"Let Me Try" is a song recorded by Romanian singer
Luminița Anghel
Luminița Anghel (; born 7 October 1968) is a Romanian singer, TV personality and politician. She is internationally known for representing Romania at the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 along with percussion band Sistem. Their song, " Let Me Try", ...
and Romanian percussion band Sistem, consisting of Toth Zoltan, Mihai Ciprian Rogojan, Claudiu Purcărin, Robert Magheti and Florin Cătălin Romașcu. It was released as a
CD single
A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any si ...
in 2005 by the
Romanian Television
Televiziunea Română (), more commonly referred to as TVR , is the short name for Societatea Română de Televiziune ("Romanian Television Society"; SRTV), the Romanian public television. It operates six channels: TVR1, TVR2, TVR3, TVR Info, T ...
(TVR). Romanian composer Cristian Faur wrote and produced the single for Anghel, who subsequently recorded it in collaboration with Sistem. Musically, "Let Me Try" is an
uptempo
A variety of musical terms are likely to be encountered in printed scores, music reviews, and program notes. Most of the terms are Italian, in accordance with the Italian origins of many European musical conventions. Sometimes, the special mus ...
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fol ...
-influenced
disco
Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...
song.
The track in the
Eurovision Song Contest 2005
The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the 50th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, following the country's victory at the with the song "Wild Dances" by Ruslana. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (E ...
in
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
, Ukraine after winning the pre-selection show ''
Selecția Națională
Romania has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 22 times since its debut in , and has placed in the top ten six times. Its best results were achieved by Luminița Anghel and Sistem in , and by Paula Seling and Ovi in , who both finished ...
''. Anghel and Sistem's win was surrounded by controversy after the second-placed Romanian singer
Loredana Groza
Loredana Groza (born 10 June 1970) or mononymously Loredana is a Romanian singer. She is known for continuously reinventing herself and for approaching numerous music styles throughout her discography, ranging from pop to traditional music and m ...
accused TVR of
conspiracy
A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agree ...
and arranged voting. In Kyiv, the artists qualified in first place for the Grand Final, where they came in third place with a total of 158 points. This remains Romania's best placement to date, alongside 's "
Playing with Fire" by
Paula Seling
Paula Seling (, born 25 December 1978) is a Romanian singer, songwriter, record producer, DJ, and television personality. Raised in Baia Mare, she attended Gheorghe Șincai National College and later moved to Bucharest to pursue a career in musi ...
and
Ovi. During their show, Anghel performed the song in front of Sistem, who were drumming on oil barrels and used
grind
A blade's grind is its cross-sectional shape in a plane normal to the edge. Grind differs from blade profile, which is the blade's cross-sectional shape in the plane containing the blade's edge and the centre contour of the blade's back (me ...
ing equipment to create a "spark rain".
Music critics gave positive reviews of the song, praising its originality and Anghel's vocal delivery. The artists were also awarded a special prize by Romanian ''V.I.P'' magazine, as well as received a nomination at the
Radio România Actualități
Radio România Actualităţi is the first radio channel in Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It bord ...
Awards. "Let Me Try" fared well commercially, and was given
heavy airplay on television and radio stations in multiple countries. It peaked at number nine on the native
Romanian Top 100
Multiple record charts have been inaugurated in Romania since the 1990s. The Romanian Top 100 was the country's national chart until 2012. Founded in 1995, it was a ranking based on the compilation of charts submitted by local Romanian radio stat ...
. Promotion consisted of various concerts, television and festival appearances, as well as the release of an accompanying music video in 2005.
Background and promotion
An
uptempo
A variety of musical terms are likely to be encountered in printed scores, music reviews, and program notes. Most of the terms are Italian, in accordance with the Italian origins of many European musical conventions. Sometimes, the special mus ...
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fol ...
-influenced
disco
Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...
song,
"Let Me Try" was both written and produced by Romanian composer Cristian Faur for Romanian singer Luminița Anghel, who recorded the song in collaboration with Romanian percussion band Sistem. The latter two had already desired to collaborate since 2001, when Anghel won the first prize at that year's
Golden Stag Festival
The Golden Stag Festival ( ro, Cerbul de Aur) is the most popular Romanian song contest and awards, held annually in the town of Braşov, Romania.
History
The Golden Stag was first held in 1968, but after 1971 it was banned by the Communist l ...
.
Anghel and Sistem promoted the song "intensely" in the last week prior to the national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, where it was submitted, which allegedly attracted many televotes.
Similar promotion through concerts, television and festival appearances occurred after they had been selected as the Romanian entrants for the contest,
partially interfering with the preparation for their show at Eurovision.
A music video for "Let Me Try" was also released in 2005 and included on an
enhanced CD
Enhanced CD is a certification mark of the Recording Industry Association of America for various technologies that combine audio and computer data for use in both Compact Disc and CD-ROM players.
Formats that fall under the "enhanced CD" ca ...
release of the single that year. It features Anghel performing to the song and Sistem drumming on barrels in a desert.
