist this year: from each semi-final, seven songs will advance to the final by jury and public vote, and a further eighth song will be “saved” by televoting alone.

So far, not many names have been made public in the Moldovan press. Apart from Sasha Bognibov’s “My Lesbian Girl”, Felicia Dunaf, Doinita Gherman, Paralela 47 announced their  participation, as well as Diana Brescan. Diana was one of the very few who also unveiled her song, “Hallelujah”:

(“Hallelujah” is quite a departure from “My Lesbian Girl”, right?)

It is not Diana Brescan’s first participation in O melodie pentru Europa. She also tried last year as part of the group Glam Girls who performed alongside Cristina V, making it to the final with the song “Celebrate”.

In an interview for Moldovan music television Muz TV, Zdob si Zdub producer Igor Dinga was asked if the band would try again at Eurovision and he mysteriously answered, “Why not?” Therefore, it is not impossible to see the beloved folk-rock band on the Eurovision stage once again!

Earlier this month, Aliona Moon and Pasha Parfeny said that they would pass this year, with Pasha saying that “it would not be fair” on the other participants to try again in 2014, after their 2012 and 2013 success. His “100 percent not participating” is making some hopeful that we might see Pasha on the jury, which is yet to be disclosed.

Update: Adevarul daily reports that 57 candidates in total submitted 60 songs to O melodie pentru Europa, which means that 32 singers, more than double the number who registered in one month, sent in their bids at the last minute. Among them, the biggest name is Boris Covali, last year’s runner-up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYzyraUGTk0

Who would you rather have represent Moldova this year? And what do you make of Diana Brescan’s bid “Hallelujah”?

Bogdan Honciuc is a Romania-based correspondent for WiwiBloggs.com. You can follow him on Twitter @stingovision. You can also keep up-to-date with the latest Eurovision news and gossip by following the team on Twitter @wiwibloggs and by liking our Facebook page.

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Zolan
Zolan
10 years ago

Interested to hear from Felicia Dunaf again

Siggy
Siggy
10 years ago

I would have loved natalia barbu to have submitted a song this year. Maybe next year though for the 60th anniversary.