| Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest 2005 | ||||
| Participating broadcaster | Televiziunea Română (TVR) | |||
| Country |  Romania | |||
| Selection process | Selecția Națională 2005 | |||
| Selection date | 5 March 2005 | |||
| Competing entry | ||||
| Song | "Let Me Try" | |||
| Artist | Luminiţa Anghel and Sistem | |||
| Songwriters | Cristian Faur | |||
| Placement | ||||
| Semi-final result | Qualified (1st, 235 points) | |||
| Final result | 3rd, 158 points | |||
| Participation chronology | ||||
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Romania was represented at theEurovision Song Contest 2005 with the song "Let Me Try", written by Cristian Faur, and performed byLuminița Anghel and Sistem. The Romanian participating broadcaster,Televiziunea Română (TVR), organised the national finalSelecția Națională 2005 in order to select its entry for the contest. Controversy surrounded the national final, as runner-upLoredana accused TVR ofvote rigging.
Prior to Eurovision, "Let Me Try" was promoted by a music video and coverage in press, among other endeavours by TVR. Romania reached first place in the contest's semi-final with 235 points. This resulted in its qualification for the Grand Final, where it achieved third place with 158 points. This remains the country's best result in the contest, alongside2010 entry. During Romania's show, Anghel performed to the song in front of Sistem, who contributed to the track's instrumentation by drumming on oil barrels and usingside cutters and agrinding wheel. Following Eurovision, "Let Me Try" achieved commercial success in Romania, peaking at number nine on theRomanian Top 100.[1] In addition, Anghel's participation in the contest led to record deal proposals from various countries including the Netherlands, Hungary, Germany, and England.[2]
Prior to the 2005 contest,Televiziunea Română (TVR) had participated in theEurovision Song Contest representing Romania seven times since its first entry in1994. Its highest placing in the contest, to this point, had been ninth place, achievedin 2002 with the song "Tell Me Why" performed byMonica Anghel andMarcel Pavel. In2004, they placed 18th in the final.[3]
TVR organisedSelecția Națională 2005 to select its entry for theEurovision Song Contest 2005.[4]
Out of all submitted songs, a jury panel decided on twelve finalists;[5] the music videos to their entries were broadcast on 4 March during TVR'sStele de... Eurovision programme hosted by Mihăluș and Mugurel Vrabete.[4][6]
| Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Academica | "Heading for Glory" |
|
| Centru' Civic | "Living for Today" |
|
| De la Vegas | "Zi și noapte" |
|
| Juke Box | "Lonely in Heaven" |
|
| June | "Come Into My Life" |
|
| Loredana | "Le Le" |
|
| Luminița Anghel and Sistem | "Let Me Try" |
|
| Mandinga | "Soarele meu" |
|
| Maria Magdalena Dănăilă | "Learn to Say Goodbye" |
|
| Nico andMihai Trăistariu | "All the Time" |
|
| Pops | "I Need You So" |
|
| Shake | "You're Right" |
|
The final was held on 5 March 2005 at the TVR Studioul 1 from 20:00 to 23:00EET, it was hosted by Laura Mihăluș andDan Bittman.[4][7] In the final, thetelevoting and jury scores were combined, with the televoting having a 25% weighting of the overall result.[5] The 12-member panel was made up of Horia Moculescu, Titus Munteanu, Daniel Alexandrescu, Crina Mărdare, Oltea Șerban Pârău, Berti Barbera, Vlad Crețu, Adi Despot, Eugen Mihăescu, Dan Manoliu, Andrei Kerestely and Cătalin Tuță Popescu.[8] The three songs attracting the most televotes were "Let Me Try" byLuminița Anghel and Sistem (10,832), "Le Le" byLoredana (3,871) and "All the Time" byNico andMihai Trăistariu (3,439). The jury's top two was "Le Le" (135 points) and "Let Me Try" (134 points); the first was awarded the top 12 points mark seven times. Overall, "Let Me Try" won theSelecția Națională with a total of 206 points, followed by "Le Le" (201 points) and "All the Time" (174 points). The full results were:[6][8]
| Draw | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote | Total | Place | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | Points | ||||||
| 1 | June | "Come Into My Life" | 16 | 843 | 42 | 58 | 11 |
| 2 | Nico andMihai Trăistariu | "All the Time" | 114 | 3,439 | 60 | 174 | 3 |
| 3 | Maria Magdalena Dănăilă | "Learn to Say Goodbye" | 63 | 728 | 30 | 93 | 8 |
| 4 | Juke Box | "Lonely in Heaven" | 92 | 628 | 24 | 116 | 6 |
| 5 | Centru' Civic | "Living for Today" | 65 | 505 | 18 | 83 | 9 |
| 6 | Shake | "You're Right" | 33 | 379 | 6 | 39 | 12 |
| 7 | Academica | "Heading for Glory" | 69 | 392 | 12 | 81 | 10 |
| 8 | Loredana | "Le Le" | 135 | 3,871 | 66 | 201 | 2 |
| 9 | Luminița Anghel and Sistem | "Let Me Try" | 134 | 10,832 | 72 | 206 | 1 |
| 10 | De la Vegas | "Zi și noapte" | 46 | 1,394 | 48 | 94 | 7 |
| 11 | Pops | "I Need You So" | 86 | 747 | 36 | 122 | 5 |
| 12 | Mandinga | "Soarele meu" | 84 | 2,253 | 54 | 138 | 4 |
| Draw | Song | Total | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Come Into My Life" | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 16 |
