Chișinău, 4 March 2023
Tonight is the penultimate national finals Saturday! During tonight’s slew of national selection shenanigans, three new hopefuls will be crowned representatives of their home country at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, held in Liverpool, England. Moldova picked first, and this is the recap of their selection, aptly named Etapa Nationala!
After going through a prelimiary audition round, Moldova’s broacaster TRM hosted a full-fledged live finale for their 10 hopefuls. Tonight’s line was as follows:
- Donia – “Red Zone“
- OL – “Why you play it cool”
- Victor Gulick – “Let’s dance“
- Surorile Osoianu – “Bade, bădișor, bădiță“
- Cosmina – “Indestructable“
- Nördika – “Damn and down“
- Aliona Moon – “Du-mă“
- Sunstroke Project – “Yummy mommy“
- Pasha Parfeny – “Soarele și luna“
- Corina Ivanov – “When love’s real“
You may recognise a few familiar names: Eternal memelords Sunstroke Project, arguably the biggest band in Moldova (and definitely the biggest name in Moldova with Eurofans, period) participated once again, with Pasha Parfeny (2012/2013) and Aliona Moon (2013) giving Eurovision another go after their previous stints. 2017’s runner’s up, Surorile Osoianu also returned for another shot at glory.
Two Eurovision 2023 acts performed at the national final to promote their song with the Moldovan audience. First up were Latvian rock band Sudden Lights performing their song Aija. Later, Romania’s Theodor Andrei joined the fray with his song D.G.T.. Last year’s Moldovan representatives, Zdob si Zdub & the Advahov Brothers got one extensive interval segment each. Poland’s representative Blanka who was also set to participate in the celebrations, had to bail out after her flight to Chișinău had been cancelled.
After everyone performed, lines opened. TRM pioneered a new voting system: voting was free, and anyone who wanted to cast a vote, could do so by scanning an onscreen QR code with their phone, surfing to TRM’s website and vote online, or via traditional vote (phone/sms). Voting was also free as a result, but only one vote per device could be cast.
Moldova also added a jury to counterbalance their diverse televoting methods: Four jurors ranked the 10 songs, with Pasha Parfeny narrowly edging out Aliona Moon for first place.
However, once the televotes were added into the mix, it was revealed that Pasha demolished the public vote, finishing a clean three thousand votes ahead of Sunstroke project. As such, Pasha Parfeny will be returning to Eurovision in 2023, ten years after his previous on-stage appearance (in 2013, as Aliona Moon’s pianist and composer.)
You can listen to his song, “Soarele și luna” (“Sun and Moon”) below.
Pasha is one of Moldova’s most prominent musicians. Alongside directly representing Moldova in 2012, he also guided his protégé Aliona Moon (one of his backing singers for 2012!) to a respectable 11th place in 2013. Parfeny is also a founding member of that other Moldovan gem, Sunstroke Project, leaving the band in 2009.
Moldova is set to compete in the first Semifinal, held on 9 May 2023 in Liverpool. They will perform at an undisclosed spot in the second half, alongside the likes of Sweden, Finland and Serbia.
Moldova’s best result at Eurovision so far is third place, achieved in 2017 with Sunstroke Project’s “Hey mamma”.
Are #YOU pleased with Moldova’s choice? Do #YOU think Pasha can -forgive the pun- soar to a high place in Liverpool? Join the discussion on our forum HERE, or visit us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, TikTok and Discord.
