Romania was represented at the qualifying round for the Eurovision Song Contest 1993 with the song "", written and performed by Dida Drăgan. The Romanian participating broadcaster, (TVR), selected its entry through the national final on 16 January 1993. The entry, which would have been the first-ever entry from Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest, failed to make it through the pre-selection round ranking last. Predominantly negative reactions from Romanian media followed as a result of Drăgan's poor performance.

Before Eurovision

(TVR) organized the on 16 January 1993, a national final to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1993. A winner out of the 11 competing entries —"" by Dida Drăgan— was announced by (IRSOP), who added up the votes of 1100 households in Romania. Although the rest of the result was not publicly revealed, local media speculated that Laurenţiu Cazan and Laura Stoica reached second and third place respectively. The competing entries were:

+ Artist Song Place 1 "Seară de seară" 2 "Hai, spune" 3 "Balerina" 4 "Plec" 5 "Să nu mă minţi" 6 "Dintr-un vis" 7 "Dă-mi din nou curajul de-a trăi" 8 Dida Drăgan "Nu pleca" 9 "Micul meu univers" 10 "Vreau să pierd" 11 "Te-aș numi iubire"

At

In the early 1990s, the number of broadcasters eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest increased significantly with the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the subsequent admission into the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) of the broadcasters of the countries that emerged from the breakup. The merger of the EBU with its Eastern European counterpart, the International Radio and Television Organisation (OIRT), further expanded the number of broadcasters by including those from countries of the former Eastern Bloc. The broadcasters from seven of those new countries confirmed their intentions to debut at the 1993 contest. With this large influx of participants, the EBU was forced to create a new measure to counter overcrowding in the contest. The EBU decided to hold a one-off qualification round to select the entries from three of those seven new countries, which would join the entries from the 22 countries already competing in the Eurovision Song Contest.

The (Qualification for Millstreet) contest was held in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on 3 April at the television studios of Slovene broadcaster (RTVSLO). Romania was the fifth country to perform, following and preceding . The Romanian entry came in last place and failed to qualify, receiving 38 points. 12 points were awarded by , six by and five by , , Hungary, and Slovenia. The Eurovision site does not count the year in Romania's list of appearances.

Voting

+ Points awarded to Romania Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points

+ Points awarded by Romania Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points

Reactions and reception Drăgan's poor result attracted overwhelming criticism from the Romanian media. An editor of accused IRSOP of conspiracy and arranged voting, seeing Laurențiu Cazan as the real winner of . They also stated that TVR failed to inform the Romanian public about Eurovision, resulting in the rock-inspired "" being sent to the pop-centered Eurovision Song Contest. also noted the rock nature of Drăgan's performance, attributing it to her outfit, vocal delivery and movements. saw the event as the "artistic suicide of Dida Drăgan", and criticized her vocals. Contrary to the negative reviews of 1993, an editor of EuroVisionary, looking retrospectively at Drăgan's performance, stated: "Undoubtedly, the most passionate and dramatic performance of the evening. Dida moved her hands as if life depended on them, and her voice was giving life to the lyrics". However, they slightly criticized her show as being over-the-top.

References