| 2 | "All the Time" | 11 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 11 | 10 | 12 | 9 | 114 |
| 3 | "Learn to Say Goodbye" | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 63 |
| 4 | "Lonely in Heaven" | 9 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 10 | 92 |
| 5 | "Living for Today" | 8 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 65 |
| 6 | "You're Right" | 3 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 33 |
| 7 | "Heading for Glory" | 7 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 69 |
| 8 | "Le Le" | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 9 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 12 | 135 |
| 9 | "Let Me Try" | 10 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 134 |
| 10 | "Zi și noapte" | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 46 |
| 11 | "I Need You So" | 4 | 5 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 5 | 10 | 11 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 86 |
| 12 | "Soarele meu" | 6 | 4 | 9 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 84 |
The selection competition saw some controversial events. Nicolae Dinescu, the drummer of the band Juke Box, died on the morning prior to the contest of aheart attack; the group still decided to compete in the contest.[8] Larger controversy came following the winner's announcement, when second-placed Loredana accused TVR ofvote rigging. She suggested that this was done because she did not want to sign a contract with the broadcaster that related to thecopyright of her song, basing the accusation on reports that her voting line was continuously busy and so people were unable to vote for her when they called.[8] In an editorial forJurnalul Național, Dana Andronie and Cătălina Iancu agreed with the singer's thoughts, seeing her as the real winner. According to them, the jury votes and the televoting were not added up correctly.[7]
TVR promoted Anghel and Sistem as Romania's entrants for the Eurovision Song Contest with tours abroad and in Romanian communities in Europe. They also had coverage inRomanian diaspora press and on various Romanian and international websites, as well as on radio stations and in European clubs. In addition, TVR sent supporting e-mails to all addresses stored on their server.[9] A music video for "Let Me Try" was released in 2005 and included on anenhanced CD release of the single that year. It features Anghel performing to the song while Sistem drums on barrels in a desert.[10]
The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 took place at thePalace of Sports inKyiv, Ukraine and consisted of one semi-final on 19 May, and the final on 21 May 2005.[11] In Romania, the show was aired on TVR,[3] with Dan Manoliu as the country'shead of delegation.[12] Anghel and Sistem were scheduled for technical rehearsals on 13 and 15 May.[9] After negotiations, TVR was granted the permission to use flames projected on the backgroundLED screen and agrinding wheel during Romania's performance, although real flames onstage and the use ofstaves were prohibited. They were, though, allowed to use oil barrels; these had to be brought onstage by special platforms with wheels. Twenty people were needed for the barrel positioning, which occurred in around 40 seconds during set change and cost €3,000.[13][14]
According to theEurovision rules at the time, selected countries, except the host country and the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom), were required to qualify from the semi-final to compete for the final; the top ten countries from the semi-final progressed to the final. In the semi-final, Anghel and Sistem performed 14th, preceded byNorway and followed byHungary.[15] In the Grand Final, they sang fourth, preceded byMalta and followed by Norway.[11][16] The show consisted of Anghel performing the song, wearing a green top with a pair of jeans, in front of Sistem, who contributed to the track's instrumentation by "wildly" drumming on oil barrels in a similar way to German industrial bandEinstürzende Neubauten.[17][18] While the singer joined the group during an instrumental part, Sistem also usedside cutters and a grinding wheel to create what aEurovision.de writer described as "spark rain" onstage.[17][19]
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to and by Romania in the semi-final and Grand Final of the contest. In the semi-final, the country finished in first place with a total of 235 points, including ten fromAustria, Malta andPortugal, and 12 fromCyprus,Spain,Greece, Hungary,Israel, andMoldova.[20] In the Grand Final, Romania finished in third position, being awarded a total of 158 points, including ten awarded by Hungary and 12 by Spain, Israel andPortugal.[21] This remains the country's best result in the contest, matched in2010 with their entry "Playing with Fire" byPaula Seling andOvi.[22] Romania awarded its 12 points to Moldova in both the semi-final and Grand Final of the contest.[20][21] TVR appointed Berti Barbera as its spokesperson to announce the Romanian voting results.[23]
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