Introduction: Romania 2019
Ester Alexandra Crețu known as Ester Peony was born in Câmpulung, close to Brasov in 1994 when Romania had its debut at Eurovision with Dan Bittmann “Dincolo Di Nori”. Ester and her family immigrated to Canada in 2001, hence she grew up in Montreal, where got in touch with music.
Introduction
- Participant(s): Ester Peony
- Song: "On A Sunday"
- Writer(s): Ioana Victoria Badea
- Composer(s): Ester Alexandra Creţu, Alexandru Şerbu
There has been a national final including two Semi Finals in Romania like in previous years. Out of 24 entries the final 12 songs have been chosen, at the end the jazz song “On A Sunday” by Ester Peony made the race with 65 points, five points more than the runner up.
Ester Alexandra Crețu known as Ester Peony was born in Câmpulung, close to Brasov in 1994 when Romania had its debut at Eurovision with Dan Bittmann “Dincolo Di Nori”. Ester and her family immigrated to Canada in 2001, hence she grew up in Montreal, where got in touch with music. She started jazz singing in the age of eight, later on Ester studied classic singing and guitar. She returned to Romania where she covered popular songs like “Derniere Danse” (Indila) or “My Heart Is Refusing Me” (Loreen) and got spotted by a record company. Since 2015 Ester has a record contract and released singles like:
Her first album is to be expected this year.
The Romanian ESC entry “On A Sunday” is calm and sad song of losing a love. The relaxed jazz style with Ester’s lascivious voice is a good combination that might work well. Unfortunately, there is no real climax in the song, or there is catchy chorus so there is a chance that this wonderful song might be overheard in this big competition.
History
- Debut: 1994
- Participations: 19
- Victories: 0
- Finals: 18 (13 since 2004)
- Top 10: 6
- Chances for Top 10: 30%
- Chances for Final: 93%
This year it will be the20th time for Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest. The debut entry “Dincolo di Nori” by Dan Bittman in 1994 only made the 21st place. One year before there has been an international pre selection held in Ljubljana, Slovenia, where Romania could not qualify to the 1993 ESC in Millstreet, Ireland with the entry “Nu pleca” by Dida Drăgan.
Romania’s entries distinguished modern and up to date songs, less folkloristic elements like the neighbour country Moldova or Bulgaria. With a little help from the neighbour countries in particular Moldova, it was mostly possible for Romanian entries to qualify for the Grand Finals – the chances are at 93%. But Romania only made it six times into the Top10. So there is a statistical chance of 30% to achieve a Top10 place for Romania. In the year 2016 the Romanian entry has been disqualified due to financial issues of the Romanian broadcaster TVR at the very last minute. The Romanian candidate Ovidiu Anton could not sing his entry “Moment Of Silence” in Stockholm. Last year the group The Humans could not qualify for the Grand Final for the first time in ESC history with the song “Goodbye”.
