Country Moldova Selected entrant Pasha Parfeny | Selection date(s) 11 March 2012 Selected song "Lăutar" | |
Selection process Selecţia Naţională 2012 Semi-final result Qualified (5th, 100 points) | ||
Moldova participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The Moldovan entry was selected through a national final, organised by the Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM). Pasha Parfeny represented Moldova with the song "Lăutar", which qualified from the first semi-final and went on to place 11th in the final, scoring 81 points.
Contents
Selecţia Naţională 2012
On 28 December 2011, TRM confirmed their participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 and invited artists and composers to submit their entries. On 3 January 2012, TRM announced that the Moldovan national final would take place on 10 March 2012 and that the submission period would come to a close on 16 January. Only Moldovan artists were eligible to compete, however, up to two band members could be of foreign origin and collaboration with foreign songwriters was also allowed.
From 14-18 January 2012, TRM released the submitted entries to the public online. In total, 85 entries were received, with submissions from 2008 entrant Geta Burlacu, 2009 entrant Nelly Ciobanu and 2010 entrants Olia Tira and SunStroke Project. On 21 January, a jury panel listened to the 85 submitted entries and shortlisted 60 for a live audition phase on 29 January. 20 entries were selected at the audition phase to compete in the national final. The jury panel that selected the finalists consisted of Olga Ciolacu (singer), Igor Dinga (producer and composer), Valentin Boghean (instrumentist, actor and composer), Tatiana Cerga (singer), Andrei Sava (composer), Victoria Tcacenco (professor at the Music, Theatre and Fine Arts Academy) and Dana Argint (Orange Moldova representative).
An additional wildcard was also awarded through internet voting that was held between 1-12 February. 33 entries which failed to be among the 20 finalists were in contention for the wildcard and on 20 February, Mariana Mihaila and the song "Live On Forever" was awarded the wildcard for the final.
Final
Selecţia Naţională 2012 was held on 11 March 2012 at TRM Television Studios in Chisinau, hosted by Marcel Spataru, Evelina Vârlan and Dorina Gherganov with backstage interviews conducted by Anatol Melnic. The draw for running order took place on 20 February, where Nelly Ciobanu and the song "Turn On The Light" were withdrawn from the competition due to personal reasons. On 5 March, as the runner-up in the internet wildcard voting, the song "Live the show" performed by Akord replaced Ciobanu. A combination of televoting (50%) and jury voting (50%) resulted in Pasha Parfeny winning the competition with the song "Lăutar".
The jury panel consisted of Olga Ciolacu (singer), Igor Dinga (producer and composer), Valentin Boghean (instrumentist, actor and composer), Tatiana Cerga (singer), Andrei Sava (composer), Victoria Tcacenco (professor at the Music, Theatre and Fine Arts Academy), Angela Brasoveanu (journalist), Nicu Țărnă (singer), Anatol Chiriac (composer), Igor Cobileanski (director) and Ludmila Climoc (Orange Moldova representative).
At Eurovision
Moldova competed in the second half of the first semi-final (17th on stage), on 22 May 2012, following Austria and preceding Ireland. Moldova received 100 points and placed 5th, thus qualifying for the final on 26 May.
In the final, Moldova was drawn to close the final and perform 26th, following Ukraine. The Moldovan entry scored a total of 81 points and placed 11th in the final.