Moldova on the Stage

     International events, such as the Olympics, the World Cup and festivals like Oktoberfest, allow 

countries to display their identity and/or talents to a large group of people, and the Eurovision Song 

Contest is no different. Originally founded in 1956 as an attempt to bring Europeans together, the 

Eurovision Song Contest has evolved into an internationally-viewed event that allows over 40 countries to 

display their nation’s identity to the world through their musical performances (Beauchamp). The country 

of Moldova joined the ESC stage in 2005 with its debut performance by Zdob și Zdub. Moldova is not 

only a fairly new country to join the Eurovision stage but also a fairly new country in general, as it didn’t

gain its independence from the Soviet Union until 1991. Since it is such a newly independent country, 

Moldovans share many similarities in their national identity with neighboring countries, Romania and 

Ukraine, causing an identity crisis in Moldova. Despite Moldova’s ongoing struggle with creating its own 

identity, their performances in the Eurovision Song Contest never fail to catch the attention of viewers. 

Participating in Eurovision allows Moldova to bring attention to their country in a way that distinguishes it 

from neighboring countries and allows Moldova to participate in an event with multiple countries that are 

a part of the EU, as Moldova aspires to become a part of the EU. Yet Moldova’s performances in the ESC 

don't always align with their national identity, creating little to no progress with their identity crisis. 

In this blog post, I will be analyzing Moldova’s 2011 Eurovision Song Contest performance, “So Lucky”, by Zdob și Zdub.  Zdob și Zdub, which is onomatopoeic for the sound of a drum beat, was the first contestant to represent Moldova in the ESC with its debut performance “Boonika Bate Toba'' in 2005 and their 2011 performance was their second appearance on the Eurovision stage. The song, “So Lucky”, is composed of all English lyrics and is a fusion of rock and Balkan folk dance rhythms. By singing in English Zdob și Zdub’s performance is able to appeal to a larger audience and more countries, since not many viewers would understand the lyrics if they were in Moldova’s national language, Moldovan/Romanian. Though, singing in English does not help Moldova’s identity crisis since it doesn’t showcase a distinctive language for Moldova in front of a large international audience. In an interview with Eurovision Radio International, the lead singer of Zdob și Zdub, Roman Yagupov, says that the song “So Lucky” is about a very sinister, materialistic male who meets a pure, kind-hearted woman whom he admires but could never be with unless he changes. This story line can be seen in the lyrics with one of the first lyrics being “Ray-Ban glasses” which is an expensive American/Italian sunglass company, emphasizing the man’s materialistic needs (European Broadcasting Union). He also describes himself as a “dusk-to-dawn sinner” showing that he is always up to no good. The “pure” woman is described with lyrics such as “She’s more like a dream”, “I see you where the lights glow”, “She’s clean/Not a part of any scene”. These lyrics contrast the woman from the man and describe the woman as being angelic. While it may seem like the meaning of the song isn't that deep, most viewers completely missed the meaning of the song due to the crazy antics going on during the performance. Overall, the lyrical aspect of the performance definitely set apart Moldova from other competing countries due to the storyline being very unique.

When it comes to the visual and production aspects of the performance, many aspects played a big role in the amount of attention the performance brought to Moldova while others helped the song become identified as a novelty song. The performance begins with the five members of the band standing center stage. Right off the bat, Zdob și Zdub had ESC viewers turning their heads as three out of five of the members, specifically the drummer, trumpet player and singer, wore extremely long cone-shaped hats. The hats were strikingly similar to those of gnomes, which is ironic considering the first garden gnomes were created in Germany and the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest took place in Düsseldorf, Germany. In an interview before their grand final performance, Zdob și Zdub explains that their hats were "kind of a national costume” and the purpose of the hats was to “have contact with the cosmic spheres... [and] bring some positive energy to everybody”(European Broadcasting Union). The other two members of the band that were not wearing the extravagant hats were instead pretending to play their guitars very intensely due to the fact that it has been a Eurovision rule since 2004 that live instruments can not be used during performances (European Broadcasting Union). Accompanying the crazy hats were outfits that were just as crazy. Each performer in the band looked as if they had chosen the first pieces of clothing they saw in their closet that day. While the clothing choices had no relation to any cultural aspect in Moldova, they definitely brought attention to Moldova’s performance. Almost one minute into the three minute performance, Tatiana Iliescu emerged from the background riding a unicycle around the lead singer and wearing a pink fairy outfit with a trumpet and large white cone hat. By having the fairy-like woman ride around the lead singer it represented that he could not be with her until he changed his ways and it was as if she was taunting him. This part of the performance became an internet sensation as some described it as “mad as a box of frogs” while others including Paul Epworth, producer of Adele, found it to be magnificent and a very entertaining piece of the performance that set apart Moldova from other competitors (Lester). One more alluring visual aspect of the performance was the ginormous LED screen in the background playing a video of puppet-like characters dressed in folk costumes also wearing long cone hats. The LED visuals in the background added to the craziness and uniqueness as well as strengthened the importance of the long cone hats to the performance. The visual and  musical aspects of the performance brought a lot of attention to Moldova’s Eurovision performance, yet it was not necessarily beneficial to Moldova’s identity crisis.

