Let Me Try (Luminiţa Anghel And Sistem Song)
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"Let Me Try" is a song recorded by Romanian singer
Luminița Anghel Luminița Anghel (; born 7 October 1968) is a Romanians, Romanian singer, TV personality and politician. She is internationally known for representing Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, Romania at the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 alon ...
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 is a single (music), music single in the form of a compact disc (CD). Originally the ''CD single'' standard (as defined in the Rainbow Books, Red Book) was an 8 cm (3-inch) "mini CD" (''CD3''); later on the term referred to 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 nine channels: TVR 1, TVR 2, TVR 3, TV ...
(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 is 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 musical meanings ...
folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...
-influenced
disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...
song. The song represented 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 ( ...
in
Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
, Ukraine after winning the pre-selection show ''
Selecția Națională Romania has been represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 23 times since its debut in , and has placed in the top ten six times. Its best results were achieved with "Let Me Try" by Luminița Anghel and Sistem in , and "Playing with Fire (Paul ...
''. Anghel and Sistem's win was surrounded by controversy after the second-placed Romanian singer
Loredana Groza Loredana Groza (born 10 June 1970), also known mononymously as Loredana, is a Romanians, Romanian singer. She is known for continuously reinventing herself and for approaching numerous music styles throughout her discography, ranging from Pop mus ...
accused TVR of
conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...
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, and television personality. She has released more than thirteen albums (including three Christmas albums) and over twenty singles, which include two top-te ...
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#Knife blade profiles .28Patterns.29, blade profile, which is the blade's cross-sectional shape in the plane containing the blade's edge and ...
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 Actualități is the first radio channel in Romania, both in coverage, number of listeners, and timeline (it is the first radio station to broadcast). It is owned by the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company. In 2013 alone, it was t ...
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 is 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 musical meanings ...
folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...
-influenced
disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...
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 () is an international pop song contest, festival, and award show, held annually in the Piața Sfatului of Braşov, Romania. First held in 1968, the festival honors musical talents both in Romania and abroad. Non-Roman ...
. 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 CD-Audio and CD-ROM players. Formats that fall under the ''enhanced CD'' cate ...
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 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 by journalist William Lee Adams. History In April 2015, Wiwibloggs won the Arts & Culture category at the UK Blog Awards. Adams has judged ...
'' 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

On 5 March 2005, the ''
Selecția Națională Romania has been represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 23 times since its debut in , and has placed in the top ten six times. Its best results were achieved with "Let Me Try" by Luminița Anghel and Sistem in , and "Playing with Fire (Paul ...
'' 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), also known mononymously as Loredana, is a Romanians, Romanian singer. She is known for continuously reinventing herself and for approaching numerous music styles throughout her discography, ranging from Pop mus ...
, 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 nine channels: TVR 1, TVR 2, TVR 3, TV ...
(TVR) of
conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...
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 (; ) 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 auxiliary space. Primarily designated ...
in
Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
, 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 band currently comprises founding members Blixa Bargeld (lead vocals, guitar, keyboard) and N.U. Unruh (custom-made instruments, percussion, ...
. While the singer joined the group's activities during an instrumental part, Sistem also used side cutters and a
grinding wheel Grinding wheels are wheels that contain 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-parti ...
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