Introduction

Romania has quite a good hand in choosing successful songs for the Eurovision Song Contest. This year there has been a national final and the jury and TV viewers have chosen “Zaleilah” by Mandinga. This is a kind of happy summer song with a strong rhythm and catchy chorus, this is a quite danceable and memorable tune, it reminds a bit of “Ritmo de la noche”.

The very attractive singer will definitely draw the attention of the ESC viewers, furthermore the background singers and dancers do have a very well choreographed stage show. The very dominant instrument is the bagpipe, which may sound a bit Celtic, but goes quite well with this song.

The summer feeling has been captured in the video clip, which has been filmed in Dubai. With this song Romania stands out for another time, it’s a fresh and easy song perfectly for this year’s summer.

History

This year it will be the 14^th time for Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest. The debut entry “Dincolo di Nori” by Dan Bittman in 1994 only made the 21^st place.

Romania’s entries distinguished modern and up to date songs, with a little help of the neighbour countries. It was always possible for Romanian entries to qualify for the grand finals. Two times Romania could reach the third place with “Let me try” by Luminita Anghel & Sistem in 2005 and “Playing with Fire” by “Paula Seling & Ovi” in 2010.

Other outstanding songs were “Eu cred” by Malina Olinescu in 1998 (22^nd) who passed away early 2012, “Tornero” by Miahi Traistariu in 2006 (4^th) and “I admit” by Sanda Ladosi in 2004 (18^th).