Moldova was one of the countries participating in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, hosted by Russia. TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM) held a national final to select its 2009 entry for the contest. Nelly Ciobanu with the song „Hora din Moldova“ qualified in the second semi-final in Moscow on 14 May, and represented Moldova in the final on 16 May.

O melodie pentru Europa 2009

O melodie pentru Europa 2009 was the national final format developed by TRM in order to select Moldova’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009.

Format

The selection of the competing entries for the national final and ultimately the Moldovan Eurovision entry took place in two rounds. The first round involved a jury panel selecting twenty finalists from the received submissions to proceed to the second round, the televised national final. 20 finalists competed in the final on 14 February 2009 where the winner was selected based on the combined votes from an expert jury vote, a TRM committee vote and a public televote.

Competing entries

Artists and composers had the opportunity to submit their entries between 10 November 2008 to 20 December 2008. At the conclusion of the submission deadline, 39 entries were received by the broadcaster, two of which came from foreign composers. A jury panel evaluated the submitted songs and selected 20 finalists for the competition. The list of competing artists and songs were released on 9 January 2009. The running order was revealed on 2 February 2009. On 7 February 2009, „So Alive“ performed by Natalia Gordienko, „Run Away“ performed by Edict and „Love Is In the Air“ performed by Olia Tira were withdrawn from the competition and replaced with the songs „Hei! Exploadează!“ performed by Doiniţa Gherman, „Lerui – ler“ performed by Veronica Stolli and „7 Days“ performed by Corbus Albus.

Finalists Selection

Draw	Artist	Song	Result
1	Onnik	„Love Your Country“	Eliminated
2	One Manв’s Project	„Be Mine“	Eliminated
3	After Rehearsal	„Knocking on Julie’s Heart“	Eliminated
4	Alexandru Bognibov	„In 2 Days“	Eliminated
5	Mihai Braşoveanu	„Le feu de l’amour“	Eliminated
6	Corbus Albus	„7 Days“	Finalist
7	Elena Buga	„Queen“	Finalist
8	Cristina Croitor	„First Chance“	Finalist
9	Cristiana Sitnic	„Cine cineva“	Eliminated
10	Veronica Stolli	„Lerui – ler“	Finalist
11	Anişoara Balmuş	„Adrenalina“	Finalist
12	Nona Marian	„Born to Be Together“	Eliminated
13	Zbints	„I Am Free“	Eliminated
14	Doiniţa Gherman	„Hei! Exploadează!“	Finalist
15	Dana Marchitan	„Doar un pas“	Finalist
16	Marius	„We’ll Gonna Rock“	Finalist
17	Edict	„Run Away“	Finalist
18	Katalina Rusu	„Sparky Lady“	Finalist
19	Slavici	„O fată cu părul de aur“	Finalist
20	Octavyan	„Feel My Heart“	Eliminated
21	Dianna	„I’m Missing You“	Finalist
22	El Radu	„The Song of Life“	Eliminated
23	Exnn	„Dance the Witch“	Eliminated
24	Vlad	„Give Me Your Life“	Eliminated
25	Cezara	„Tu, tată“	Finalist
26	Elite	„Uite-asa“	Eliminated
27	Elite	„Esti tanar“	Eliminated
28	Brand	„Simt că este timpul“	Finalist
29	Galina Şcoda	„Joc de noroc“	Finalist
30	SunStroke Project	„No Crime“	Finalist
31	Olia Tira	„Unicul meu“	Finalist
32	Olia Tira	„Love Is In the Air“	Finalist
33	Alexa	„A Flight to the Light“	Finalist
34	Natalia Gordienko	„So Alive“	Finalist
35	Nelly Ciobanu	„Hora din Moldova“	Finalist
36	Cristy Rouge	„Women’s Winner“	Finalist
37	Ayra	„Call Me A Liar“	Finalist
38	Vasile Muntean	„Not for Sale“	Eliminated

Final

The four-hour long final took place on 14 February 2009 at the Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Chişinău, hosted by Rusalina Rusu and Serj Kuzenkoff. The winner was selected based on the combination of votes from a public televote (1/3), an expert jury (1/3) and a TRM committee (1/3). „Hora din Moldova“ performed by Nelly Ciobanu was selected as the winner, winning 61% of the televote and receiving top marks from both the jury and committee. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2009 Romanian Eurovision entrant Elena Gheorghe with „The Balkan Girls“ and singer Ionel Istrati with „Uita-ma“ performed as guests. 2009 Azerbaijani Eurovision entrant AySel also premiered a teaser of her Eurovision entry during the show.

Final – 14 February 2009

Draw	Artist	Song	Jury	TRM Committee	Televote	Total	Place
1	Doiniţa Gherman	„Hei! Exploadează!“	7	6	0	13	8
2	Corbus Albus	„7 Days“	5	7	0	12	10
3	Veronica Stolli	„Lerui – ler“	0	0	0	0	20
4	Cristy Rouge	„Women’s Winner“	6	7	2	15	6
5	Elena Buga	„Queen“	5	4	0	9	14
6	Cristina Croitor	„First Chance“	5	1	3	9	15
7	Galina Şcoda	„Joc de noroc“	5	6	4	15	7
8	Ayra	„Call Me A Liar“	5	2	5	12	11
9	SunStroke Project	„No Crime“	8	10	8	26	3
10	Marius	„We’ll Gonna Rock“	6	0	0	6	18
11	Brand	„Simt că este timpul“	5	2	1	8	16
12	Dana Marchitan	„Doar un pas“	5	3	0	8	17
13	Dianna Rotaru	„I’m Missing You“	5	7	0	12	12
14	Olia Tira	„Unicul meu“	6	8	10	24	4
15	Anişoara Balmuş	„Adrenalina“	5	0	0	5	19
16	Cezara	„Tu, tată“	6	1	4	11	13
17	Slavici	„O fată cu părul de aur“	5	5	3	13	9
18	Katalina Rusu	„Sparky Lady“	6	8	6	20	5
19	Alexa	„A Flight to the Light“	10	10	7	27	2
20	Nelly Ciobanu	„Hora din Moldova“	12	12	12	36	1

Gallery