Everything will be decided on February 17. That day in cold Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, Rafael Artesero, Bilbao native, who has settled in Santa Eulària for decades You will know if the song has reached Eurovision. The song ‘Bravo’ he composed years ago One of eleven people classified to choose the song that will represent them in the popular competition for the final stage of the public television process in this countryIt will be held in Malmö (Sweden) from 7 to 11 May. Everything is in the hands of the jury, Moldovan television and the singer who defended Artesero’s song. Nicoleta Sava.
The composer is very excited. Especially after the words one of the jury members dedicated to his song in the semi-final said: “He said it was big, magnificent, deep. “We can say that it was written by an expert composer.” He and Nicoleta are old acquaintances. It’s not the first time the singer has defended one of her songs on a popular singing competition. She had already done this with ‘The Essence of the South’ in 2018. Moldova chose DoReDos, but the Sava-Artesero combination was very popular in Spain, where it enjoyed the excitement of the huge and very popular pre-Eurovision party in Madrid.
«’Bravo’ is different from ‘Essence of the South’. This was hymn, this was pure flamenco,” explains Artesero. He remembers composing this song at a somewhat sad moment: for Josep Llovell, a friend of his who was devoted to music and who was dying of cancer. Nicoleta Sava saved the song when she offered to “repeat the game” to participate in Eurovision. Of course, the singer asked him to try a ‘different’ song from ‘Essence of the South’.
A “bittersweet” hymn
So he decided to dust off ‘Bravo’ and send it to her. «He never knew the story of Josep and the reasons why he wrote it. AND He told me he cried with emotion when he first heard it.“says Artesero, assuring that despite the difficult story behind it, ‘Bravo’ is a ‘very strong’ and ‘joyous’ song. “It’s a bit of a bittersweet song. “It’s emotional and brings tears to your eyes, but its soul is so beautiful and it leaves you with a sweet feeling,” he says.
This Ibiza-based Basque confesses that he has been a Eurofan since he was “very young”. «I lived in Bilbao and it was Mocedades’ time, they were rehearsing very close to home, everyone in my family were musicians and He always said he wanted to go to Eurovision» states that Artesero realized his dream in 2011 when singer Lucía Pérez represented Spain with the song “Que me mightn lo bailao”. She chose her songs to participate in the competition twice, in Belgium and Andorra. He now pins his hopes on Moldova. In Georgia, they have just started the song selection process for 2014 and plan to submit one.
The composer is already looking for plane tickets to fly to the Moldovan capital, where he plans to attend the final gala, where a new jury and television will decide who will represent the country at Eurovision. He also really wants to meet Nicoleta, whom he has yet to meet in person, although they have worked together twice. “She’s a great singer,” says Rafael Artesero, who recalls that the young woman barely had time to prepare for her first audition in the selection process. The composer, who was already preparing for the cold of Moldova with excitement and hope, points to a small problem that he solved with his good work.