Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 1993
| Eurovision Song Contest 1993 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Participating broadcaster | Televiziunea Română (TVR) | |||
| Country |  Romania | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Selecția Națională 1993 | |||
| Selection date(s) | 16 January 1993 | |||
| Selected artist(s) | Dida Drăgan | |||
| Selected song | "Nu pleca" | |||
| Selected songwriter(s) | Dida Drăgan | |||
| Placement | ||||
| Final result | Failed to qualify from pre-selection (7th, 38 points) | |||
| Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
| ||||
Romania was represented at the qualifying round for the Eurovision Song Contest 1993 with the song "Nu pleca", written and performed by Dida Drăgan. The Romanian participating broadcaster, Televiziunea Română (TVR), selected its entry through the national final Selecția Națională 1993 on 16 January 1993. The entry, which would have been the first-ever entry from Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest, failed to make it through the pre-selection round ranking last. Predominantly negative reactions from Romanian media followed as a result of Drăgan's poor performance.
Before Eurovision
[edit]
Televiziunea Română (TVR) organized the Selecția Națională 1993 on 16 January 1993, a national final to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1993. A winner out of the 11 competing entries —"Nu pleca" by Dida Drăgan— was announced by Institutul Român de Sondare a Opiniei Publice (IRSOP), who added up the votes of 1100 households in Romania. Although the rest of the result was not publicly revealed, local media speculated that Laurenţiu Cazan and Laura Stoica reached second and third place respectively. The competing entries were:[1]
| Draw | Artist | Song |
|---|---|---|
1
|
Mioara Feraru | "Seară de seară" |
2
|
Laurenţiu Cazan | "Hai, spune" |
3
|
Nicoleta Alexandru | "Balerina" |
4
|
Corina Dogaru | "Plec" |
5
|
Mădălina Manole | "Să nu mă minţi" |
6
|
Monica Anghel | "Dintr-un vis" |
7
|
Laura Stoica | "Dă-mi din nou curajul de-a trăi" |
8
|
Dida Drăgan | "Nu pleca"[a] |
9
|
Carmen Trandafir | "Micul meu univers" |
10
|
Elena Cârstea | "Vreau să pierd" |
11
|
Elena Cârstea | "Te-aș numi iubire" |
At Kvalifikacija za Millstreet
[edit]In the early 1990s, the number of broadcasters eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest increased significantly with the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the subsequent admission into the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) of the broadcasters of the countries that emerged from the breakup. The merger of the EBU with its Eastern European counterpart, the International Radio and Television Organisation (OIRT), further expanded the number of broadcasters by including those from countries of the former Eastern Bloc. The broadcasters from seven of those new countries confirmed their intentions to debut at the 1993 contest. With this large influx of participants, the EBU was forced to create a new measure to counter overcrowding in the contest. The EBU decided to hold a one-off qualification round to select the entries from three of those seven new countries, which would join the entries from the 22 countries already competing in the Eurovision Song Contest.[4]
The Kvalifikacija za Millstreet (Qualification for Millstreet) contest was held in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on 3 April at the television studios of Slovene broadcaster Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTVSLO). Romania was the fifth country to perform, following Hungary and preceding Slovenia. The Romanian entry came in last place and failed to qualify, receiving 38 points.[4] 12 points were awarded by Croatia, six by Slovakia and five by Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Hungary, and Slovenia.[1] The Eurovision site does not count the year in Romania's list of appearances.[5]
Voting
[edit]
|
|
Reactions and reception
[edit]Drăgan's poor result attracted overwhelming criticism from the Romanian media. An editor of Evenimentul Zilei accused IRSOP of conspiracy and arranged voting, seeing Laurențiu Cazan as the real winner of Selecția Națională. They also stated that TVR failed to inform the Romanian public about Eurovision, resulting in the rock-inspired "Nu pleca" being sent to the pop-centered Eurovision Song Contest. Adevărul also noted the rock nature of Drăgan's performance, attributing it to her outfit, vocal delivery and movements. Libertatea saw the event as the "artistic suicide of Dida Drăgan", and România Liberă criticized her vocals. Contrary to the negative reviews of 1993, an editor of EuroVisionary, looking retrospectively at Drăgan's performance, stated: "Undoubtedly, the most passionate and dramatic performance of the evening. Dida moved her hands as if life depended on them, and her voice was giving life to the lyrics". However, they slightly criticized her show as being over-the-top.[1]
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Mincan, Mihai (18 May 2013). "Prima participare a României la Eurovision: "capcana culturală" Dida Drăgan" [Romania's first participation at Eurovision: the "cultural trap" Dida Drăgan]. Adevărul (in Romanian). Archived from the original on 2 July 2014. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
- ^ "Dida Dragan implineste varsta de 72 de ani" [Dida Dragan celebrates her 72nd anniversary]. Cancan (in Romanian). 14 September 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
- ^ Mi-e dor de ochii tăi (Liner notes). Dida Drăgan. Romania: Electrecord (AP759680). 2002.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) Note: The song was renamed to "Unde ești" for the album's release. - ^ a b c d Roxburgh, Gordon (2020). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Vol. Four: The 1990s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 131–135. ISBN 978-1-84583-163-9.
- ^ "Romania – Eurovision Song Contest". European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Archived from the original on 13 May 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2018.