Moldova: 28 competing songs for “O Melodie Pentru Europa 2018”.
Another national selection unwinding this time we’re referring to Moldova. The national broadcaster, TRM, released the 28 participants of the country’s national selection O Melodie Pentru Europa 2018.
After last year’s achievement by Sunstroke Project and their 3rd placing in the Grand final, many were those who expected an increase in the total number of national selection participants. However something like this didn’t happen. Perhaps the condition for foreign artists to compete only in collaboration with a local artist and without having more than a 50% share on stage, is a factor that discouraged non locals to participate. In addition to this participants are not allowed to compete with a song that has already competed in another national final.
The 28 competing artists with their songs are:
| Sasha Bognibov | Love |
| Anna Timofei | Endlessly |
| Che MD | Inima-n stinga |
| Codreanu Maria | Zambeste soarelui |
| Ruslan Taranu | Come to life |
| Doinita Gherman | Dance in flames |
| Sandy C & Aaron Sibley | Once Upon a Time |
| Tolik | Glass |
| Dima Gaitur | Ona maya |
| Vera Turcanu | Black Heart |
| Formatia 5 Stele | Maldavian dance |
| Tudor Bumbac | Numai pentru tine |
| DoReDoS | My lucky day |
| Bostan | Fratica |
| Felicia Dunaf | Alien |
| Nicoleta Sava | Esencia del Sur |
| Lavinia Rusu | Altundeva |
| Marina Cudalb | Bianco e nero |
| Denny Feyton | Maybe it’s love |
| Laura Bagrii | Da Bucuriei |
| Anna Odobescu | Agony |
| Ilia Sorocean & Dasha DaGro | Minds & Veins |
| Bella Luna | Moments |
| Pelageya Stefoglo | Let’s start together right now |
| Shvets | The world |
| Saidy | Beauty song |
| Cobilean Constantin | Numai Tu |
| Viorela | The gates of love |
A number of the participants has an interesting past in the local music scene. Sasha Bognibov will try for the 8th time to win the golden ticket for the Eurovision stage this time with his song, Love, while the group DoReDos, as we informed you in a previous article , will compete with the song My Lucky Day in collaboration with Philip Kirkorov . This year’s selection has many past participants of O Melodie Pentru Europa such as: Felicia Dunaf, Doinita Gherman, Che MD, Sandy C and Todor Bumbac.
Concerning the live auditions, 16 will only qualify to the semi final that will take place on February 22 and from them only 10 acts will qualify to the grand final on February 24. The result in both show will be determined by a combination of jury and public voting with a 50% share each. The TV audience will be able to vote only one time their favorite song while the names of the jury will be revealed on the semi final.
Moldova made its debut appearance in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005 and has achieved decent results despite being one of the smallest participating countries. Last year it was represented for the second time by Sunstroke Project and their song Hey Mamma achieving the country’s best placing ever, finishing third in the Grand Final.
