Eurovision national selection opened

Moldova will take part in the 57th Eurovision Song Contest that will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, on May 22-26. It will be the eighth time Moldova will be represented at this contest. Those who want to compete in the national stage can submit applications by January 16, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting a communiqué from the National Public Broadcaster “Teleradio Moldova”. The singers will be able to sing songs by Moldovan composers and lyricists and by foreign ones. Among the conditions of participation in the national selection “Eurovision 2012 – a Song for Europe” are: the length of the original song should not exceed three minutes; it must be performed in Romanian or English; at most six persons must be on the stage; the competitors should be older than 16. Every participant can file one or several applications, depending on the number of songs that they intend to perform in the contest, to the Eurovision Collection Center situated at 1 Miorita St, MD2028, Casa Radio, tel. 739 159. Moldova’s representative at Eurovision will be selected in three stages. The first stage is the internal examination, where a specialized jury created according to the suggestions of the musical creation unions will analyze the recordings. A certain number of singers will go though to the second stage, which is the live performance. At this stage, the competitors do not need costumes or a choreographic show. The jury will assess the participants and choose 20 finalists. The videos will be published on www.trm.md, where the public will be able to vote and choose three participants. The 23 finalists will become known on February 11. The national final will be broadcast live on TV Moldova 1, TV Moldova International, and Radio Moldova. The winner will be decided 50% by the jury and 50% by televoting. Last year, the Eurovision Song Contest was won by Ell and Nikki from Azerbaijan, who sang Running Scared. The Moldovan band “Zdob si Zdub” ranked 12th.