As mentioned in my first blog post, Moldova has struggled to establish its own national identity due to the fact that many characteristics are shared with its bordering countries, Ukraine and Romania, which are considered Moldova’s “others”.  Moldova’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest has provided an international stage that gives Moldova a chance to differentiate itself from its “others”.  With Zdob și Zdub’s 2011 performance, it brought a lot of media attention to the country of Moldova due to the unique performance, but it didn’t necessarily establish a national identity for Moldova. The gnome-like hats worn in the performance can be seen as a trait from German culture due to the long past of gnomes being in german folklore and the first garden gnomes coming from Germany. The videographics displayed on the LED screen showing puppets dressed in folk clothing is also a trait that is not a part of Moldovan culture. By using aspects in the performance from other cultures and not using anything to represent Moldovan culture/traits, “So Lucky” does not help establish a clear and concise national identity for Moldova and the aspects of the performance mis-align with Moldova’s national identity. Yet the attention the performance brought to Moldova was crucial when it came to differentiating Moldova from its “others” since many viewers will remember that performance as being from Moldova. The performance did however establish “So Lucky” as a novelty song due to the musical innovation Zdob și Zdub used by combining rock and Balkan folk dance rhythms and the presentational gimmicks it displayed, including the cone hats, the LED screen display and the fairy on a unicycle (Chalkley). “So Lucky” also appealed to bigger groups as it was in English, which is the most common language shared amongst Eurovision viewers, and had a storyline everyone would be able to understand. While the song was partially about love, it was still very unique compared to other performances in Eurovision still establishing the song as a novelty song. While novelty songs typically don't perform great, “So Lucky” did not fail to capture the attention of ESC viewers.

Using visual and musical devices in Eurovision performances is crucial when it comes to creating a great performance. While some countries use Eurovision to display their national identity on a large stage, creating an eye-catching performance can be just as beneficial for smaller countries, such as Moldova, since it brings attention to them and gives viewers a way to remember their country and set them apart from other countries. So while Moldova’s 2011 performance of “So Lucky” only placed 12th in the competition, the performance brought a lot of media attention to Moldova, which overall helped Moldova differentiate itself from its’ “others”, but did not help Moldova’s identity crisis as the performance mis-aligned with Moldova’s national identity.

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References 

Beauchamp, Z. (2016, May 14). The Eurovision Song Contest, Explained. Vox.

https://www.vox.com/2016/5/14/11667716/eurovision-song-contest-2016-logo-timberlake

Chalkley, E. (2017, May 2). Gimmicks, glitter and glam: Eurovision’s novelty song contest. ESC Insight. 

https://escinsight.com/2017/05/02/eurovision-song-contest-novelty-songs/ 

European Broadcasting Union. (2011, May 6). A Fairy Tale Including Cosmic Antennae for Moldova. Eurovision Song Contest. https://eurovision.tv/story/a-fairy-tale-including-cosmic-antennae-for-moldova

European Broadcasting Union. (n.d.). Zdob și Zdub. Eurovision Song Contest.

https://eurovision.tv/participant/zdob-si-zdub-1 

European Broadcasting Union. (n.d.). Rules. Eurovision Song Contest.

https://eurovision.tv/about/rules 

Eurovision Radio International. (2011). Moldova 2011: Interview with Zdob si Zdub.

Youtube. https://youtu.be/wLEbKx_K6Zc 

Lester, P. (2011, May 19). Moldova on Eurovision: 'Like a cross between Devo and a nightmare'. The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/may/19/moldova-eurovision 

Zdob și Zdub. (2011). So Lucky (Moldova). Eurovision Song Contest 2011 Düsseldorf. Youtube. https://youtu.be/nHAY_OVN_gY