The band Voltaj will represent Romania at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest with the song “De la capăt” after triumphing in tonight’s Selecția Națională show in Craiova!

It was a remarkable final in many respects, with colourful performances ranging from disco pastiches to women in skirts firing out dangerous-looking pyrotechnics. As if that wasn’t enough, Ruslana turned up to take us back ten years with a near-neverending interval act consisting of songs, audience participation, unscripted tearful speeches in praise of Ukraine and more besides.

The televoting results were displayed occasionally throughout the voting period, and the initial standings remained largely unchanged as Voltaj eventually took the top place with the public, followed by 2005 Romanian representative Luminita Anghel. But the jury had equal weighting, so things could still change. In the end, though, Voltaj also got full marks from the jury, making them the clear winners on the night!

In the #esc chat, our favourite was “Superman” by Lara Lee with an average score of 6.84 points out of 10, followed by Cristina Vasiu (6.30) and CEJ (6.05), the latter featuring members of Swedish group Rednex.

“De la capăt”, which has also been recorded in an English version entitled “All Over Again” that may well be used at ESC, is already a local success with several million hits on YouTube, where it is being used to soundtrack a charitable project for children who have been left behind in Romania while their parents go to Western Europe to find work – hence the theme of the music video, which you can see below.

At ESC 2015, Romania will perform in the second half of the first semi-final on Tuesday 19 May 2015, where they will be looking to continue their 100% record of qualifying for the grand final.