We can not wait for the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool. Therefore, we have a closer look at one of the contestants every day. Today: Moldova.
Pasha Parfeny
After a very exciting national final, it was Pasha Parfeny who won the contest. His song “Soarele și luna”, which translates as “The sun and the moon”, was composed by the singer himself and Andrei Vulpe. For the lyrics, Pasha’s wife Iuliana Parfeny is responsible.
Pasha Parfeny, officially named Pavel Parfeni, studied music in the beginning of this century. He took part in several contests. He won two contests in Bulgaria in 2007. After this, he joined the group Sunstroke Project. In 2009, the group took part in the national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “No crime“. Parfeny left the group in 2010 for a solo career. Eurovision became a part of his life when he represented Moldova in 2012 with the song “Lăutar”. He became 11th in the final. A year later, he wrote the song “A million” for Aliona Moon. Fun fact: Pasha, Sunstroke Project and Aliona formed the top-3 in this year’s national final. In 2020, Pasha returned to the national selection for Eurovision. His song was called “My wine” and became 2nd. Three years later Pasha won the contest again.
Ma-i-a hi, ma-i-a hu…
We can talk about Pasha, Sunstroke Project and Zdob şi Zdub, but the most famous band from Moldova ever is another one: O-Zone. They rose to fame in the beginning of the century. In 2003 they released their single “Dragostea din tei“, which became a hit in Romania. But after Italian duo Haiducii covered the song, the original one became a huge hit all over the world. It reached the number 1 spot in the charts in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland. And be honest…. who doesnt remember “Ma-i-a hi, ma-i-a hu, ma-i-a ho, ma-i-a haha”. The song was followed by another hit, “Destre tine“, but in 2005 the band split up. Isn’t there any Eurovision connection? Yes there is! Band member Arsenium took part in the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest, along with Natalia Gordienko en Connect-R.
Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest
Moldova first took part in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005, and it was an instant success. Zdob şi Zdub became 6th! Moldova kept on being succesful. The country reached the final on many occasions, and in 2017 they ended up in the top-3. Sunstroke Project managed to do that with their song “Hey mama”.
Bookmakers
The betting odds currently predict a 17th place for Moldova. That is not as good as Pasha did 11 years ago. Let’s hope for him that the bookmakers are wrong and he’ll do better.
The song
And of course, this is the song:
