Two weeks from today, on 14 November, Moldova‘s darlings SunStroke Project are bringing Eurovision Song Contest realness to Chisinau for the first time ever. The band, who are celebrating ten years of activity, will party alongside other beloved Eurovision 2017 names from ten countries at what promises to be a fabulous concert at the National Palace, in the heart of the Moldovan capital.
The beloved Moldovan trio invited friends from ten countries who they met at Eurovision 2017 in Kyiv: Artsvik from Armenia, Nathan Trent from Austria, DiHaj from Azerbaijan, IMRI from Israel, Slavko Kalezic from Montenegro, JOWST from Norway, Ilinca & Alex Florea from Romania, Manel Navarro from Spain, Robin Bengtsson from Sweden and Timebelle from Switzerland. And one more thing: The concert is going to be hosted by none other than Timur Miroshnychenko, our Green Room host from Kyiv. It’s gonna be like May 2017 all over again!
Each artist will perform their Eurovision hit and their latest singles, as well as covers. Singer Miruna Manescu from Timebelle, for instance, has announced that the Swiss band will perform not just “Apollo”, but also their new single “Come Around” for the first time in Chisinau and has invited everyone to “come around” to SunStroke Project’s party. Say no more!
The concert will be held at Palatul National in Chisinau on 14 November 2017, starting 19:00 local time. Tickets are available to buy online here. Prices range from 10 to 44 Euros.
wiwibloggs will be there as guests to cover the event and bring you live performances and interviews with your beloved Eurovision stars.
SunStroke Project: a 10-year success story
SunStroke Project was founded in 2007 by Anton Ragoza. He’s a man who does not get enough credit, always prefering to stand in the shadows of singer Sergey Ialovitsky and the world-famous “Epic Sax Guy” Sergey Stepanov. Anton — also nicknamed “Epic Violin Guy” — is the main songwriter and brain of the band. Previously he conducted the Moldova Orchestra of Chisinau and won a series of prestigious awards in the field of classical music. Anton has wide experience in performing in bands which play in the modern electronic genre.
From late 2008 to summer 2009, future Eurovision star Pasha Parfeny joined the band. Together they entered the 2009 selection for Moldova, where they finished in third place with the song “No Crime”.
The first huge success for the band came in 2010 when the trio represented Moldova at Eurovision in Oslo together with singer Olia Tira. “Run Away” finished 22nd on the Grand Final scoreboard, but the performance eventually gained worldwide momentum thanks to the Epic Sax Guy meme showing Sergey thrusting his hips while heartily playing the saxophone. A ten-hour loop video of him currently has almost 29 million hits on YouTube. That’s eight times the population of Moldova!
Following this success, Sunstroke Project toured extensively throughout 2011. Together with Olia Tira, the trio attempted to represent Moldova in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest again, with the single “Superman”, but it did not make the next stage of selection. The band came back to O melodie pentru Europa in 2015 with two songs, “Lonely” and “Day After Day”, the latter with Michael Ra. Both entries qualified to the semi-final from the live audition round but, as only one song could be chosen per artist, Sunstroke Project chose to go further with “Day After Day”. Eventually, the song finished third in the National Final.
The band returned to the national selection in 2o17 with the upbeat electro-house song “Hey Mamma”, which was also infused with their trademark catchy sax solo. After winning the National Final, SunStroke Project flew under the radar and Moldova was not tipped to make it to Top 10 in Kyiv, but surprised everyone in the semi-final, when they stole the show with a polished version of their NF performance in Chisinau. Oddsmakers finally took notice, but the band surpassed everyone’s expectations in the Grand Final, where SunStroke Project deservedly took third place, placing Moldova on the Eurovision podium for the very first time.
And two weeks ago SunStroke Project released their follow up single “Sun Gets Down”, a Mardi Gras inspired dance extravaganza that will surely bring some hot Brazilian realness to the National Palace in Chisinau on 14 November.
After such an impressive ten years, we’re excited about what comes next in SunStroke Project’s future. But until then, we cannot wait until the anniversary concert, and we hope that we’ll see many of y’all there!
What do you think about SunStroke Project’s success? And how amazing does that concert sound? Will we see you there? Let us know in the comments!
I hope you guys will be covering it! Sounds like a great show.
So apparently Dihaj changed her artistic name to “Dihaj Skeleton” LOL
I think i will be there=)
Maybe they will announce their participation for next year’s contest at the party, who knows? 😀
So they didn’t make any friends from the 2010 contest?
Great idea. I love it that they celebrate their anniversary with ESC colleagues. I wonder whether other Moldovan (or Romanian) acts will be there, for example Pasha Parfeny. Their 2009 entry is such an oddity, potential was there but so many things were lacking and Sergey Y. wasn’t singing (odd, maybe that’s why Pasha has left).
Have fun!
I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Pasha Parfeny and Olia Tira involved in some capacity. That would be the cherry on top!
Oh, and I guess that they didn’t make any friends in 2010 or those relationships were forgotten. Among 2017 performers they will be undoubtely top-billed, though, as Salvador and Kristian are not coming.
This is a miracle for Moldovians, to have a part of real ESC 2017 in their country. What language Timur will speak on stage?
I’m guessing Russian.
Good question. He might speak English as well. After all, he is not Russian and most of the guests speak neither Russian nor Romanian.
Sounds like a great party! It’s the first Eurovision party in Moldova, actually! Hope there will be more to come!