Thursday 10 March 2016

ROMANIA

The Romanian Final was held on March 6th at Sala Sporturilor Lascar Pana in Baia Mare, hosted by Cornel Ilie, Ioana Voicu & Jo. Before the final there was a semi-final where 6 of the 12 qualified for the final - four were selected by a jury the other two were chosen by televoting. Televoting only was used in the final. The winner was Ovidiu Anton with the song "Moment of Silence"

This is rock ballad straight out of musical theatre. It also has a slight medieval sound and after the first chorus it also has the orchestration of a Bond theme too. Ovidiu is joined by 4 very close backing singers who also strut around and emote the meaning of the song. There is also a leather-clad sword-wielding dancer on the podium to his right. The song has a very straightforward structure although it is not exactly straightforward to the ear. There isn’t much or a rise and fall and doesn’t grow in the way you would expect. It might help if Ovidiu kept a bit back at the start in order to build the song up.

Although Anton studied, classic guitar and piano at school, the music he loved was rock music. In 1998 he formed the group Carpe Diem and he toured with them for 4 years. He came 2nd at the Mamaia National Festival in 2003 and represented Romania at the Golden Stag International Festival in 2005. He then fronted Trupa Pasager band with which he performed hundreds of concerts and participated in Eurovision 2010 national selection. He participated in Selecția Națională four times previously, finally winning his place at Eurovision on his fifth attempt.

This I feel is going to be a real Marmite song – you either get it or you don’t. The rock style will appeal to some, the music edge to it will appeal to others. But many may also see it is quite stilted and possibly even over the top. Personally I find the song a dull and passionless vocally. Although Ovidiu looks like he’s giving it his all, it doesn’t sound it. In addition I find the setup quite stilted. I can see what they are trying to achieve but it is still too static. The dancer is a good idea - but not isolted at the side. I also get the concept of the costumes but think these need a bit of a revamp. Romania currently has a 100% qualification rate to the final and this is possibly the first song that may jeopardise that. But looking at the semi final split I think they have enough a) neighbours b) diaspora votes and c) rock loving countries to just get them through. This will do OK but not great and predict a finish around the 15-20 place mark.


ARTIST – Ovidiu Anton
SONG – Moment of silence
MUSIC – Ovidiu Anton
LYRICS – Ovidiu Anton

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