Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009

Eurovision Song Contest 2009
Country  Romania
National selection
Selection process Selecţia Naţională 2009
Selection date(s) Semi-finals
27 January 2009
29 January 2009
Final
31 January 2009
Selected entrant Elena Gheorghe
Selected song "The Balkan Girls"
Finals performance
Semi-final result Qualified (9th, 67 points)
Final result 19th, 40 points
Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2008 • 2009 • 2010►

Romania was represented at Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia by Elena Gheorghe with "The Balkan Girls" after she won the national final, Selecţia Naţională 2009.[1][2]

Selecţia Naţională 2009

The Romanian broadcaster, Televiziunea Română (TVR), confirmed that they would continue to hold a national final, Selecţia Naţională, to select the Romanian entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest. Two semi-finals were held before the final of the contest on 31 January 2009. Composers were able to submit songs to TVR from 15 November to 22 December, however only Romanian composers were allowed to take part in the competition.[3]

Past Romanian Eurovision entrants confirmed their wish to enter the contest again, including Luminita Anghel and Mihai Trăistariu, who gave Romania their best results at the contest, 3rd and 4th place at the 2005 and 2006 contests respectively.[4][5]

After TVR extended the deadline of competing entries, it had been rumoured that the broadcaster had received very few extries for the contest, with as little as five entries being reported. However, TVR rebuked this claim, confirming that they had received over 250 entries for the contest. 24 entries were selected by a special panel to compete in the two semi-finals on 8 January 2009, and were released on 9 January.[6][7][8]

Semi-final 1

The first semi-final was held on 27 January 2009. From the 12 songs that competed in the semi-final, only six qualified to the final on 31 January. The qualifiers were decided by 50% jury voting and 50% televoting.[9][10]

From this semi-final, Popas Band, the Blaxy Girls, ZERO, Tabassco, Dalma Kovács and Tina qualified to the final.[11][12]

Semi-final 1–27 January 2009
Draw Artist Song Lyrics (l) / Music (m)
1 ZERO "Sunny Days" Radu Bolfea (m & l), Marcel Botezan (m & l), Sebastian Barac (m & l)
2 Nico & Moni-k "Disco Maniacs" Laurenţiu Matei (m), Monica Mândrescu (l), Caspa (l)
3 D.D "Everyday" Marius Pop (m), Adina Drăgoescu (l)
4 Romeo Zaharia "Someone Like You" Romeo Zaharia (m), Mihaela Barbu (l)
5 Floriana Pachia "Take The Chance" Floriana Pachia (m & l)
6 Alexa "A Girl Like Me" Radu Bolfea (m), Marcel Botezan (m), Sebastian Barac (m), Alexa (l)
7 Popas Band "Striga" Marius Popa (m & l)
8 Juan Xavier "Perdoname" Ionuţ Botea (m & l), George Hora (m)
9 Tabassco "Purple" Norbert Kovács (m & l), Ion Faghiura (l)
10 Tina "Pleacă!" Cornel Ilie (m & l)
11 Dalma Kovács "Love Was Never Her Friend" Marius Moga (m & l)
12 Blaxy Girls "Dear Mama" Costi Ioniţă (m), Ruxandra Iliescu (l)

Semi-final 2

The second semi-final will be held on 29 January 2009. Again, only six songs will qualify to the final on 31 January from the 12 competing entries. The qualifiers will be decided by 50% jury voting and 50% televoting.[13][14]

The six qualifiers to the final from this semi-final were Costi, Red Blonde, Elena Gheorghe, Cătălin Josan, Alin Nica and IMBA. They will join the six qualifiers from the first semi-final.[15][16]

Semi-final 2–29 January 2009
Draw Artist Song Lyrics (l) / Music (m)
1 Besa Kokëdhima "Nothin' Gonna Change" Sebastian Badiu (m & l)
2 Red Blonde "Nu am cu cine" Marius Moga (m & l), Anthony Valentiono Negoiţă (m)
3 Adrian Molnár "Go On" Norbert Kovacs (m & l), Florin Dumitrescu (l), Ionut Faghiura (l)
4 Cătălin Josan "Stop" Eduard Carcota (m), Cristian Hriscu-Badea (l)
5 SoundCheck "You Are My Love" Cătălin Huţanu (m & l)
6 Etnic "The Love Is Life" Daniel Lăzărică (m & l)
7 Irina Popa "I Feel Your Presence" Adrian Ordean (m), Harko Boti (l)
8 Alexa "One Last Night" Cornel Ilie (m & l)
9 Alin Nica "Don't Leave" George Hora (m & l)
10 IMBA "Round & Round" Costi Ioniţă (m), Oana Radu (l)
11 Costi "Can You Forgive" Costi Ioniţă (m), Ruxandra Iliescu (l)
12 Elena Gheorghe "The Balkan Girls" Laurenţiu Duţă (m & l), Ovidiu Bistriceanu (m), Daris Mangal (m), Alexandru Pelin (l)

Final

The final of Selecţia Naţională 2009 was held on 31 January, and featured 12 songs, six songs from each semi-final. The winner was decided by a 50/50 mix of jury and televoting. The total number of televotes and votes from each of the 10 jury members was converted into "Eurovision points": the song with the most votes was awarded 12 points, the second placed song was awarded 10 points, followed by 8-1 points for the rest of the songs, with two songs failing to receive points.[1][2]

The televoting results were not consistent with the jury results. Elena Gheorghe came first in the jury vote with her song "The Balkan Girls", with Cătălin coming second and the Blaxy Girls third. However the Blaxy Girls came first in the televote for their performance of "Dear Mama", Gheorghe coming second and Cătălin third. The final result was that Gheorghe was the winner, getting a total of 22 points, while the Blaxy Girls and Cătălin came joint second with 18 points. IMBA, who performed "Round & Round", failed to get any points from either the jury or the televote.[1][2]

