Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest
Romania has designated its representative to the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest.
Roxana Vasile, 07.03.2016, 13:50
Ovidiu Anton will represent Romania at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest. He was designated by televoting on Sunday evening, following the points he received from the public, at the end of the national final hosted by the beautiful city of Baia Mare, in northern Romania. Out of 6 music pieces running in the competition, Ovidiu Anton’s “Moment of Silence” became favourite with most of the voters. Before going to the stage, the singer was very hopeful.
Ovidiu Anton: “I am a winner and, ahead of each battle, I hope to be triumphant. This is what I think before entering a competition. I have come here to share with you my song, ‘Moment of Silence’, and if you, the Romanian public, believe that this melody represents you, when hearing it on stage, I would very much like to represent you.”
The result of the televoting was clear, and the young performer’s hope became certainty: Ovidiu Anton will go to Stockholm. Many considered his rock piece homage paid to the 63 victims of the devastating fire, which broke out at the Colectiv nightclub in Bucharest last year. Members of the band performing on stage when the tragedy struck were also among the victims. However, Ovidiu Anton, has denied that! “Moment of Silence” is not a homage paying song, but, as he says, it addresses all those “who are here, today”.
Composed after the Colectiv deadly fire, when tens of thousands of Romanians took to the streets to denounce the authorities’ inertia, indifference and corruption, “Moment of Silence” speaks to all people, the only masters of their lives. “Nobody has the right to use our souls to serve their obscure interests. We should remember that it is us who matter, we should fight together for everything that is ours, for the truth”, the soloist also said.
Ovidiu Anton has also conveyed a message to all those who, in his opinion, “have taken Romanian culture in their grip and turned it into nothing: we are neither a flock of sheep, nor wolves, we are not sound asleep, we are here and we are strong!”, the singer has also underlined. This year, the European song contest will be held in Sweden, on May 10th, 12th and 14th.
43 countries are running in this year’s edition of the contest, that is three more than in the previous. Romania will participate in the second semi-final, scheduled for May 12, alongside Albania, Bulgaria, Denmark, Georgia, Slovenia, Norway, Hungary, Ukraine, Belgium, Latvia, Belarus, Ireland, Switzerland, Macedonia, Australia, Lithuania, Poland, Israel and Serbia. The finals is due on May 14th.
Since 1994, when it took part in the Eurovision song contest for the first time, Romania ranked third in the final classification, two times, this being the best performance of the Romanian musicians participating in the European contest. Since the introduction of the semi-finals, Romania is among the six countries, that have never missed the final.
