ESC Insight | A Salute To Europe: Moldova Is On Duty

Moldova has stood up to attention with its statement for the National Final of Eurovision 2026. After feeling they didn’t have the finances or song quality to make a fair attempt at Eurovision last year, broadcaster TRM gathered resources to produce its largest production ever. For the first time, TRM’s team invaded the strategic fortress of Chișinău Arena that stands high over the city, gathering their artists for Moldova’s biggest battle of song.

Not everything was the warfare of song, though. Assembled on location were also the best of Moldova’s battle-scarred legends. A ”who’s who” of Moldovan Eurovision history, providing the ultimate guard of honour for their service. They may have performed on the huge Eurovision stage and reached millions with their charm, but these veterans deserved Moldovan Television’s biggest stage so the nation could appreciate them.

Yes, Moldova’s twenty-year anniversary in Eurovision was a celebration of Moldovan culture spread across Europe. But it’s also there to kick-start fresh beginnings and see what this year the people and juries choose to put Moldova on the map.

Scaling Up Without Breaking The Bank

Thanks to the show’s sponsors, which happened to be the Chișinău Arena itself and the country’s biggest bank, TRM only needed a small budget increase for this year’s production, despite the scale difference from using their TV studio at the broadcaster’s headquarters to an arena-sized National Final.

While huge compliments can and should be given for the excellent stage that framed the artists so well, the idea that Moldovan TV has catapulted itself to an equal playing field with this in Europe is false.

It is notable watching back after the show that the sound mix was a challenge, with a narrow treble sound dominating and not truly reflecting the atmosphere we witnessed. Look carefully camera shots taken from the stage, they are notably unstable in performances like ‘Doina‘, due to the lack of a steadycam operator rig available.

There were no cameras on stage for the eventual winner, ’Viva Moldova’ by Satoshi, with his high-octane performance more suited to a massive concert (note to Eurovision Tour organisers) than to intricate camera angles. But if you saw the performance and still felt it was flat, let me suggest what it was. I counted 39 camera cuts during the three minutes, a number that would be among the lowest for most Eurovision entries. When taken to battle Europe’s best in May expected that number to triple or perhaps quadruple when some of the best directors in the business get their hands on this summer smash hit and turn the concert we saw in Chișinău into an energetic TV spectacle that pops from the screen.

Yet for what TRM lack in weaponry and technical prowess, they make up for in creativity and ingenuity. Do we have a rail camera? No. So let’s stick a cameraman on rails and have somebody push them left and right accordingly. What resources do we have within our broadcaster? Oh, a full orchestra on our payroll, let’s use them for an interval act of classic Moldovan Eurovision songs. Who can we get to host the show? The same duo that heads up the television morning show throughout the week.

Lifting the scale of the show has been made possible with sponsors and ticket sales. But there’s still the same broadcaster and the same challenges underneath. The TRM army is resourceful with the tools and resources that they have to put on the show.

From “Uncool” to the Carnival of Chișinău

The most important resource is, of course, the Moldovan people. Are they willing to buy into this and the broadcaster’s work? The artists taking part certainly told us they were, appreciating not just the scale of the production unseen in Moldova before but also its professionalism. That ultimately is the biggest carrot for any National Final to attract the best possible artists and songwriters to the mix.

It is also to get the fans involved. This was a question I was unsure of when I travelled to Chișinău. I have memories of attending the 2015 National Final, and it being utterly crackers that four of us from ESC Insight would choose to head all the way to Moldova… especially for Eurovision. Moldova is, in addition, a nation without a branch of OGAE or anything like organised fan community activities on the ground.

I should not have been worried. Nobody batted an eyelid that we had travelled for the show, and the atmosphere ranks among the best of the 27 national finals I have ever attended. TRM gambled on a fan zone at the front of the stage and, with tickets priced at roughly €8, they attracted a median age of I’d guess 19 that took Moldovan Eurovision from uncool to cool as soon as ’Te Deum’ blared out to open proceedings.

Not only were they bouncing up and down to anything with a persuasive beat, but also spontaneously filling the fan zone with huge horas whenever appropriate. They exceeded expectations to make this a carnival-like celebration the likes of which I have never seen in my fourteen years covering the Contest for ESC Insight.

We know that within the Eurovision Song Contest, much is spoken about how well the Contest reaches these young people compared to other public service broadcasters, and the importance of that for the future of public service media. This generation, one growing up having never known Soviet control of Moldova firsthand, and ready to embrace what TRM has given them and a cultural path towards Europe.