Final - 31 January 2009
Draw Artist Song Lyrics (l) / Music (m) Jury Televote Total Place
1 Popas Band "Strigă" Marius Popa (m & l) 4 1 5 8
2 Costi "Can You Forgive" Costi Ioniţă (m), Ruxandra Iliescu (l) 3 0 3 10
3 Blaxy Girls "Dear Mama" Costi Ioniţă (m), Ruxandra Iliescu (l) 6 12 18 2
4 Red Blonde "Nu am cu cine" Marius Moga (m & l), Anthony Valentiono Negoiţă (m) 2 2 4 9
5 ZERO "Sunny Days" Radu Bolfea (m & l), Marcel Botezan (m & l), Sebastian B (m & l) 7 5 12 4
6 Elena Gheorghe "The Balkan Girls" Laurenţiu Duţă (m & l), Ovidiu Bistriceanu (m),
Daris Mangal (m), Alexandru Pelin (l)		 12 10 22 1
7 Tabassco "Purple" Norbert Kovács (m & l), Ion Faghiura (l) 8 4 12 4
8 Cătălin "Stop" Eduard Carcota (m), Cristian Hriscu-Badea (l) 10 8 18 2
9 Dalma Kovács "Love Was Never Her Friend" Marius Moga (m & l) 5 6 11 6
10 Alin Nica "Don't Leave" George Hora (m & l) 0 3 3 10
11 Tina "Pleacă!" Cornel Ilie (m & l) 1 7 8 7
12 IMBA "Round & Round" Costi Ioniţă (m), Oana Radu (l) 0 0 0 12

Promotion

Gheorghe made a promotional tour of her entry around Europe before she performed in the first semi-final in Moscow. Gheorghe's first visit was Germany. There she began on 10 March and lasted for four days, she performed at the International Tourism Fair in Berlin, at the invitation of the Romanian Tourism Ministry, and also met the local media.[17] She also performed at the London Preview party in the United Kingdom.

At Eurovision

Romania competed in one of the two semi-finals in the 2008 contest. At the semi-final draw on 30 January, it was decided that the country would compete in the first semi-final on 12 May 2009. Romania qualified into the final, and was drawn at number 22.[18][19][20] The song won a place in the final where it eventually finished 19th with a score of 40 points.

Points Awarded by Romania[21]

Semi final

12 points Turkey
10 points Iceland
8 points Armenia
7 points Portugal
6 points Malta
5 points Bosnia and Herzegovina
4 points Sweden
3 points Israel
2 points Macedonia
1 point Finland

Final

12 points Moldova
10 points Iceland
8 points Greece
7 points Armenia
6 points Turkey
5 points Norway
4 points Azerbaijan
3 points Malta
2 points Denmark
1 point Estonia

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. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Floras, Stella (2009-01-31). "Romania has decided for Eurovision!". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Romania chooses Elena Gheorghe". Oikotimes. 2009-01-31. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
  3. ↑ Klier, Marcus (2008-10-27). "Romania: national final on 31st January". ESCToday. Retrieved 2008-10-27.
  4. ↑ Busa, Alexandru (2008-07-09). "Luminita Anghel looks for a show for the ESC". ESCToday. Retrieved 2008-10-27.
  5. ↑ Viniker, Barry (2008-09-26). "Mihai making 2009 comeback for Romania". ESCToday. Retrieved 2008-10-27.
  6. ↑ "Exclusive: More than 250 songs submitted in Romania". ESCToday. 2008-12-20. Retrieved 2008-12-20.
  7. ↑ Kalimeris, Aris (2009-01-09). "Romania: The 24 semifinalists revealed". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-01-09.
  8. ↑ Secan, Sebastian (2009-01-09). "Romania: TVR announce the 24 entrants for national selection". Oikotimes. Retrieved 2009-01-09.
  9. ↑ Aris kalimeris (2009-01-27). "Tonight: first semi final in Romania". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-01-27.
  10. ↑ Costa, Nelson (2009-01-27). "Romania: Tonight the first semi-final". Oikotimes. Retrieved 2009-01-27.
  11. ↑ Calleja Bayliss, Marc (2009-01-27). "Romania: Results from the First Semi-Final". Oikotimes. Retrieved 2009-01-27.
  12. ↑ Klier, Marcus (2009-01-27). "Romania: six acts chosen for the national final". Oikotimes. Retrieved 2009-01-27.
  13. ↑ Klier, Marcus (2009-01-29). "Tonight: second semi final in Romania". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-01-29.
  14. ↑ Costa, Nelson (2009-01-29). "Romania: Tonight the second semi-final". Oikotimes. Retrieved 2009-01-29.
  15. ↑ Klier, Marcus (2009-01-29). "Romania: another six acts chosen for the national final". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-01-29.
  16. ↑ Secan, Sebastian (2009-01-29). "Romania: Results from the second semifinal". Oikotimes. Retrieved 2009-01-29.
  17. ↑ Viniker, Barry (2009-03-04). "Elena starts Eurovision promotion tour". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-03-04.
  18. ↑ Bakker, Sietse (2009-01-30). "LIVE: The Semi-Final Allocation Draw". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 2009-01-30.
  19. ↑ Konstantopolus, Fotis (2009-01-30). "LIVE FROM MOSCOW, THE ALLOCATION DRAW". Oikotimes. Retrieved 2009-01-30.
  20. ↑ Floras, Stella (2009-01-30). "Live: The Eurovision Semi Final draw". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-01-30.
  21. ↑ Eurovision Song Contest 2009

References