Who is Moldova's Eurovision 2023 entry? What is their song, meaning of lyrics - what time will they perform?

Moldova’s Eurovision 2023 entry is no stranger to the song contest, having competed in the live final in 2012
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Moldova, which became a republic in 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union, had competed in every Eurovision Song Contest since 2005, reaching the final 13 times. Including this year. 

The nation’s best result to date came in 2017 when the Moldovan entrant SunStroke Project reached third place, racking up 374 points with their track Hey Mamma.

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This year Moldova was one of the 10 countries to qualify in the first semi-final, hosted by Ukrainian singer Julia Sanina and Sex Education actress Hannah Waddingham, on 9 May. The nation’s entrant was sent through to the final by a public televote.

This is everything you need to know about Moldova’s Eurovision 2023 entry, their song choice, and how to watch their performance at the grand final live.

Pasha Parfeni at a Eurovision sem-final dress rehearsalPasha Parfeni at a Eurovision sem-final dress rehearsal
Pasha Parfeni at a Eurovision sem-final dress rehearsal

Who is Moldova’s Eurovision 2023 entry?

This year’s Moldova entrant is Pasha Parfeni, a 36 year old singer songwriter from the city of Orhei. This is not his first rodeo, as he previously represented Moldova at Eurovision 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

This is not the first time that Moldova has had a returning performer represent them at Eurovision - folk punk band Zdob și Zdub have performed three times at the contest, and pop group SunStroke Project have taken part twice.

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During Pasha’s first Eurovision appearance, Moldova qualified for the final and came in 11th place with his song Lăutar, about a musician falling in love with a woman at a wedding.

Pasha is married to the interior designer, art director and songwriter Yuliana Scutaru - during his time in the UK ahead of the final, he shared images of himself and Yuliana visiting London and Liverpool to his Instagram page, where he has 29,000 followers.

What is Moldova’s Eurovision 2023 song?

This year Pasha will sing Soarele și luna (The sun and the moon), a song which he wrote himself and first released in January 2023.

The song was selected through Etapa Națională 2023, a Moldovan TV program in which artists compete to have their song picked to represent the country at that year’s Eurovision.

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Pasha first submitted his song to a jury panel which voted for it to go through to the next stage, a live audition where Pasha competed against 30 other performers - he was one of 10 singers voted by the jury to pass to the final stage. 

Pasha Parfeni performs at the London Eurovision partyPasha Parfeni performs at the London Eurovision party
Pasha Parfeni performs at the London Eurovision party

In the final stage in March, Pasha and the other finalists performed again and Pasha was voted as the winner by a jury, televoting, and online votes.

The song, Soarele și luna, is a Romanian-language tune and tribute to his wife. It is a cosmic folk song about his wedding and includes themes of nature and the role of the universe in bringing him and his wife together. You can find a full English translation of the song on the Genius website.

What time will Moldova’s Eurovision entrant perform?

There are 26 finalists taking part in the Eurovision 2023 final live from Liverpool. The event will begin at 8pm on Saturday 13 May - it will last for four hours in total, although the latter half of the final will include all of the voting and the announcement of the winner.

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Pasha is 18th in the grand final running order, and will perform straight after Armenia’s entrant Brunette, and before Ukraine’s entrant TVORCHI. Mae Muller, representing the UK with I Wrote a Song, will perform last.

You can watch the final live in the UK on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

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