That zeitgeist is something so important to hold onto and engage with. But it will be harder in future years. The easy bit is launching the big new National Final and inviting interval acts galore. The hard part is turning this into a tradition for the Moldovan people and the record industry that makes it a winter highlight each and every year.

The 29-Year-Old Commander-In-Chief

The visionary behind this National Final concept is aware of this. Andrei Zapșa is the Deputy Director General of TRM and the one responsible for its two television stations. He possesses a Master in Diplomacy Studies and a European Interdisciplinary Studies Advanced Masters degree. He has worked at the National Tax Service, written novels, been deputy director of a school, and served as an advisor to current President Maia Sandu while she was Minister for Education. From 2023, he joined TRM as Head of Strategic Development, then Deputy Director General for development, and now heads up the Moldovan Public Television’s TV output and a staff of hundreds.

If that wasn’t enough, Andrei also conducted the nation’s Symphonic Orchestra during their National Final.

And he is 29. And this 29-year-old now takes the helm as the visionary commander-in-chief of Moldova’s return to the Song Contest.

Andrei has had Eurovision experience before, attending the 2024 Malmö edition with the delegation and twice sitting as a member of the country’s selection jury, including last year’s cancelled Eurovision’s participation. Andrei explains that there were “massive arguments” within both juries and broadcasters when reaching this “harsh” conclusion, but that ultimately gave the impetus to drive the change that led to the huge 2026 show.

Andrei describes that he “tremendously insisted” on the changes that led to the arena show in front of thousands, rather than the broadcaster’s 600 square metre TV studio, and despite “some resistance within the structure”, now he is proud that “we are finally doing [Eurovision] not in a provincial way.”

And this is in a landscape where viewership has been moving away from the state broadcaster, recently being as low as the seventh most watched in the country. Andrei proudly explains that today the broadcaster is more successful, with TRM in a “stable” position in the top three of Moldova’s television ratings. Part of that comes from the fact that the broadcaster is today considered “the most trusted source of information” in Moldova, but also that there is a step change away from the programming of the past, which Andrei described previous National Finals as having a “poor” or “cheap” execution.

The scale of what the Eurovision Song Contest is to Moldovan TV can be summated best by a discussion about finances. You will have seen on the live broadcast that this year, the winner Satoshi, received a prize of 1 million Moldovan Lei, roughly €50,000, to go towards costs for staging and promotion of the act across Europe. This is in addition to what the broadcaster commits to Eurovision, including the associated budget for Song Contest participation and co-ordination, as well as travel and hotels, which come to roughly €200,000, according to Andrei. Together, this quarter of a million euros accounts for around 2.5% of Moldovan television’s annual budget. Not only was the National Final the biggest event for Moldovan television, but the investment required for Eurovision makes it the broadcaster’s largest single expenditure.

Andrei understands the debates about whether Eurovision is economically sustainable for his broadcaster, but also for the other smaller nations around Europe.

“Of course there can be a huge talk about “oh but we have other urgent stringent needs, there should be schools renovated” etc. And that’s absolutely right. But at the same time we need to understand that we need to do that in a parallel way. We can’t cut out our participation in European cultural life and here we have a granted place.”

And that is arguably more true of Moldova than any other nation. Andrei describes how nine years ago, he was away on an exchange trip in Indonesia with participants from nearly 50 countries. And what was it that the delegates thought of when they heard Andrei was Moldovan?

“Everybody from Europe knew all the Eurovision entries from Moldova. All of them. That’s a way of promoting the identity of the country which nobody can give. You would need to spend billions to achieve the same impact on your own.

“To integrate in the European Union, you have to, politically speaking, integrate first of all in their cultural space. We are saying we are Europeans by culture, we are Europeans by geography. To build up an image, to build up trust.

I think that we already managed to do that in a decent way, but we have to keep it. And we cannot compromise it with a poor execution anymore. Now it’s not about that at all. Now it’s about going big to Eurovision because we want to come big to the European Union as well.”

Satoshi: A Record-Breaking Rallying Cry

If Andrei Zapșa is the one building the fortress and securing the supply lines, he still needs a frontline hero capable of wielding the weaponry of the modern music industry. The grandest stage in Chișinău would have been a hollow victory if the talent for Eurovision wasn’t worthy.

From the Moldovan broadcaster’s vantage point, they could not have asked for a more battle-ready recruit than Satoshi.

