Swedish, Norwegian, German and British musicians compete with locals for Romania's place in the Eurovision song contest

Almost 100 songs compete to in the Romanian national selection for Eurovision this year. Local musicians, as well as Swedish, Norwegian, German and British composers, hope to represent Romania at this year’s edition of Eurovision song competition. The event will take place in Vienna this May. Voltaj, Nicola, Ovidiu Lipan Tandarica, Luminita Anghel and Ozana Barabancea are some of the local artists that entered the race this year, according to information posted on eurovision.tvr.ro. Members of the former Swedish techno-folk band Rednex have also entered the competition. The 12 finalist songs will be announced after the pre-selection period, which will end on February 11. The winning song will be selected on March 8, during a show organized at Sala Polivalenta in Craiova. The 2015 Eurovision will take place in Vienna, Austria, on May 19, 21 and 23. Romania will participate in the first semifinal, scheduled for May 19, together with Greece, Macedonia, Estonia, Netherlands, Moldova, Finland, Belgium, Armenia, Serbia, Denmark, Belarus, Russia, Albania, Georgia and Hungary. Romania finished 12th at last year’s Eurovision, when Paula Seling & OVI’s Miracle song gathered 72 points. Austrian Conchita Wurst won the first spot with 290 points for Rise like a Phoenix. Paula Seling and Ovi previously represented Romania at Eurovision in 2010, when they ranked third. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com (Photo source: Wikipedia)