Nelly Ciobanu's "Hora din Moldova" was the most popular song on the radio and television when I arrived in Moldova two summers ago. Now, it's impossible to attend a wedding or town celebration without dancing a hora to this song. It was the song "chosen" by Moldovans to represent their country in the 2009 Eurovision competition.
I have to include the quotation marks in that one because I have had more than one conversation with Moldovans about how the voting in this competition is often inherently skewed to those in the cities with access to things like the internet. Since most of the voting during the international competition takes place by phone, more than one person has expressed to me that Moldova's chances of winning this competition are inevitably wedded to the country's economic well-being. Perhaps when enough Moldovans are earning a disposable income, and are able to make those expensive phone calls, Moldova will garner more votes and win the chance to sing in the final round.
I have to include the quotation marks in that one because I have had more than one conversation with Moldovans about how the voting in this competition is often inherently skewed to those in the cities with access to things like the internet. Since most of the voting during the international competition takes place by phone, more than one person has expressed to me that Moldova's chances of winning this competition are inevitably wedded to the country's economic well-being. Perhaps when enough Moldovans are earning a disposable income, and are able to make those expensive phone calls, Moldova will garner more votes and win the chance to sing in the final round.
Eurovision is a televised, annual song competition that began in 1956 under the management of the European Broadcasting Union. During the summer, every pub not showing a football game on the flat screen, will be tuned to the Eurovision competition. Most songs are mostly or all in English, as participants are probably trying to become the next ABBA. Eastern Europe loves ABBA. The group got it's big break when it won the Eurovision competition in 1974.
Zdub si Zdub, one of the most popular musical troupes in Moldova, will return to the Eurovision competition this year. Making it into the top 10 songs, Zdub si Zdub represented Moldova's first entry in the competition, in 2005. I don't actually like this year's entry, but here I've included that 2005 song about a granny who liked the drummer.
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