TVR have confirmed the first change to the line-up of artists for the Romanian Eurovision Song Contest national selection. Daniela Nicol and not Viloleta Andrei will perform the song Why. Further changes to the line-up are very possible over the coming days. Contrary to reports elsewhere, no songs have been disqualified from the competition yet, although an investigation is pending.
As reported earlier today on esctoday.com, the list of songs and composers is confirmed, but changes to the performers are possible at this stage. TVR has confirmed that the song Why will now be performed by Daniela Nicol. We believe that the songs Dr. Frankenstein and Shine may also see different artists announced to those published in the official press release earlier today.
UPDATE
It has been reported elsewhere that Nico'ssong Fight for lifehas beendisqualified afterthe song was released on the internet prior to the 1st October 2007cut-off point set in the Eurovision Song Contest rules. esctoday.com hasbeen in close contact with TVR and can state on record at this stage that the song has not yet been disqualified. If it is found thatrules have beenbroken, then disqualification is likely.
TVR have not yet decided on the final process for investigation of the songs. Artists were asked to declare that the songs had not broken anycompetition rules and Nico has stated that he did not know the song had leaked onto the internet. As the rule states that the song should not be playedfor commercial gain, and the artist has not in any way benefitted fromit's release on the internet, the song stands a chance of avoiding disqualification.
The song One love is also under investigation and likely to be disqualified after it emerged that the song has been previously performed by Alexandra Ungureanu. The song was entered for the competition in 2005 and has since appeared on the internet. It is also believed that the song has been publicly performed by the band Paradise who were selected as one of the 24 semi finalists with it this time, although there is not yet confirmation that this happened prior to 1st October 2007. It has also sumitted for the Battle of the Songs competition organised by former Romanian Eurovision Song Contest representatives, Sistem.
Stay tuned to esctoday.com for all the latest news and updates on the Romanian National Selection process.