Reception and accolades
Although Romanian media initially responded negatively to "Let Me Try",
the song received positive reviews from music critics after the Eurovision Song Contest. An editor from website 9am.ro called the track "dynamic" and wrote that Sistem's "
industrial
Industrial may refer to:
Industry
* Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry
* Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems
* Industrial city, a city dominate ...
rhythms" make it original.
Flavia Jurca of ''Unica'' magazine listed the song in her list of memorable duets in the Romanian music industry, praising Anghel's vocal delivery and writing that Romania should have won the contest in 2005. In a 2016 poll on ''
Wiwibloggs
Wiwibloggs is a fansite and YouTube channel focusing on the Eurovision Song Contest, launched in 2009. It has a seasonal audience, peaking at 250,000 page views per day during the week of Eurovision in May 2016, based on Google Analytics data.
...
'' called "What is your favourite Eurovision song from Romania?", "Let Me Try" finished in third place with over 600 votes.
According to a
Europa FM writer, the song was given
heavy airplay on television and radio stations in multiple countries after the contest. It also peaked at number nine on native
Romanian Top 100
Multiple record charts have been inaugurated in Romania since the 1990s. The Romanian Top 100 was the country's national chart until 2012. Founded in 1995, it was a ranking based on the compilation of charts submitted by local Romanian radio stat ...
.
On 30 March 2005, Anghel and Sistem were awarded a special prize by ''V.I.P'' magazine, handed out by Romanian singer-songwriter Ovidiu Lipan Țăndărică. They also won Artist of the Year and received a nomination in the Best Dance-Pop Song category at the 2006 Radio România Actualități Awards. In a mid 2005 interview with Georgios Kalpakidis in Greece, Anghel revealed that her appearance at Eurovision led to proposals from the Netherlands, Hungary, Germany and England.
At Eurovision
National selection
![RO B Pavel retirement Loredana - cropped](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/RO_B_Pavel_retirement_Loredana_-_cropped.png)
On 5 March 2005, the ''
Selecția Națională
Romania has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 22 times since its debut in , and has placed in the top ten six times. Its best results were achieved by Luminița Anghel and Sistem in , and by Paula Seling and Ovi in , who both finished ...
'' was held in order to select the Romanian entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest, where "Let Me Try" was chosen after the votes of a 12-member professional jury panel (135 points) and public televoting (10.832 phone calls) were combined, resulting in 206 points. Romanian singer
Loredana Groza
Loredana Groza (born 10 June 1970) or mononymously Loredana is a Romanian singer. She is known for continuously reinventing herself and for approaching numerous music styles throughout her discography, ranging from pop to traditional music and m ...
, who placed second in the national final with her song "Le Le", sparked controversy after accusing the
Romanian Television
Televiziunea Română (), more commonly referred to as TVR , is the short name for Societatea Română de Televiziune ("Romanian Television Society"; SRTV), the Romanian public television. It operates six channels: TVR1, TVR2, TVR3, TVR Info, T ...
(TVR) of
conspiracy
A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agree ...
and arranged voting. According to Groza, TVR allegedly demanded the copyright of "Le Le" prior to the national selection, and a friend of hers could not vote for her as the line was continuously busy. The singer's accusations were denied by both Anghel and the organizers of the event.
In Kyiv
The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 took place at the
Palace of Sports
Palace of Sports or Sports Palace (russian: Дворец спорта) is a generic name of comprehensive indoors sports venues introduced in the Soviet Union (compare with Palace of Culture) of big size that includes various sports halls and auxil ...
in
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
, Ukraine and consisted of one semi-final on 19 May, and the final on 21 May 2005. According to the
then-Eurovision rules, selected countries, except the host country and the "
Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom), were required to qualify from the semi-final to compete for the final; the top ten countries from the semi-final progressed to the final.
On the first occasion, Anghel and Sistem performed 14th, preceded by and followed by , while they sang fourth in the Grand Final, preceded by and followed by Norway.
The artists' show consisted of Anghel performing the song, wearing a green top with a pair of jeans, in front of Sistem, who contributed to the track's instrumentation by "wildly" drumming on oil barrels in a similar way to German industrial band
Einstürzende Neubauten
(, 'Collapsing New Buildings') is a German experimental music group, formed in West Berlin in 1980. The group is currently composed of founding members Blixa Bargeld (lead vocals; guitar; keyboard) and N.U. Unruh (custom-made instruments; perc ...
.
While the singer joined the group's activities during an instrumental part, Sistem also used
side cutter
Diagonal pliers (also known as wire cutters, diagonal cutting pliers, diagonal cutters, side cutters, dikes or Nippy cutters) are pliers intended for the cutting of wire (they are generally not used to grab or turn anything). The plane define ...
s and a
grinding wheel
Grinding wheels contains abrasive compounds for grinding and abrasive machining operations. Such wheels are also used in grinding machines.
The wheels are generally made with composite material . This consists of coarse-particle aggregate press ...
to create what a
Eurovision.de writer described as "spark rain" onstage.
The website further found the combination between traditional music and the "unconventional" instruments to be "unusual".
Track listing
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Release history
References
{{Authority control
Eurovision songs of Romania
Eurovision songs of 2005
English-language Romanian songs
2005 songs
Disco songs
2005 singles