Moldova’s debut in 2005 Eurovision Song Contest

Moldova’s debut in 2005 Eurovision Song Contest

The broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova was launched on the 8th of  October 1939 as Radio Basarabia, the second radio station of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company, owned by the Moldovan State (The Government of Moldova). TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM) owns the TV channels Moldova 1 and TVMI and the radio channels Radio Moldova and Radio Moldova Internaţional. TRM was admitted as a full active member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) on 1 January 1993, under its former name ‘Radioteleviziunea Nationala din Moldova’ (RTNM).

On the 4th November 2004, TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM) confirmed that they were applying to participate in the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest for the first time and invited the artist to submit their entries for a national final held in Chişinău on the 26th of  February 2005.

 

The Moldovan national final was hosted by Aurelia Vasilica and Valeriu Myrza and the combination of televoting (50%) and the votes of an expert jury (50%) resulted in Zdob şi Zdub winning the competition with the song ‘Boonika bate doba’.

Boonika Bate Doba’ (English translation: ‘Grandmamma Beats the Drum-a’) is the first Moldavian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest performed in Romanian and English by Zdob și Zdub (in English sometimes related to ‘Zdob shi Zdub’ or ‘Zdob and Zdub’) a Moldovan gypsy punk band, based in Chișinău. The name is onomatopoeic for the sound of a drum beat.

“Zdob și Zdub” (“Hit the Drum”) musical band was put together in 1994 in Moldova. Before that, the singer Roman Yagupov, the bass-player Mihai Gincu and the drummer Anatol Pugach had together attended a school in a small town from the suburbs of Chișinău/Chisinau, called Strășeni.

“Zdob și Zdub” with ‘Boonika Bate Doba’ will represent Moldova in the 50th edition of Eurovision Song Contest on the 19th of May 2005, held in the Palace of Sports in Kyiv, Ukraine

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