Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008

Eurovision Song Contest 2008
Country  Romania
National selection
Selection process Selectia Nationala
Selection date(s) Semi-finals
9 February 2008
16 February 2008
Final
23 February 2008
Selected entrant Nico & Vlad Miriţă
Selected song "Pe-o margine de lume"
Finals performance
Semi-final result Qualified (7th, 94 points)
Final result 20th, 45 points
Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2007 • 2008 • 2009►

Romania selected its Eurovision Song Contest 2008 through Selecţia Naţională, a national final consisting of two-semifinals and a final. The eventual winners were Nico and Vlad Miriţă with the dual-language Romanian/Italian "Pe-o margine de lume". Romania took part in the first semi-final on 20 May 2008, and qualified to compete in the final. The duet has begun their European promotional tour starting with the Greek national selection on February 27, 2008.

National final

The road to Romania's Eurovision entry commenced when the competition was opened in December 2007, allowing artists of any nationality to submit songs that would then be judged by an internal panel of experts.[1] The panel shortlisted 24 songs, out of 282 submitted compositions, to compete in the national final. Four reserve songs were also chosen in case of any disqualifications or withdrawals before the first semifinal.[2] The songs where then equally divided into two semi-finals in which the top 6 songs voted by a 50/50 jury-televote combination would proceed to the final evening on February 23, 2008.

The selection was notable for the number of foreign acts taking part. In particular, LaGaylia Frazier, Biondo, and Rednex were Swedish artists present in the competition. Also, Maya Slatinsek from Slovenia was originally selected to be part of the national final, however, she withdrew her song after being accepted to compete in the Irish national selection.[3] In addition to foreign acts, former Eurovision participant Nicola entered once again with the prospect of representing Romania for a second time at Eurovision.

After two semi-finals on February 9 and February 16, 2008, twelve songs had qualified to the final round. However, some changes to the running order did occur. Cătălin Josan qualified both of his song to the final but decided to withdraw "When We're Together" from the contest in order to achieve a better result and not split his vote amongst both of his songs. TVR decided to enter Rednex feat. Ro-mania with "Railroad, railroad" into the contest as a replacement.[4] Furthermore, VH2 also withdrew their song, "Follow Me" because of a possible plagiarism claim.[5] New Effect feat. Gentiana was in line to replace them in the national final, however, they were not available to compete due to prior engagements. After running through the non-qualified entries, Yana and "C'est la vie" were given a chance to enter the final.[6]

Semifinal 1

The first semifinal took place on February 9 and aired on TVR 1 & TVRi from 19.15 to 21.00 CET. The group Yana qualified because the songs placed higher turned down the offer to replace VH2's withdrawn entry from the second semi-final.

Draw Artist Song Points Place
1 Nico & Vlad Mirita Pe-o margine de lume 284 1
2 Inesa La storia della pioggia 89 11
3 Adrian Enache Te Iubesc 114 8
4 LaGaylia Frazier Dr. Frankenstein 174 5
5 New Effect feat. Gentiana Zamira 119 7
6 Tabasco Love Is All I Need 170 6
7 Cătălin Josan When We're Together 217 3
8 Daniela Nicol Why 112 10
9 Yana C'est la Vie 113 9
10 Leo Iorga & Pacifica Prea mici sunt cuvintele 206 4
11 Ana Mardare & Irvin Doomes Heaven 87 12
12 Simona Nae The Key of Life 229 2

Semifinal 2

The second semifinal took place on February 16 and aired on TVR 1 & TVR i from 19.15 to 21.00 CET. Rednex feat. Ro-mania qualified because Cătălin Josan withdrew his other song in the first semi-final from the competition.

Draw Artist Song Points Place
1 Monique Vânt de vară 45 12
2 Lucia Dumitrescu Dragostea Mea 99 9
3 Nico Fight For Life 119 8
4 Nicola Fairytale Story 206 3
5 Zero Come This Way 189 5
6 Rednex feat. Ro-mania Railroad, Railroad 158 7
7 VH2 Follow Me 186 6
8 Viper Mas Conmigo 63 11
9 Cătălin Josan Run Away 206 4
10 Imba Yeke, Yeke 95 10
11 Biondo Shine 278 1
12 Paula Seling & Provincialii Seven Days 228 2

Final

The final took place on February 23 and aired on TVR 1 & TVR i from 19.15 to 22.00 CET.

Draw Artist Song Points Place
1 Leo Iorga & Pacifica Prea mici sunt cuvintele 164 6
2 Zero Come This Way 181 5
3 Paula Seling & Provincialii Seven Days 208 3
4 Nicola Fairytale Story 162 7
5 Tabasco Love Is All I Need 126 8
6 Rednex feat. Ro-mania Railroad, Railroad 96 9
7 LaGaylia Frazier Dr. Frankenstein 93 10
8 Biondo Shine 264 2
9 Cătălin Josan Run Away 197 4
10 Simona Nae The Key of Life 73 11
11 Yana C'est la Vie 37 12
12 Nico & Vlad Mirita Pe-o margine de lume 271 1

At Eurovision

Romania qualified from Semi Final 1 to the Final. In the final they performed in 1st position, before United Kingdom where they picked up 45 points.

Points Awarded by Romania[7]

Semi final

12 points Greece
10 points Moldova
8 points Russia
7 points Azerbaijan
6 points Israel
5 points Armenia
4 points Norway
3 points Netherlands
2 points Poland
1 point Slovenia

Final

12 points Greece
10 points Russia
8 points Turkey
7 points Serbia
6 points Israel
5 points Norway
4 points Armenia
3 points Ukraine
2 points Azerbaijan
1 point Croatia

Points Awarded to Romania (Semi-Final 1)
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
Points Awarded to Romania (Final)
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Romania: TVR confirms 23rd February for final". Esctoday (English)
  2. ↑ "TVR announced the 24 songs". Esctoday (English)
  3. ↑ "Maja drops Romania for Ireland". Esctoday (English)
  4. ↑ "Romania: Catalin withdraws song, Rednex in final". Esctoday (English)
  5. ↑ "VH2 replaced by New Effect feat. Genţiana". Esctoday (English)
  6. ↑ "Romania: Zamira is out, in and out again". Esctoday (English)
  7. ↑ Eurovision Song Contest 2008