A couple of days ago EuroVisionary closed the case regarding all the accusations of plaigiarism and breaking of rules from Romania. TVR seems to do the same in their latest press release. EuroVisionary has translated this to English.
Translation of press release from TVR:
After numerous attempts to discredit the fairness of the contest, numerous plagiarism accusations brought to the winning song, accusations that the song was broadcast before the 1st of October, after demands of disqualification of the winning song and after sending a petition to EBU form the fans and artists that were against the winning song, the organisers of Romania’s Selectia Nationala 2008 are making the following statements:
The contest was correct and within the regulations, TVR offered only the places where the competition took part, the choice of the winning song came from the public and the jury. There were no irregular things that could change the result of the contest.
Only the author of a plagiarised song can make a statement against someone that is supposed to be accused of plagiarism. The author of the alleged plagiarised song, "La magia del corazon", didn’t give until now any statement against the song "Pe-o margine de lume". After all these, TVR asked UCMR-ADA to form a special commission for analysing the two songs. The verdict: not plagiarised. On the other side, eurovisionary.com started its own research, sending the songs to an international expert and the verdict was the same. Eurovisionary asked Andrew Brook to compare the two songs. He concluded: "The choruses of the songs begin with the same phrase made of the same 6 notes. In the Romanian song, this Phrase is repeating later in the chorus, which creates the impression that the song is a copy of the older Spanish song. After all these things, the musical phrase used in both songs is a very simple one, having its origins in classical music, and it probably appeared in hundreds of songs during the years. A well known example is the song of Barbara Streisand – Evergreen, where the same line appears in the beginning of the song. [There is a generally accepted rule in the music industry which says that a part of maximum 6 notes can be the same in more than one song, even though this thing is not mentioned in the EBU rules.] " (source: http://www.eurovisionary.com/node/468)
It was not proved yet that the accusation about the broadcasting of the song before the 1st of October, Andrei Partos denying that the song was broadcast before that day. UCMR-ADA gave a certificate to the composer, Andrei Tudor, on the 11th of February 2008, which certifies that the song was not broadcast in September on RRA. (see the certificate attachment)
Before the beginning of Goran Bregović’s concert, TVR announced live that the points from televoting will not be shown from 5 to 5 minutes, not to interrupt the recital of the artist. These facts didn’t influence the voting system, and the company that was in charge with the SMS and telephone votes gave to TVR the CD with all the details of the televoting. This CD can prove that the vote was not interrupted and didn’t have any problems. The ending of the voting time was marked by showing the points of each contestant on the screen.
"TVR will not disqualify the winning song if the proof won’t be solid and we will continue the promoting of the song in Europe for a better result in the contest from Belgrade", declared Ioan Duma, the project manager for the Romanian Selectia Nationala 2008.
