Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012

Moldova participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with the song "Lăutar" written by Pasha Parfeny and Alexandru Brașoveanu. The song was performed by Pasha Parfeny. The Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM) organised the national final O melodie pentru Europa 2012 in order to select the Moldovan entry for the 2012 contest in Baku, Azerbaijan. 85 entries competed to represent Moldova in Baku, with 21 being shortlisted to participate in the televised national final which took place on 11 March 2012 after auditioning in front of a jury panel. "Lăutar" performed by Pasha Parfeny emerged as the winner after gaining the most points following the combination of votes from a jury panel and a public televote.

Moldova was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 22 May 2012. Performing during the show in position 17, "Lăutar" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 26 May. It was later revealed that Moldova placed fifth out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 100 points. In the final, Moldova was the closing performance of the show in position 26, placing eleventh out of the 26 participating countries with 81 points.

Background
Prior to the 2012 Contest, Moldova had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest seven times since its first entry in 2005. The nation's best placing in the contest was sixth, which it achieved in 2005 with the song "Boonika bate doba" performed by Zdob și Zdub. Other than their debut entry, to this point, Moldova's only other top ten placing at the contest was achieved in 2007 where "Fight" performed by Natalia Barbu placed tenth. In the 2011 contest, "So Lucky" performed by Zdob și Zdub qualified Moldova to compete in the final and placed twelfth.

The Moldovan national broadcaster, TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM), broadcast the event within Moldova and organised the selection process for the nation's entry. TRM confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest on 28 December 2011. Moldova has selected their entry via a national selection show since 2008, a procedure that was continued for their 2013 participation.

O melodie pentru Europa 2012
O melodie pentru Europa 2012 was the national final format developed by TRM in order to select Moldova's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. The event took place at the TRM Studio 2 in Chișinău, hosted by Marcel Spataru, Evelina Vârlan and Dorina Gherganov, and included a final to be held on 11 March 2012. The show was broadcast on Moldova 1, TV Moldova Internațional and Radio Moldova as well as online via the broadcaster's official website trm.md and at the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.

Competing entries
Artists and composers had the opportunity to submit their entries between 28 December 2011 and 16 January 2012. Artists were required to be of Moldovan nationality and could submit more than one song, while an international act was able to compete only if they were part of a duo or group with a maximum of two international members. Songwriters could hold any nationality. At the conclusion of the submission deadline, 85 valid entries were received by the broadcaster. A jury consisting of Olga Ciolacu (singer), Igor Dînga (producer and composer), Vali Boghean (singer-songwriter), Tatiana Cerga (singer), Andrei Sava (composer), Victoria Tcacenco (professor at the Music, Theatre and Fine Arts Academy) and Dana Argint (Orange Moldova representative) selected 60 out of the 85 received entries to proceed to the audition round.

The live audition round took place on 29 January 2012 at TRM Studio 2 in Chișinău where 20 finalists were selected to advance. Entries were assessed on criteria such as vocals and manner of the performance and the originality of the song. The jury panel that evaluated the songs during the live auditions and selected the 20 finalists consisted of Olga Ciolacu, Igor Dînga, Vali Boghean, Tatiana Cerga, Andrei Sava and Victoria Tcacenco. "De departe" performed by Alexei Leahu and Georgeta Voinovan was withdrawn from the competition and therefore did not attend the auditions. Alisa Gangan also did not attend the auditions and therefore her song "Fly With Me" was disqualified. An online wildcard vote on trm.md among 33 entries not selected from the audition round also ran between 1 and 12 February 2012, and the winner "Live On Forever" performed by Mariana Mihăilă was announced as an additional finalist on 20 February 2012.

Among the finalists was 2008 Moldovan Eurovision entrant Geta Burlacu. On 20 February 2012, "Turn On the Light" performed by 2009 Moldovan Eurovision entrant Nelly Ciobanu was withdrawn from the competition and replaced with the song "Live the Show" performed by Akord, which came second in the wildcard vote.

Final
The final took place on 11 March 2012. Twenty-one songs competed and the winner was selected based on the combination of a public televote and the votes of an expert jury. The jury that voted in the final included Nicu Țărnă (singer), Olga Ciolacu (singer), Vali Boghean (singer-songwriter), Tatiana Cerga (singer), Igor Dînga (producer and composer), Victoria Tcacenco (professor at the Music, Theatre and Fine Arts Academy), Andrei Sava (composer), Angela Brașoveanu (journalist), Igor Cobileanschi (director), Ludmila Climoc (Orange Moldova representative) and Anatol Chiriac (composer). In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2012 Swiss Eurovision entrant Sinplus and 2012 Ukrainian Eurovision entrant Gaitana performed as a guest. "Lăutar" performed by Pasha Parfeny was selected as the winner.

Promotion
Pasha Parfeny made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Lăutar" as the Moldovan Eurovision entry. On 21 April, Pasha Parfeny performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Ruth Jacott and Cornald Maas. On 29 April, Parfeny performed during the Primavara Romaneasca event which was held at the ARTHIS venue in Brussels, Belgium.

At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 25 January 2012, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Moldova was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 22 May 2012, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show. The running order for the semi-finals was decided through another draw on 20 March 2012 and Moldova was set to perform in position 17, following the entry from Austria and before the entry from Ireland.

The two semi-finals and the final were televised in Moldova on Moldova 1 as well as broadcast via radio on Radio Moldova. All broadcasts featured commentary by Marcel Spătari. The Moldovan spokesperson, who announced the Moldovan votes during the final, was Olivia Furtună.

Semi-final
Pasha Parfeny took part in technical rehearsals on 14 and 18 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 21 and 22 May. This included the jury show on 21 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.

The Moldovan performance featured Pasha Parfeny performing a choreographed routine on stage with five dancers, dressed in short colourful dresses and with two of them also performing backing vocals. The stage featured predominantly red lighting and LED screen projections of red lips and hearts as well as chequerboard patterns and a white silhouette of a dancer. The dancers that joined Parfeny on stage are Aliona Moon, Tatiana Heghea, Julia Gakhova, Ksyusha Vertelnikova and Lera Kirichenko. The latter three are members of the Ukrainian ballet group "Lyubovniki", while Aliona Moon would go on to represent Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013.

At the end of the show, Moldova was announced as having finished in the top ten and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. It was later revealed that Moldova placed fifth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 100 points.

Final
Shortly after the first semi-final, a winners' press conference was held for the ten qualifying countries. As part of this press conference, the qualifying artists took part in a draw to determine the running order for the final. This draw was done in the order the countries were announced during the semi-final. Moldova was drawn to perform last in position 26, following the entry from Ukraine.

Pasha Parfeny once again took part in dress rehearsals on 25 and 26 May before the final, including the jury final where the professional juries cast their final votes before the live show. Parfeny performed a repeat of his semi-final performance during the final on 26 May. Moldova placed eleventh in the final, scoring 81 points.

Voting
Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently.

Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Moldova had placed thirteenth with the public televote and ninth with the jury vote in the final. In the public vote, Moldova scored 75 points, while with the jury vote, Moldova scored 104 points. In the first semi-final, Moldova placed seventh with the public televote with 85 points and second with the jury vote, scoring 107 points.

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Moldova and awarded by Moldova in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Romania in the semi-final and the final of the contest.