Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017
Moldova participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. The artist and song that would represent Moldova in the 2017 contest was selected through the national final, O melodie pentru Europa 2017, organised by the Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova, on 25 February 2017.
Moldova was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 9 May 2017. Performing during the show in position 12, "Hey, Mamma!" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 13 May.
Background
Prior to the 2017 Contest, Moldova had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twelve times since its first entry in 2005. The nation's best placing in the contest was sixth, which it achieved in 2005 with the song "Bunica bate toba" performed by Zdob și Zdub. Other than their debut entry, to this point, Moldova's only other top ten placing at the contest was achieved in 2007 where "Fight" performed by Natalia Barbu placed tenth. In the 2016 contest, "Falling Stars" performed by Lidia Isac failed to qualify Moldova to compete in the final.For the 2017 Contest, the Moldovan national broadcaster, TeleRadio-Moldova, will broadcast the event within Moldova and organise the selection process for the nation's entry. TRM confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest on 25 October 2016. Moldova has selected their entry via a national selection show since 2008, a procedure that was continued for their 2017 participation.
Before Eurovision
''O melodie pentru Europa 2017''
O melodie pentru Europa 2017 was the national final format developed by TRM in order to select Moldova's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. Unlike in previous years, the event only included one semi-final and a final to be held on 24 and 25 February 2017, respectively.Format
The selection of the competing entries for the national final and ultimately the Moldovan Eurovision entry took place over two rounds. The first round was a live audition of the received submissions in front of a jury panel that took place on 21 January 2017. Entries were assessed on criteria such as voice quality, stage presence and strength of the composition. The panel selected 14 semi-finalists to proceed to the second round, the televised national final. 14 semi-finalists competed in the semi-final on 24 February 2017. Eight songs qualified to the final; four of the qualifiers qualified based on the votes from an expert jury, while the remaining four qualifiers were the entries that achieved the highest televote score from the remaining entries. The eight qualifying entries competed in the final on 25 February 2017 where the winner was selected by the 50/50 combination of an expert jury vote and a public televote. In the event of a tie, the entry that receives the highest score from the public televote was declared the winner.Competing entries
Artists and composers had the opportunity to submit their entries until 18 January 2017. At the conclusion of the submission deadline, 40 valid entries were received by the broadcaster. The live audition round took place on 21 January 2017 where 14 semi-finalists were selected to advance. One entry was withdrawn before the auditions and one did not attend the auditions and therefore was disqualified.After the auditions, "Mama" performed by Constantin Cobîlean was disqualified from the competition as a Russian language version of the song had been performed on the Russian television series Glavnaya Stsena in 2015. He was replaced with the song "Never Give Up on Us" performed by Nadia Moșneagu. On 14 February 2017, "Călător" performed by Boris Covali was withdrawn and replaced with "Ne-a fost iubirea un joc" performed by Sergiu Pungă. On 24 January 2017, "Baby, Don't Cry" performed by Irina Kit was withdrawn after it was revealed that heir chorus had similarities to the Akon song "Bananza". She was replaced with the song "Glow" performed by Samir Loghin.
| Artist | Song ' | Composer |
| Aurel Chirtoacă | "Dor de mamă" ' | Aurel Chirtoacă |
| Big Flash Sound | "Logic" | Big Flash Sound - Eugenia Golomidova, Eugen Valeev |
| Diana Brescan | "Breath" | Andrei Tostogan, Liuba Perciun |
| Emilia Russu | "If Only You" | Samuel Bugia Garrido, Athanasios Nakos |
| Ethno Republic & Surorile Osoianu | "Discover Moldova" | Marcel Ștefăneț, Nelu Laiu |
| Marks & Ștefăneț | "Join Us in the Rain" | Ralph Siegel |
| Nadia Moșneagu | "Never Give Up on Us" | Johan Lundin, Vanessa Nordmark |
| Samir Loghin | "Glow" | Samir Loghin, Danil Murzac, Kälin Bogdan |
| Sandy C | "A Beautiful World" | Christian Alares, Malin Johansson, Christopher Wortley |
| Sergiu Pungă | "Ne-a fost iubirea un joc" ' | Sergiu Pungă |
| SunStroke Project | "Hey, Mamma!" | SunStroke Project, Alina Galetskaya |
| THE ONE | "Dance" | Iurie Sceankin, Igor Cristov, Pavel Malișev |
| Valeria Pașa | "Freedom" | Eugen Doibani |
| Vozniuc feat. Vio Grecu | "Don't Lie" | Dan Vozniuc, Rodica Olișevschi |
Shows
Semi-final
The semi-final took place on 24 February 2017 at TRM Studio in Chișinău, hosted by Liviu Gulica and Mihaela Cîrnov. Eight songs qualified to the final. A jury panel first selected four songs to qualify. The remaining ten entries then faced a public televote which selected an additional four qualifiers. The jury that voted in the semi-final included Anatol Chiriac, Ilona Stepan, Iurie Mahovici, Lidia Panfil, Valeria Barbas, Nicu Țărnă and Geta Burlacu.Final
The final took place on 25 February 2017 at TRM Studio in Chișinău, hosted by Liviu Gulica and Mihaela Cîrnov. The eight songs that qualified from the preceding semi-final competed and the winner was selected based on the combination of a public televote and the votes of an expert jury. At the conclusion of the voting, there was a tie for the first place between "Hey, Mamma!" performed by SunStroke Project and "Discover Moldova" performed by Ethno Republic & Surorile Osoianu. "Hey, Mamma!" performed by SunStroke Project received the most votes from the televote and thus was selected as the winner.Promotion
SunStroke Project made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Hey, Mamma!" as the Moldovan Eurovision entry. Between 3 and 6 April, they took part in promotional activities in Tel Aviv, Israel where they performed during the Israel Calling event held at the Ha'teatron venue. On 8 April, they performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Selma Björnsdóttir. On 15 April, they performed during the Eurovision Spain Pre-Party, which was held at the Sala La Riviera venue in Madrid, Spain.At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 31 January 2017, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Moldova was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 9 May 2017, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.Once all the competing songs for the 2017 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Moldova was set to perform in position 12, following the entry from Poland and before the entry from Iceland.
Semi-final
SunStroke Project took part in technical rehearsals on 30 April and 4 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 8 and 9 May. This included the jury show on 8 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.At the end of the show, Moldova was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. In the first semi-final, Moldova placed second with the public televote receiving 180 points and fourth with the jury vote with 111 points.