Chisinau calling! During Friday night’s semi-final show in Moldova, 14 acts fought for eight places in the national final of O melodie pentru Europa 2017. Six of them crashed and burned, while the others shone bright. Or at least brighter than the very dim acts who wound up in the trash heap. Among the survivors were, as expected, the Wiwi Jury and fan poll winners Sunstroke Project and runners-up Ethno Republic & Surorile Osoianu.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PURiL3zvMWY
The show did not disappoint. Sunstroke Project performed with three brides — their song “Hey Mamma” is about a mother-in-law, after all. Meanwhile, Ethno Republic & Surorile Osoianu banged on big drums and Diana Brescan turned into a barefoot Cinderella. Oh and Aurel Chirtoaca opted for a cardigan, because why should he be better dressed than at the live auditions? But we’ve come to expect the wacky from Moldova, so no complaints there.
Former O melodie pentru Europa representative Cristina Scarlat and hopefuls like DoReDos, Stela Botan and Cezara were the interval act while the jury deliberated and the televotes were being cast.
At the end of the night, four acts were selected by the jury, while the other four were saved by televoting.
Jury scores
The Jury, which included former Eurovision representative Geta Burlacu, awarded top scores to Sunstroke Project and Ethno Republic & Surorile Osoianu, with Diana Brescan in third place. The fourth act to advance to the national final was Aurel Chirtoaca.
Televote
After the jury vote, the public was invited to vote for the remaining acts, in order to save four more songs. They were Marks & Stefanet, Samir Loghin, Valeria Pasa, and Vozniuc feat. Vio Grecu.
The eight finalists of O melodie pentru Europa 2017
- Sunstroke Project – “Hey Mamma”
- Ethno Republic & Surorile Osoianu – “Discover Moldova”
- Diana Brescan – “Breathe”
- Aurel Chirtoaca – “Dor de mama”
- Marks & Stefanet – “Join Us In The Rain”
- Samir Loghin – “Glow”
- Valeria Pasa – “Freedom”
- Vozniuc feat. Vio Grecu – “Don’t Lie”
The eight finalists will battle it out again for the right to represent Moldova in Kyiv on Saturday evening, starting 18:35 CET. The final will be broadcast live on Moldova 1 and online on the TRM website. The winner will be determined by the standard 50% jury, 50% televote split. In case of a tie, it will be broken by the ranking decided by the youngest member of the jury. Yes, that is the actual rule.
Did you watch the semi-final of O melodie pentru Europa? Based on the performances, who do you think has the best chance of wining the ticket to Kyiv tomorrow? Sound off below!
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Photo: TRM
Ethno Republic is the best choice, it’s a free invitation to discover Moldova’s beautiful places and their culture, and it’s sung in Romanian language. Come on people, see outside the box… Sunstroke Project is just a club song in English, what’s so great about it? Just because The Epic Sax Guy is in it? 🙁
The goodest are Sun Stroke, Ethno, Samir, Dan & Veorel.
@Bogdan: Thanks 🙂 Any idea where to find videos of the performances? There weren’t any on Youtube when I last searched.
@Alex – Believe it or not, I watched the whole thing from start to finish. Very poor video quality though. Sound okay, considering.
Well, at least the jury here got it right, unlike Slovenia! My two faves were sent through in top 2–very close result!
My favourite is Sunstroke Project but Ethno Republic is very good. I like also Samir Loghin and song “Don`t lie”.
Did anyone actually watch this one? Were the video and audio quality any good?
I for one, cannot believe that Ethno Republic were only TWO points away from first place in the jury! It’s gonna be really close between them and Sunstroke Project tomorrow.
Happy that Don’t Lie is going last in the draw, but it looks like with the jury vote they have no chance :/
Go on Sunstroke Project, win and give us something different from this ballad filled year of Eurovision.
“Hey mama” and “Don’t Lie” (my 2 favourites) to the final! This is great!
Very happy about Ethno Republic qualifying and scoring so high in the jury, I was worried the jury would hurt them. Can’t wait to see them win tomorow
join us in the rain is the best. 🙂
Very happy to see Sunstroke Project win the jury vote, I hope they slay the competition tomorrow!