He arrives with four albums and numerous international tours already under his belt, along with a pop playlist with millions of Spotify streams. A charismatic performer, Satoshi also understands that he is entering a space where how he represents modern Moldova is key, and has already spoken to ESC Insight and others about his strong personal beliefs in Moldovan EU membership and further European integration.

Speaking to Wiwibloggs after winning in Chișinău, Satoshi explained that his entry ‘Viva, Moldova’ was purpose-written for the Eurovision stage, and he “definitely agrees” with fans who say it is not his best song.

“This is the song for the stage, for the people to be crazy and happy.

I was looking for something that would move a stadium or an arena.”

And, at least in Moldova, the people moved. Not only did ‘Viva, Moldova’ win the top scores from both national and international juries, but the televote score we believe was an all-time Eurovision National Final record. Satoshi received 13,084 votes from the Moldovan population, placing second with 861 votes. This gap, with over 15 times the number of votes as second place, has, to our knowledge, never been topped. For comparison, Baby Lasagna’s Rim Tim Tagi Tim’ received just over ten times the number of votes of second place for his huge landslide in Dora 2024.

Indeed, you have to go back all the way to 2016 to find a Moldovan National Final where more televotes were received than in this victory. This is especially remarkable given the one phone, one vote system in place this year, which truly reflects the zeitgeist of public mood that ‘Viva, Moldova’ represents for the population.

A Modern Mirror of a Complicated Nation

Because it isn’t just that ‘Viva, Moldova’ blatantly is patriotic, it is what image it is showing of the population and the youth of today that is so captivating. It’s modern, energetic, and built to get concerts and arenas pumped to the max. It promotes the country’s history through lyrics about folk music and dancing, the Romanian language, wine and the classic film Maria Mirabela, for which the death of the film’s composer last year led to a national day of mourning.

The most poignant but blink-and-you-miss-it cultural motif comes in the first seconds of the song, with Constantin Brâncuși’s Endless Column clearly visible on the LED wall. Standing in Târgu Jiu, southwestern Romania, the Endless Column is a monument commemorating the hundreds of thousands of Romanians who died and their ‘infinite’ sacrifice for the Romanian cause.

This is significant to Moldova for numerous reasons. Firstly, this column was built in 1938, a time when Moldovan territory was part of Greater Romania between the World Wars. Furthermore, while today’s Moldova was land under Russian Empire control during World War One, many Moldovan forces fought on the side of the Romanian’s and ultimately, as the Russian Empire collapsed in 1918, sought to ensure that Moldova and Romania could reunite over 100 years after separation. And this shared history is celebrated in Chișinău today, with the city’s main art exhibition space is named after Constantin Brâncuși. Outwith the Endless Column Brâncuși’s only known political piece, Borne-frontière, symbolised the loss of Moldova from the wider Romanian stage after the Second World War.

There is room for interpretation as to why Satoshi included the Endless Column in the backdrop for ‘Viva, Moldova’, but for us, the intent is clear. Where ‘Trenulețul‘ was a nostalgic throwback song about Moldovan identity with its neighbours, this song is about a modern Moldovan identity, framed through that shared history and language with Romania, and the desire for Moldova to be equal in Europe. Planting that image in the song’s opening is an intentional marker for viewers that this song is taking its place within a shared history and memory, and that it technically sits within the EU’s borders while Moldova looks on.

The Infinite Sacrifice for Identity

‘Viva Moldova’ is unabashedly patriotic, but patriotic to the cause that Moldova should be a part of a wider Europe. Not through explicit means and calls that take the song into the political, but through demonstrating shared language, culture, history and ultimately hope that Europe is the place for Moldova’s better future. And Moldovans clearly believe in Satoshi’s rallying cry, as we saw with the mother of all televoting landslides.

With such a televoting landslide, one can anticipate a good result in May. One can assume that Moldova’s diaspora, rapidly increasing over the last decade, will also support this call to action. Time will tell if its shared history with Romania, or its pro-European hopeful party anthem, will spread support even further.

But there are bigger wins than placings on the scoreboard. This is about recognition, the acknowledgement that Moldova’s Eurovision participation is one of the most potent exports the nation possesses. Satoshi is using that visibility to send a signal: Moldova is not a country on the fringes performing for Europe’s amusement, though it is proud to have entertained us for 20 years. Moldova is no longer content just as the entertainer; Moldova demands to be seen as an equal partner in our shared cultural community.

In May, they won’t just be competing; Moldova will be occupying the Wiener Stadthalle with a party only Moldovans can throw.

Europe, stand at attention. Moldova is reporting for duty. Noroc and Cin Cin to that.