THIS YEAR'S ENTRY
Romania's
Eurovision story is one of persistence finally
gaining reward. After three entries which failed
to make any major impression on the competition,
and a further two songs which missed out in
pre-qualifying competitions, Romania finally
scored its first Top 10 result in Tallinn in
2002. Romania has since built on that and
finished in the Top 5 in 2005 and 2006. This
year Romanian broadcaster repreated the formula
which it has used in the last few years, to
select its Eurovision entry for Belgrade. Two
semi-finals were held on February 9th and 16th
and the top 6 songs in each semi-final, chosen
by a jury and televoting qualified for the
final. The Romanian national final was
held on February 23rd and the winner was once
again chosen by a jury and televoting. In a very
close finish the duet "Pe-o margine De
Lume" (On The Edge Of The World) sung by
Nico and Vlad, narrowly won the ticket to
Belgrade.
While Nico is
a very well known name on the mpop music scene
in Romania, her partner Vlad is best known as an
opera singer.Nico (Nicolete Matei) and began to
come to public attention when she started
winning awards for her vocal talents from the
mid 1990's. For four years in a rpow, starting
in 1996 she won the award for the Best Female
Voice awarded on National Festival of Variety
Shows Theatres in Constantza in Romania abd in
1998 she was awarded the prize for The Best
Female Voice awarded in the “Ion Vasilescu”
Festival. In 2002 and 2004 she was awarded the
second prize at the “MAMAIA” National Pop
Music Festival in Costansa.
The following
year Nico first entered the Romanian Eurovision
selection, with the song "The Only
One", finishing 9th. A similar result
followed in 2004, with "Feeling Snow
White". In 2005 she teamed up with Mihai
Traistariu, for the song "All The
Time", finishing 3rd. Mihai would go on to
represent Romania in Athens in 2006 with
"Tornero" and in the Romanian final
just edged out Nico, who had teamed up with
boyband Akcent for the song "Jokero".
Despite losing out in the Eurovision selection
"Jokero" went on to be a massive local
hit and alsoi reached the charts in several
other countries. In 2006, Nico decided to go it
alone once again 2ith the song
"Dulce-amaruie" (Bitter Sweet) which
finished 6th. After 5 unsuccessful attempts to
get to Eurovision few can argue that Nico has
earned the right to represent her country.
Away from her
appearances in the Romanian national finals,
Nico continued her successful music career. In
2003 she won second prize in the famous
"Golden Stag" international pop
festival in Romania, In 2004 she won the grand
prize and four other awards at Th Discovery
festival in Varna, Bulgaria and in 2005 she
achieved her greatest international success
winning "The Voice Of Asia" trophy in
Alma-ata, Kazakhstan, she also won the Special
Jury Prize as the Astana Song Festival also in
Kazakhstan.
Nico has also
found time to realease three albums; "Gand
Pentru Ei" (Thoughts For Them) in 2003,
"Asa Cum Vrei" (As You Want) in 2005
and "Cast Away" in 2007.
Nico's duet
partner is 11 years her junior. Vlad (Vlad
Mirita) was born on August 2nd 1981 in
Targoviste and in 2002 Ihe graduated from the
singing classes of the Arts School in his home
town. Under the tutilige of Maestro Corneliu
Fanateanu and Alexandru Petrovici, his voice of
a operatic tenor was developed and since 2006 he
has been a soloist of The National Opera House
Bucharest. However Vlad has found popularity
away from opera and has won several awards at
music festivals and he is regarded as the first Romanian
classical-crossover singer.
In 2002 he won
1st prize at the Mamaia festival in Romania. In
2004 he won the Fidof award at Slaviansky Bazaar
Vitebsk in Belarus. In 2005 he came 2nd in the
In the "Songs Of The World" festival
in Moldova and in 2006. Vlad has continued to
win awards ever since and is a regular on the
stage in concert halls in Romania, appearing in
musical shows and special concerts celebrating
Christmas and New Year.
Romania's song "Pe-o margine De
Lume" (On The Edge Of The World) is sung in
Romania and Italian and is the work of
Eurovision newcomers composer Andrei Tudor and
lyricists Andreea Andrei and Adina Suteu. The
song is considered to have a good chance of
qualifying from the first semi-final and going
on to finish in the Top 10 in the final, however
internet fan polls have been a little less
enthusiastic.
