All entries in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest are known, but the actual contest is still two months away. As a warm-up, we introduce one of the entries every day in random order. Part three is dedicated to the entry from Romania.

Basic information

Performer:	Elena Gheorghe
Song:	The Balkangirls
Lanugage:	English
Music:	Laurenţiu Duţ�, Ovidiu Bistriceanu, Daris Mangal
Lyrics:	Laurenţiu Duţ�, Alexandru Pelin
Draw:	14th in the first semi final

The song

The Balkan girls is an up-tempo disco/dance song in a style that became popular in the 1990s. The lyrics tell the story of a night out partying. It is all about having a good time, losing oneself in the delight and the fact that anything can possibly happen:

The Balkan girls they like to party like nobody, like nobody
For crowd delight, we'll shine all night

My hips are ready to glow
This record is so hot and I have so much to show
I'll find a boy for a kiss
Who knows, maybe he'll be my prince?

The singer

Elena Gheorghe is the daughter of traditional singer Marioara Man Gheorghe, with whom she had her first public performance at the age of only three. When she was five, she started taking singing lessons and would become the soloist of the Armonia Circle choir. For her performance of the Whitney Houston classic One moment in time, she won a Golden Teddy Bear in 2000. With Adela Popescu, whom she had met at another music festival, she formed the band Viva in 2001.

In 2003, she became the lead singer of the band Mandinga, which would release the album De corazon. Two years later, they took part in the Romanian national final for the Eurovision Song Contest and finished 4th with Soarele meu.Elena Gheorghestarted her solo career in 2006 with the release of the single Vocea te and the eponymous album.

A major hit song came in 2007, when Ochii tai caprui won the Best song award at the Top Hits Music Awards 2007. Two albums were launched in 2008 and in 2009, the singer decided to enter the Romanian national final for the Eurovision Song Contest once again.

National selection

Romania followed the same pattern as in recent years holding a televised national selection with two semi finals and a grand final. A total of 24 songs competed in the two heats and twelve of them made it to the national final, where the winner was chosen by a jury and televoting. The Blaxy Girls were the winners of the televoting but only seen fifth by the jury so that Elena Gheorghe could win the ticket to Moscow being the winner of the jury voting and the runner-up in the televoting.

Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest

Romania had a very rough start in the contest. The country did not only finish not higher than 17th in its first three participations, it also finished last in the Eastern semi final in 1993 and in the internal semi final in 1996. However, in 2002 it turned: Romania would finish in the top ten four times over the following five years and win the semi final of the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest. The last two particpations were a bit less successful resulting in a 13th and a 20th place.

Îi dorim României È�i ElenÄ�i Gheorghe mult noroc Å�i un rezultat bun in Moscova!

Videos

Live performance in the national final:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB4mhD5cUtg&ap=%2526fmt%3D18&rel=0

Preview video for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9v26sMI-dg&ap=%2526fmt%3D18&rel=0

Mandinga in the 2005 Romanian final:

The hit song Ochii tai caprui:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsNQqFtxSEc&ap=%2526fmt%3D18&rel=0

Special thanks to DG for his contribution to the article.

Other parts of this series

1. France
2. Portugal

Tomorrow, we will take a look at the Danish entry.

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