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Mihai making 2009 comeback for Romania
Mihai Traistariu became a household name with Eurovision Song Contest fans after his 2006 entry, Tornero, reached fourth place in 2006. The song has become one of the most popular entries with fans around the continent. Mihai has made no secret of his desire to come back and capture the first prize for Romania, and now he has gone on record saying that he wants 2009 to be his year!
In an interview with Eurovisionary, he explains that despite the problems with disqualifications in the Romanian selection process in the last couple of years, he sees no reason why he can't enter and win for a second time. He would also like to represent Romania in a 'Worldvision Song Contest' after the Asiavision competition launches next year.
Mihai talks about the changes to the Eurovision Song Contest voting, saying that Romanian national broadcaster, TVR believes that it will lead to voting pacts and voting swaps which will not benefit their entry.
Finally, talking about the 2008 result, Mihai says that he though Dima Bilan (who finished two places above Mihai on the 2006 scoreboard) would win because Russia has so many neighbours, but that the song only deserved to come third or fourth. He also thinks that the addition of a world champion ice skater and violinist helped capture the additional votes needed to take the competition to Russia.
You can read the full interview here.
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Noooo !! Mihai is not ugly ! I totally diagree.
Sakis ..is that the guy who had his t-shirt washed in too hot water last time he was in Eurovision ?? 
I agree with you regarding him ...allthough I don't remember anything about his voice
Mihai against Sakis against Deen.... That could be good fun. Mihai is ugly, but has the voice. Sakis is beautiful but can not sing and Deen well,.... Deen is ugly, can not sing but probably is a good cook.
To you who don't like Miha i: I respect that. Everyones has a right to an opinion, off course.
And this forum should be open to any opinion.
What I do not understand though is that still you read all these "zillion" posts on him.
My suggestion: get a life ....
Gosh, i'm like so sick of Mihai & Sakis.
Hope they'll have good songs.
2008 has the worst winner ever!
Is esctoday.com sponsoring him?!
and Dont forget 12pts from Moldova every Year
Of course Romania doesn't want jury votes. That's going to mean not 12 points from Spain all years, unless they really deserve it.
@morgan
Actually, I've heard that Deen is gonna try again for Bosnia. 
how can the juries be a bad thing? does he fear he's not musically good enough for professionals? I'm disappointed by that, anyway him against Sakis.. damn how boring can esc be seriously? and what now, carola for esc and we got it all down?
@Danniella
I indeed haven't seen the Romanian '06 preselection live.
So if Aksent couldn't sing well live you are very right.
Mihai Traistariu is an arrogant idiot!
Hes completely right about 2OO8 contest
Tornero 1.000.000 MORE PLAYED...
And Efi Thodi's songs have been played 2.000.000 times...does that make them good songs?
I don't think so 
Danniela,
of course Never let you go was a big hit here and Believe isn't..so what?
Like I told Ajdin, the fact that a song is a hit and another one isn't, doesn't mean anything about how good a song it is..and btw Dima's English was the same (worse actually) 2 years ago.
Personally (and I always stress that word) I consider Believe much better than Never let you go, although I had liked that one, too...but Believe has something to say..Never let you go was a typical oh-i-love-you-do-you-love-me song and even though I had enjoyed Dima's performance, for me there's no comparison with Believe.
And actually I had found the ballerina coming out of the piano useless...the ice skater this year danced to the music of the song..that ballerina did nothing, she was there just to impress.
So for those reasons I prefer Believe and I don't know what you mean by 'Leave out what u like and say what was a biggest hit'....did I ever say Believe is a hit?
Jonny
Apart from 2006 I voted for the 2003 winner.
"look at some of the songs that have charted at number 1 in the UK" 
ha ha ha
I was also very disappointed with Paolo's performance. "Era stupendo" is such a good song (and I don't care if it sounds like Amy's "It will only get better" .
Ajdin, I could name a lot of songs which I thought were good in 2008 but you would probably not agree It's a matter of opinion.
Mihai plans to come back "with a show". In other words, pretentious bullcrap that has zilch to do with the song. Typical ESC. The eurovision can p**s off for all I care. He sure can sing and "tornero" would have been a worthy winner but it would be a shame to see him stoop to new low levels.
LOL
Is he actually trying to argue that there aren't voting pacts and vote swapping at the moment?
So Romania doesn't give two sh*ts that countries like the Netherlands, the big 4 and the Scandinavian countries loose out at the moment because of EASTERN pact voting, but if its possible that Romania might loose out to something similar then its immoral and a backwards step?
very slightly ludicously hypocritical there!
