Nico

Romania was the 8th country to cast its votes last night at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008.
This is how the Romanians voted :

Croatia - Kraljevi Ulice & 75 Cents - Romanca - 1 point
Azerbaidjan - Elnur & Samir - Day After Day - 2 points
Ukraine - Ani Lorak - Shady Lady - 3 points
Armenia - Sirusho - Qele Qele - 4 points
Norway - Maria - Hold On Be Strong - 5 points
Israel - Boaz - The Fire In Your Eyes - 6 points
Serbia - Jelena Tomaševic - Oro - 7 points
Turkey - Mor ve Ötesi - Deli - 08 points
Russia - Dima Bilan - Believe - 10 points

Bilingual romance for Romania - The Romanian representatives Nico & Vlad rehearsed their romantic duet for the first time today. They started their performance at distant positions on stage and moved towards each other during the song, hugging tenderly in the end. The two singers left a vocally brilliant impression of their bilingual song in Italian and Romanian language. [Eurovision.tv - Belgrade 2008]

First semi final rehearsals day two in Serbia

Inaintea plecarii la petrecerea Eurovision din Marea Britanie, reprezentanta Romaniei la concursul Eurovision 2008 Nico a avut amabilitatea de a raspunde intrebarilor noastre, in exclusivitate pentru escvibes.com.

Cand ai decis sa urmezi o cariera muzicala si ce inseamna in acest moment cariera ta pentru tine ?

Inca din copilarie am cochetat cu interpretarea vocala a multor melodii la moda in acea perioada (anii'80), bineinteles la inceput mai mult in joaca. La indemnul tatalui meu, meloman pasionat, am inceput sa iau in serios aceasta arta, incepand a studia timp de 3 ani clasa de canto a scolii populare de arta din Ploiesti, orasul meu natal. Cu timpul am evoluat, am capatat experienta si cu munca si ajutor de la Dumnezeu am ajuns la un nivel destul de ridicat din punct de vedere interpretativ, fapt ce m-a convins ca este timpul sa incerc o cariera muzicala profesionista. Nu a fost usor sa ma remarc pe piata muzicala din Romania, ca urmare m-am lansat abia in jurul varstei de 30 de ani.
In acest moment cariera muzicala are o mare insemnatate pentru mine si in ciuda faptului ca am reusit destul de mult in cariera mea, nu voi inceta sa ma perfectionez si sa ajung la un nivel si mai ridicat.

Are muzica varsta ?

Dupa parerea mea muzica nu are si n-a avut varsta, niciodata. Desigur cei mai multi ascultatori de muzica sunt cei tineri, dar sunt destul de multi si cei care, desi au trecut de prima tinerete, se bucura in continuare de frumusetea muzicii.

Exista persoane care te-au ajutat in cariera si carora le esti recunoscatoare?

Before heading to the UK preview party, Romanian representative at the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest, Nico was kind enough to answer some questions exclusively for escvibes.com.

When did you decide to pursue a career in music and what does your career mean to you at this moment?

Ever since I was a child I played with the vocals of many melodies that were in fashion at that period of time (the 80's).... of course it was all just for fun at the beginning
On the advice of my father, a passionate music fan, I began to take this art seriously and I studied Canto classes for 3 years at the Popular Art Music School in my hometown, Ploiesti. Over time I have evolved, I have been able to gain valuable experience and, with a lot of work and God's help, I have managed to reach a high level of performance skills, enough to convince me that it was about time to try a professional music career.
It wasn't easy to get noticed on the Romanian music scene which is why my acknowledgement didn't come until the age of 30.
At this moment my music career has a high meaning for me and despite the fact that I have accomplished a lot in my career, I will never stop perfecting myself in order to reach an even higher level.

Does music have age ?