Folk music
During the Soviet era, Moldovan folk culture flourished,
and was strongly promoted by the government. However, many elements were
altered to obscure the shared history of Romania and Moldova, because the
Soviet Union wanted to discourage secession.
Popular Moldovan musicians
Flacai
Romanian Verzalube
Moldova's folk music and dance companies, troupes and orchestras are
well-known, especially Jok, an academic dance company; a jok is a celebration that includes dances,
as well as the part of a town where the dancing takes place.
The Orchestra of Moldovan Folk Music and
Dance was founded in
1949; the orchestra plays Romanian, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, German music.
Music festivals in Moldova include The Faces of Friends, held in the town of Cahul; this festival was founded in 1996.
Moldova has
participated in the Eurovision Song Contest eight
times, debuting in 2005. Following the poor result in the 2006 contest, the Moldovan broadcaster, Teleradio-Moldova (TRM) announced
that it would withdraw from participation and did not allocate a budget for the
2007 Contest. However, in response to public pressure TRM filed the preliminary
documents to compete and sent Natalia Barbu with
song "Fight".
In 2008 Moldova, for the first time in 4 years of trying, failed
to make the Final, their jazz number, "A Century of Love",
finishing 12th place in a field of 19. In 2010 a saxophonist Sergey Stepanov
from group SunStroke Project and Olia Tira has
become internet phenomenon because of his 30 second saxophone solo.
In 2011 Zdob şi Zdub represented
Moldova for a second time in the contest, with the song So Lucky placing 12th in
the final. This was the third time that Moldova ended up 10th in the semifinal,
the last qualifier for the final.
In 2012, Pasha Parfeny earned the right to represent Moldova, with
the song "Lăutar", placing 5th
in the Semi Final and 11th in the Grand Final.
2005
"Bunica Bate Toba" (in English, "Grandmamma Beats the Drum") was Moldova's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, performed in English and Romanian by Zdob şi Zdub.
The song was performed fourth in
the semi-final of that year's Contest (following Portugal's 2B performing "Amar" and preceding Latvia's Walters & Kazha with
"The War Is Not Over")
and qualified in second place with 207 points. In the final, it was performed
seventh, following Turkey's Gülseren singing
"Rimi Rimi Ley" and preceding Albania's Ledina Çelo with
"Tomorrow I Go". Here, the song scored 148 points to
qualify 6th, thus ensuring debutants Moldova an automatic final berth for the 2006 Contest.
2006
"Loca" by Arsenium and Natalia Gordienko was
the official entry for Moldova at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006.
The song was performed inEnglish and
contained parts in Spanish (basically
the title, the rhyming words and several full verses). Due to Moldova's good
placing in the 2005 contest with "Zdob Si Zdub", the song was pre-qualified for the final,
where it was performed second (following Switzerland's Six4one with "If We All Give A Little"
and preceding Israel's Eddie Butler singing
"Together We Are One").
The song was not well received and finished the night in 20th place with 22
points, thus meaning that Moldova will have to qualify for the 2007 Contest from the semi-final.
The song is a hip-hop inspired
number, with both singers declaring their love for each other and their request
that they "give me, give me your boca [mouth]".
The performance on the night
featured Natalia initially wearing a tight top and a short skirt. Mid-way
through the song, she went behind a screen and removed the skirt to reveal hotpants.
Later, the top was also removed to reveal a bikini top. A final costume change
saw her emerge at the end of the song wearing a dress.
2007
"Fight" was
the Moldovan entry
in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, performed in English by Natalia Barbu. The song was
written by Elena Bugaand composed by Alexandru Braşoveanu.
The song is a metal-based number,
comparable to Within Temptation or Evanescence in
sound. Barbu sings about the need to "fight" in order "to face
this cruel world", and sings that this is in fact the only way to get
ahead. The melody line is provided by a violin, which Barbu herself plays in the
video, as well as playing in the live performances. Barbu laughingly said that
even though she couldn't play live at Eurovision (the rules forbid this), the
background track violin is played by her and that it was actually a very easy
part since she has been playing since she was seven years old.
The video features a number of schoolboys racing each other over
what appears to be an unmarked cross-country course. Over the course of the
song, all of the boys with one exception fall over, leaving one as the only
victor.
During her performances, Barbu wore a bodysuit as well as pants
which appeared to be very low-slung. BBC commentator Terry Wogan made
reference to this and urged his viewers to call out "Pull your pants
up!" at the start of the song.
As Moldova had not finished the previous Contest in the top ten,
the song was performed in the semi-final. Here, it was performed ninth
(followingSwitzerland's DJ BoBo with "Vampires Are Alive" and preceding the Netherlands' Edsilia Rombley with
"On Top of the World"). At the close of voting, it had
received 91 points, placing 10th in a field of 28 and qualifying Moldova for
the final.
In the final, it was performed 24th (following Armenia's Hayko with "Anytime You Need"). At
the close of voting, it had received 109 points, placing 10th in a field of 24.
2008
"A Century of
Love" was the Moldovan entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, composed by Oleg Baraliuc and Viorica Demici and sung inEnglish by Geta
Burlacu.
On the night of the semi-final of the contest the song was
performed 4th, following Estonia's Kreisiraadio with
"Leto svet" and
preceding San Marino'sMiodio with "Complice". The song received 36 points,
placing 12th of 19 songs competing and failing to make the final, the first
time Moldova was absent from the final in its Eurovision history.
2009
"Hora din
Moldova" (Dance From Moldova) is a song by Moldovan singer Nelly
Ciobanu and was the Moldovan entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, held in Moscow, Russia. The song was composed by Veaceslav
Daniliu, with lyrics written
by Andrei Hadjiu and Aris Kalimeris.
The song competed in the second semi-final
on 14 May 2009 and qualified for the final, where it finished 14th with 69
points.
2010
"Run Away" is a song
performed by SunStroke Project and Olia Tira, and represented Moldova at the Eurovision
Song Contest 2010 in May 2010
inOslo, Norway. The song won the final of the O
melodie pentru Europa 2010, that took place
on 6 March. It gained
the maximum number of points from both the juries and the televotes.
In the contest, it was performed first on the night of the
first semi-final, preceding Russia's Lost and
Forgotten and passed to the
final.
After the contest, "Run Away" would also become
the subject of a major internet meme surrounding the saxophone solos performed by saxophonist Sergey Stepanov, who in a phenomenon similar to Rickroll and Trololo, was dubbed the "Epic Sax
Guy" in videos on YouTube, despite a ruleprohibiting musical instruments being played on
stage.
2011
"So Lucky" is a song performed by the Moldovan ska-punk band Zdob şi Zdub who represented their country
at the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 inDüsseldorf, Germany. The song finished in 12th place.
"Lăutar" is a song by singer Pasha Parfeny. It represented Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. It finished 5th
in the first semi-final to qualify for the grand final where in finished 11th
place.
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