🇲🇩 Two songs disqualified from Etapa Națională

While TRM recently released the 33 songs intended to compete as part of this year’s Etapa Națională auditions, they have since revealed that two of these have been disqualified from competing.

NÖRDIKA’s entry “Squeeze Paradise” has been disqualified due to being performed prior to 1st September 2022, making it ineligible for Eurovision. Their second entry, “Damn and Down”, remains in the competition.

The other act to have been disqualified is Massimo Sinceri & DA-MUSE, as the rules of Etapa Națională state that no more than 50% of the artists in any given act can be from outside Moldova. They were due to perform their song “In Questo Domani” at the auditions this weekend.

31 songs now remain in contention to represent Moldova in Liverpool for Eurovision 2023.

The competing artists and song titles at the Etapa Națională auditions are:

Artist	Song Title
ADA DEEA	“Mystic Rose”
Adelina Iordachi	“Deja Vu”
Aliona Moon	“Du-mă”
Angel Kiss	“Now I Know”
Corina Ivanov	“When Love’s Real”
COSMINA	“Indestructible”
Crista	“Pădure verde pădure”
Diana Elmas	“Miracle”
Donia	“Red Zone”
Formația Vele	“Jocul neamului moldovenesc”
Gesica Sîrbu	“I’m In Love”
Harmony Scuffle	“Favourite One”
Lisa Volk	“Scrisoare către țară”
LOLA	“Temperatura”
Nihilist & Lisa Nicky	“Final Destination”
Nikko T.	“Destiny”
Nino	“It Would Be Nice”
NÖRDIKA	“Damn and Down”
NR 11	“Adio”
OL	“Why You Play It Cool”
Pasha Parfeni	“Soarele și luna”
Ricky Ardezianu	“A Red Rose”
Rise	“Don’t Trumble”
Sasha Bognibov	“My Favourite Schoolgirl”
Sunstroke Project	“Yummy Mommy”
Surorile Osoianu	“Bade, bădișor, bădiță”
Tania Pitușcan	“Miorița”
Valeria Condrea	“We’re Now Different”
VERA	“Vremea ta”
Victor Gulick	“Let’s Dance”
Y-Limit	“Live in Harmony”

All songs that have advanced to the audition stage can be listened to at eurovision.md.

Of the 31 competing entries, three previous Moldovan representatives are returning. Pasha Parfeni represented Moldova with “Lăutar” in 2012, whilst Aliona Moon sang “O mie” for Moldova in 2013. The Sunstroke Project have represented the nation on two separate occasions – first in 2010 with the song “Run Away”, and then in 2017 singing “Hey Mamma”.

Etapa Națională auditions to be held on January 28th

In addition to the revelation of the advancing songs, TRM gave more information regarding the next stage of the selection. The auditions will be broadcast on January 28th, from 2pm EET. All auditions will be broadcast on the Moldova 2 channel. However, international fans will also be able to watch the auditions through TRM’s dedicated Eurovision website.

Following on from the audition stage, the jury will then score each competing song. The ten songs that receive the highest score from the jury will advance to the national final. No date has yet been set for the final; however, it is expected to take place between the 25th of February and 4th of March.

Moldova’s Eurovision journey

Moldova is relatively new to the Eurovision Song Contest, joining in 2005. Their debut entry, Zdob si Zdub, finished in 6th place, which had remained their highest scoring entry up until 2017. This was thanks to the Sunstroke Project performing ‘Hey Mamma’, finishing in 3rd place. At the close of voting, Moldova received 374 points.

In 2022, Zdob si Zdub came back to the Eurovision stage with the Advahov Brothers and represented Moldova at the Contest in Turin. Performing their song “Trenuletul”, Moldova qualified for the final and finished in 7th place. Following the jury and televote points, Moldova had received 253 points.

Are you sad to see either of these two songs disqualified? Who would you like to see represent Moldova at Eurovision 2023? As always, let us know what you think by commenting below. Also, be sure to follow “That Eurovision Site” on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Tiktok as we look ahead to Eurovision 2023!

News Source: TRM

Photo Credit: TRM