Interview: Eurovision.tv talks to Geta Burlacu

You just finished your first rehearsal. How satisfied are you with your performance, and would you like to change anything until the Semi-Final?



Geta Burlacu: "I am satisfied with my rehearsal. There won't be any major changes until the Semi-Final. I am an artist in every sense of the word. When I am a singer and an actor at the same time, and I live what I sing. Maybe, at some point, I will just start crying on stage to express what I feel. But in general, we do not plan any changes in the performance."



The song you have chosen is quite special compared to the material usually entered in the Eurovision Song Contest. Why did you pick this song for this year's contest?



Geta Burlacu: "I am from Moldova, and I was chosen in a joint vote of an expert jury and televoting. And when the people who support me at home believe in me, it means that they also believe in my song and in its lyrics. They believe that everyone has the ability to love and to be loved. Maybe our song also reach the other people in Europe? Why not?"



Your stage performance only features a male trumpet player, a couch and a teddy bear. Could you explain the symbolism behind that?



Geta Burlacu: "After I got divorced - in a moment when I already had two children - I had everything: money, an increasing career. But the one thing I didn't have was someone to love me. There were moments when I prayed to God, thanking him for everything, and asking him to send me such a person. And I have found such a person, or rather he found me. We are partners on stage, and we are partners in life. It's just these symbols of love that I wanted to show in my performance. As regards the teddy bear, it belongs to my children, and they told me to take it with me to have a sign of their support."



The official video clip of A Century Of Love is very artistic and beautiful. Could you tell us more about the story behind it? Will you use it to further promote your career on an international level?



Geta Burlacu: "This video clip has been broadcast and watched in many countries already, and many people contacted me and praised it. For me, the main message is that we already got back all the energy that we spent for the video clip. My goal is for everyone to understand that loving and being loved is the most important thing in life."



You already took part in the Moldovan national selection for the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest, which ended in a big scandal: Three songs tied for the first place, and the festival jury refused to pick a singer, claiming that the songs were not up to European standards. A second national final was scheduled, and all three winners of the first round were invited to take part in it again. You were one of these three "winners", and you decided not to take part in this second show. Tell us more about your feelings back at that time!



Geta Burlacu: "When I got to know that I was one of the three winners, I was unbelievably happy, and I definitely wanted to go on with the national selection and to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. Then, a strange kind of situation developped, which was hard to understand for me. Everybody was thinking about corruption, assuming that somebody must have bought the victory. However, nobody was frustrated or even surprised about that back then. Anyway, the fact that I was chosen to represent Moldova in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest shows that the situation has turned much better in the past two years, because I am a simple girl from a normal family, making my career and my music with my own hands and my own voice, and nothing else."



What is your main goal in your participation in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest – to promote yourself as a singer, to qualify for the Final, or to win and bring the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest to Moldova?



Geta Burlacu: "Victory in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest, for me, does not means having to reach the first place. Most of the times, those artists win who manage to surprise the public the most. But for me, victory means reaching the hearts of everyone with my song. If the people say: 'Yes, I believe it!', it will be my personal victory."

Eurovision.tv thanks Geta Burlacu for taking her time for this interview and wishes her the best of luck in the First Semi-Final of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest, and we thank Olena Omelyanchuk for her assistance in recording and translating this interview!