Mystical Song Contest 50

The Mystical Song Contest #50 (also known as MSC 50) was the fiftieth edition of the Mystical Song Contest. It took place in Chișinău, 🇲🇩 Moldova after Andreea Bostanica won in Riga, 🇱🇻 Latvia.

The 50th edition was a special edition where contestants had to send an entry which already competed for their country from editions 1-49. The previous Big 6 members can't send their song of edition 49.

It was confirmed that 48 countries participate in the 50th edition. No one debuted, 🇸🇲 San Marino withdrew while 🇧🇷 Brazil returned.

The top 6 of last edition 🇲🇩 Moldova, 🇷🇴 Romania, 🇰🇷 South Korea, 🇮🇱 Israel, 🇧🇬 Bulgaria and 🇨🇾 Cyprus were automatically pre qualified for the Grand Final of this edition. The 42 others participating countries were split into 2 semi final.

The running orders were made by the supervisor of the contest ESC Thømås.

Chișinău
Chișinău (/ˌkɪʃɪˈnoʊ/ KISH-ih-NOU, also US: /ˌkiːʃiːˈnoʊ/ KEE-shee-NOU, Romanian: [kiʃiˈnəʊ] (listen)), also known as Kishinev (Russian: Кишинёв [kʲɪʂɨˈnʲɵf]), is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Moldova. The city is Moldova's main industrial and commercial center, and is located in the middle of the country, on the river Bâc, a tributary of the Dniester. According to the results of the 2014 census, the city proper had a population of 532,513, while the population of the Municipality of Chișinău (which includes the city itself and other nearby communities) was 700,000. Chișinău is the most economically prosperous locality in Moldova and its largest transportation hub. Nearly a third of Moldova's population lives in the metro area.

The origin of the city's name is unclear. A theory suggests that the name may come from the archaic Romanian word chișla (meaning "spring", "source of water") and nouă ("new"), because it was built around a small spring, at the corner of Pușkin and Albișoara streets.

The other version, formulated by Ștefan Ciobanu, Romanian historian and academician, holds that the name was formed the same way as the name of Chișineu (alternative spelling: Chișinău) in Western Romania, near the border with Hungary. Its Hungarian name is Kisjenő, from which the Romanian name originates. Kisjenő comes from kis "small" and the Jenő, one of the seven Hungarian tribes that entered the Carpathian Basin in 896. At least 24 other settlements are named after the Jenő tribe.

Chișinău is known in Russian as Кишинёв (Kishinjóv), while Moldova's Russian-language media call it Кишинэу, [kʲɪʂɨˈnɛʊ] (Kishineu). It is written Kişinöv in the Latin Gagauz alphabet. It was also written as Chișineu in pre-20th-century Romanian and as Кишинэу in the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet. Historically, the English language name for the city, Kishinev, was based on the modified Russian one because it entered the English language via Russian at the time Chișinău was part of the Russian Empire (e.g. Kishinev pogrom). Therefore, it remains a common English name in some historical contexts. Otherwise, the Romanian-based Chișinău has been steadily gaining wider currency, especially in written language. The city is also historically referred to as German: Kischinau, Polish: Kiszyniów, Ukrainian: Кишинів, romanized: Kyshyniv, or Yiddish: קעשענעװ‎, romanized: Keshenev.

Founded in 1436 as a monastery village, the city was part of the Principality of Moldavia (which, starting with the 16th century became a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire, but still retaining its autonomy). At the beginning of the 19th century Chișinău was a small town of 7,000 inhabitants.

In 1812, in the aftermath of the Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812), the eastern half of Moldavia was ceded to the Russian Empire. The newly acquired territories became known as Bessarabia.

Under Russian government, Chișinău became the capital of the newly annexed oblast (later guberniya) of Bessarabia. By 1834, an imperial townscape with broad and long roads had emerged as a result of a generous development plan, which divided Chișinău roughly into two areas: the old part of the town, with its irregular building structures, and a newer city centre and station. Between 26 May 1830 and 13 October 1836 the architect Avraam Melnikov established the Catedrala Nașterea Domnului with a magnificent bell tower. In 1840 the building of the Triumphal arch, planned by the architect Luca Zaushkevich, was completed. Following this the construction of numerous buildings and landmarks began.

On 28 August 1871, Chișinău was linked by rail with Tiraspol, and in 1873 with Cornești. Chișinău-Ungheni-Iași railway was opened on 1 June 1875 in preparation for the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878). The town played an important part in the war between Russia and Ottoman Empire, as the main staging area of the Russian invasion. During the Belle Époque, the mayor of the city was Carol Schmidt, considered[by whom?] one of Chisinau's best mayors. Its population had grown to 92,000 by 1862, and to 125,787 by 1900.

Host of the show
On March 14, 2021 it was announced that Natalia Gordienko will be the host of Mystical Song Contest 50.

Natalia Gordienko (Ukrainian: Наталія Гордієнко, also spelled Gordienco; born 11 December 1987) is a Moldovan singer and dancer.

Alongside Arsenium and Connect-R, she represented Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with the song "Loca" and placed 20th.

She was selected to represent Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song "Prison".

However, the 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She will now represent Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the song "Sugar".

Gordienko was born in Chișinău on 11 December 1987.

She is of Ukrainian descent. Gordienko sang in her school choir, studied piano at music school, and danced in her school's dance ensemble for ten years. At the age of 15, she began participating in song competitions.

In 2005, Gordienko became the singer of the band Millennium. In 2005, in the national selection for the Calea Victoriei, Millennium came third. Millennium was invited to participate in the Golden Stag international competition in Romania in 2005.

On 20 May 2006, she represented Moldova alongside Arsenium and Connect-R with the song "Loca" at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. The song placed 20th in the field of 24 and scored 22 points.

In 2009 Gordienko started a project called DJ Star, in which she tried herself as a DJ; she won the prize, but it was not easy, because she had no prior experience as a DJ.

In 2010, Gordienko released her first album Time and in 2011 the album Cununa de flori.

In 2015, Gordienko signed her new single "Summertime" with Fly Records, the label of Tudor and Dan from Fly Project.

In 2008, Gordienko received honorary title of ″Emeritus Artist″ of Moldova.

She was to represent Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 held in Rotterdam, Netherlands with the song "Prison".

This would have been her second time in the contest and the first time as a solo singer. It was later confirmed that she would return to Eurovision in 2021.

Debuting/Withdrawing
On March 11, 2021 it was announced that 1 country won't participate in the 50th edition.


 * 🇸🇲 San Marino : SMRTV, the Sammarinese broadcaster, stated that the country won't participate in the 50th edition because the country wants to take a break from the contest. The last participation of the country was in the 49th edition.

Returning Artists
As edition 50 was a special edition with songs and artists which already took part in the contest, all the countries had a returning artist.

Semi Finals
On March 14, 2021 the supervisor of the contest ESC Thømås revealed the running order of both semi finals.

The big 6 members were assigned to a semi final where they had to vote.

A total of 21 countries competed in each semi final and 10 countries qualified in both.

Semi Final 1
In this semi final 🇲🇩 Moldova, 🇰🇷 South Korea and 🇨🇾 Cyprus had to vote.

Semi Final 2
In this semi final 🇷🇴 Romania, 🇮🇱 Israel and 🇧🇬 Bulgaria had to vote.

Grand Final
On April 3, 2021 the supervisor of the contest ESC Thømås revealed the running order of the Grand Final.