MOLDOVA

The Moldovan Final was held on March 15th at the TRM TV Studios in Chisinau, hosted by Olivia Furtuna & Iurie Gologa. Before the final there were 2 semi-finals with 7 songs qualifying from each. The winner, chosen by televoting (50%) and an "expert" jury (50%) was Cristina Scarlat with "Wild Soul".

Unfortunately being at the end of a very rushed and crowded National finals season, the Moldovan selection really kind of passed me by. Although the final was available online it clashed with too many things and so the closest I came to watching any of it was through watching recaps of each semi-final on youtube.

The staging of the show is quite unusual. Firstly Cristina has the most wonderful dress - a dress that encapsulates the sound of the song before she has even sung a note! The background is of black, red and white smoke patterns which kind of fits in with the energy of the song. Throughout the act, Cristina is static, all of the action happens behind her with her 4 backing dancers. They are dressed in a similar to Dschinghis Khan back in the '70s but their dancing is much more modern. They also use a series of props to create some very unusual and sometimes daredevil stunts behind her. The use of the flying scarves is very effective - where do they come from?!?!?!

The song is a ballad over a modern dubstep dance beat. The song starts off low and quiet and builds up nicely - we even have a much needed and much missed key change in the final chorus! I was starting to think this was an endangered species! It progresses as you would predict however the ending of the chorus is a little different and allows Cristina to really show off her excellent vocal ability. Her voice is really clear and her diction is not bad either. Although not the most in your face song, after a few listens the song becomes more memorable. There are lots of repeated words and phrases but none of them the title.

This is very much a visual performance, although her voice needs to be the star. I think the show as it is may look a bit tacky and amateur on a huge Eurovision stage. Firstly they need to makes sure that the dancers escapades add to and compliment Cristina, not overpower it. I would like to see them redesigning the costumes not sure what to but as they are it doesn't seem to fit with the background or what Cristina is wearing. They also need to think about the props. I am still at a loss as to what the bendy mirror is all about and I am not sure how they can make the scarves (which is possibly the best and simplest visual trick I have seen this Eurovision season!) into something much more epic!

This kind of mish-mash of styles is the kind of thing you expect from Moldova and from that side it doe snot disappoint. Part of me wishes there was an even bigger ending to make it stand out more. In a semi-final with quite a few allies this will qualify but probably won't do much at all in the final.

Artist - Cristina Scarlat

Song - Wild soul

Music - Ivan Aculov

Lyrics - Lidia Scarlat