@jan
seems u didnt see the national Romanian final cause it was OBVIOUS (eventhough that jokero was also good) they couldnt sing LIVE(A BIGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG MESS).
Well some people say something AND THATS IT they dont wont to hear anything else...!!
Which was a bigger hit
1.Never gonna let u go
or
2.Believe
At Greece Mina the first was played 100 times more and Tornero 1.000.000 MORE PLAYED...
Leave out what u like and say what was a biggest hit....this year at our country "qele" was played ALOT and less "shady lady"
Plus pls dont talk about quality and "believe"..it was a simple poppy ballad with a singer which had a very bad accent....not to mention that he OVERREACTED onstage......!
Aksent should have been the Rumanian entry in 2006. Their song Jokero was absolutely fine. Tornero I didn't like at all. That was more like a vocal session for the singer (how high can my voice go ?)
That is my personal opinion of course.
Shame Paolo kind of lost it a bit in the semi though And Andy and Simon are also good singers but their songs were a bit standard
Yes, Paolo was my big disappointment this year 
And Andy and Simon are also very good singers, you're right. Their songs were weak but their performance was flawless.
And Mina is right, just because a song is a hit, doesn't mean it is good quality. I mean, look at some of the songs that have charted at number 1 in the UK -
http://www.youtube.c(...)/watch?v=1wyW7uaXV8E
http://www.youtube.c(...)/watch?v=XkHm8uUuT0o
http://www.youtube.c(...)/watch?v=3IWKhYQarJU
Now if those songs are quality, then I dread to think what bad quality is lmao!
Stockholm
"but the winner in 2006 was one of the best ever in my opinion"
Sooo totally agreed, its the only winner i've ever voted for
Ajdin
"(I bet noone can pick 5 GOOD songs from 2008)."
Israel, Norway, Russia, Switzerland, Serbia, France, Hungary, Sweden, Greece, Bulgaria (I could go on). . . this isnt my opinion, it is what i've heard and gathered from people here, overall favourites by esctoday members I mean.
And as for songs that have become hits internationally this year, Norway, Spain (lol), Armenia, France . . . i've even read people saying they heard "even if" on radio etc.
"ESC has lower quality of the songs every year... "
I completely disagree, imo 2004-2006 had good quality songs, but 2007 & 2008 have been wayyy better, and I think that will continue into 2009
Mina
"And singer-wise, Vania, Olta from Albania, Paolo Meneguzzi all very good singers" - Agreed. Shame Paolo kind of lost it a bit in the semi though And Andy and Simon are also good singers but their songs were a bit standard.
Ajdin,
are you seriously saying that popularity equals quality??? The fact that a song becomes a hit (or not) has NOTHING to do with how good it is.
And I'm not going to use Believe as an example since you obviously consider it a bad song.
Take Senhora do mar...can you seriously tell me that Tornero which became a summer hit in some countries, was more QUALITY than Senhora do mar which didn't chart anywhere?
In that case, Madonna's songs are full of........quality...LOLLLLLL
For 2006 you choose 5 songs that YOU consider good. I already told you 5 songs I consider good from 2008....using the 'hit argument' to prove 2006 songs were ' better songs' is just wrong.
A hit is a hit..it can be a great song and it can be a dreadful song. The only thing a hit is, is POPULAR.
2008 was better than 2006 in quality? NO WAY.
2006 (songs which have MAJOR quality):
1. Russia
2. Bosnia
3. Romania
4. Greece
5. Norway
(I bet noone can pick 5 GOOD songs from 2008).
And then, summer hits from 2006:
1. Finland
2. Russia
3. Romania
4. Ukraine
5. Greece
6. Macedonia
7. Germany
(summer hits are probably songs which you can hear in the pub, caffe, discothec or somewhere...)
About summer hits from 2008... Well, I can hardly pick up 3 songs: Ukraine, Greece and Armenia.
ESC has lower quality of the songs every year...
2008 isn´t even close 2006 about quality. 2006 is MUCH better
This is a matter of personal opinion of course but I agree with Jonny (again ). I found the songs this year much better.
From 2006 the songs I loved were Never let you go and Everything (loved, not just liked).
This year Believe, Oro, Hold on be strong, Deli, Complice...if any of those songs won, I would be happy. And singer-wise, Vania, Olta from Albania, Paolo Meneguzzi all very good singers.
But again, it's a matter of personal preference
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