Country Moldova Selection date(s) 14 February 2009 Selected song "Hora din Moldova" | Selection process National Final Selected entrant Nelly Ciobanu | |
Semi-final result Qualified (5th, 106 points) | ||
Moldova was one of the countries participating in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, hosted by Russia. TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM) held a national final to select its 2009 entry for the contest. Nelly Ciobanu with the song "Hora din Moldova" qualified in the second semi-final in Moscow on 14 May, and represented Moldova in the final on 16 May.
Contents
National final
TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM) held an open call for songs for Eurovision 2009 from 10 November to 20 December 2008. The broadcaster received a total of 39 songs for Eurovision, two of which came from foreign composers. 20 songs were selected from the 39 submitted, and were revealed on 9 January. The national final was held on 14 February and the running order for the songs was revealed on 2 February. Natalia Gordienko, who represented Moldova in the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest in Athens, and Edict withdrew from the contest. Olia Tira also withdrew one of her two songs from the contest. They were replaced by three new singers: Doina Gherman with "Hei! Exploadează!"; Veronica Stolli with "Lerui - ler"; and Corbus Albus with "7 Days".
The selection, held in the Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Chişinău, lasted approximately four hours. Each entrant took the stage to present their bid to represent Moldova. Afterwards, an interval act included the Romanian entrant, Elena Gheorghe, who performed her Eurovision entry, "The Balkan Girls". Azerbaijani participant AySel made a special appearance in which she debuted a teaser of her Eurovision entry. Ionel Istrati,a Moldovian singer also performed his song "Uita-ma". The winner of the final was decided using televoting, the TRM voting committee, and a jury. Nelly Ciobanu was the landslide victor, winning 61% of the televote and top marks from both the committee and the jury.
At Eurovision
Moldova had to compete in one of the two semi-finals after Geta Burlacu came 12th in the 2008 semi-final. It qualified from the second semi-final and eventually finished 14th.