Interview with Vasco Cardoso, Ruben Pacheco, and Michael James Down, co-writers of Moldova National Selection entry “A Brighter Day” by Tatiana Heghea

ZACK:  I say shame-free that if there is one country I’m always excited about, it’s MOLDOVA!  They always bring a fun quirky number to the Eurovision stage.  

So when the 24 entries were announced for the 2013 Moldova national selection, I was excited to see some familiar names, particularly Tatiana Heghea, who was one of the back-up singers for Pasha Parfeny and “Lautar.”  So of course I’m giddy that I got the opportunity to chat with the co-writers of her entry “A Brighter Day.”  Vasco Cardoso, Ruben Pacheco, and Michael James Down!

ESC UNITED: First off, congratulations for making it to the semi-finals of the Moldova National Selection.  We are so excited that Tatiana is giving it a go to represent Moldova this year after impressing us so much on stage with Pasha last year!  Tell us a bit about yourselves and how you became songwriters.
RUBEN: It’s a honor for me to be interviewed and thank you for your support! I’m Ruben Pacheco, I’m from Maia, a village on Sao Miguel island, in the Archipelago of Azores and I am 22 years old. I entered the music world when I was a young boy in Church Choir and in the Brass Band of my village. Since that day, music was something that followed me, a part of me that I wished to give to others and let me express myself as one of my strong qualities. I’m Seminarian and I am studying Theology at the 5th grade.
VASCO: First of all, I would like to thank you for the honorable supporting that you are giving to “A Brighter Day” guys! I’m Vasco Cardoso; I am from Povoa de Varzim, Portugal and I am 19 years old. I have been involved in music since a young age as my uncle has AudioVisual Studio Production where some known Portuguese Singers recorded their Albums & Singles. I starting writing for the first time in 2010. Apart of music, I am studying nursing at the 2nd grade of High School.
MICHAEL:  I am from Belfast, Northern Ireland and I have been involved in music in one way or another for as long as I can remember.  Songwriting felt like a natural progression for me and I have been really ‘into’ it for the past few years.

ESC UNITED: What inspired you to writing “A Brighter Day”?
VASCO: I’ve been working with Ruben Pacheco since 2010 and incredibly, I don’t remember the day that “A Brighter Day” was born! Haha!  “A Brighter day” was a monumental inspiration that appeared to me on a December’s cold night and then, I started making a musical melody on my head. On the next day I was chatting with Ruben and so we started working on that head melody! 😀 Music has no limits and has no time limit to be created!
RUBEN: I think that “A Brighter Day” is a sign of a way, like our lives. The beginning of this song was in 2010, near Christmas school holidays, when appeared a wish to try something new and different. In a kind of magic, I met Vasco on internet and we used his head melody to come up with our ideas, always with the intent to making something touching, something that was ours.

ESC UNITED: The team is quite international.  Tatiana is from Moldova; Vasco and Ruben are from Portugal; and Michael is from Northern Ireland.  How did you all come to meet and decide to work together on this song?
VASCO: FACEBOOK! HAHA! As I said, I’ve known Ruben since 2010 but we never have met personally. We work long distance as he lives in Azores and I live on the Portuguese Continent. Originally this project wasn’t going to go to Eurovision, but after some searching we found a great format in the Republic of Moldova and so we worked to have everything done before January 10th! I contacted Michael to see if he was interested in writing the English Version of the music. On the same day, Michael answered and one week later we were recording the Demo Version to send to Moldova’s National Selection. When we found that our song was one to be one of the 60 selected songs, we contacted Tatiana Heghea to see if she was interested to record our song.  She accepted on the same day!
RUBEN: Although we haven”t meet personally, I have the wish to meet them all, to have a big party to celebrate these moments, and at the same time, see new places (eheh)! Facebook makes miracles, and this is one of them.  After the first moments, Vasco proposed this project to me to participate in Republic of Moldova. I accepted the challenge.  it was very attractive and a little crazy in the same time (laugh). In record time, we were sending the song to be judged and then talking with Tatiana to prepare the final version.

ESC UNITED: “A Brighter Day” is in English?  Are there plans to record the song in any other languages?
VASCO:“A Brighter Day” is an integral English song, but we have plans to record the song in Romanian.
RUBEN: We can record in Romanian but if other proposals appear to record in other languages, why not accept the challenge?

ESC UNITED: How did you celebrate when you found out your song was one of the 24 selected?
RUBEN: That day will be a memorable day. First of all, I was stunned and thinking that was a dream.  After that, I was calling my friends and my family and we had coffee to celebrate.
VASCO: I was at library studying for High School exams when I received the news. First thing I did was call everyone to tell them, stopped studying immediately, and I went outside to celebrate with friends.

ESC UNITED: Now that we are less than a month from the semi-finals, what happens now?  What is your top priority?
RUBEN: Now, we have to prepare to do to our best and make our performance the best we can and very catchy, a winner. Our priority is working as a team and together finding the best ways of getting our points.
VASCO: We are working at the moment on making the best performance; to do so, we must do our homework. A team that doesn’t do their homework risks having lots of problems when the rehearsals begins on stage.

ESC UNITED: Do you have any favorite Eurovision songs?
MICHAEL: My all time favourite Eurovision song is Runaway by Sahlene.  My 2nd is Keelatud Maa by Maarja. Both Estonian!  Weird – eh!?
VASCO: I have many favorite Eurovision songs like No Name’s “Zauvijek Moja” (Serbia & Montenegro 2005) & Karolina Goceva’s “Mojot Svet” (FYR Macedonia 2007).
RUBEN: Every day appears favourite Eurovision songs but some of my favourites are Marianna Zorba – Horepse (Greece 1997), Nelly Ciobanu – Hora din Moldova (Moldova 2009), Sveltana Loboda – Be My Valentine (Ukraine 2008), Nina Zilli – L’Amore e Femmina (Italy 2012) and Ivi Adamou – La la Love (Cyprus 2012)

ESC UNITED:  Have you had a chance to hear any of the other countries’ songs that have already been selected to compete at Eurovision?  Any particular favorites?
RUBEN: The only country that I’ve heard was Greece, per friend’s suggestion. For me, my favourite is Aggeliki Hliadi – Xilies Kai Mia Nihtes because it is one of my favourite music genre and I like the song’s spirit a lot, a suspense that attracts.
VASCO: I haven’t  had time yet to listen to the songs but I will soon get time to listen to the songs and make my own judgments.

ESC UNITED: What advice would you give to anyone interested in songwriting?
VASCO: If you’re interested to songwriting, remember that the start is always hard, but with time, with practice, everything will come naturally. Practice and the results will be improved with time!
MICHAEL: Never give up. NEVER GIVE UP!|
RUBEN: If you are interested in songwriting, don’t give up on the beginning, work, listen to a lot of music, research a lot, learn and most of all, feel because a song with true feelings is the best song.

ESC UNITED:  Guys, thank you so much!  Any closing thoughts you would you like to share with your fans?
VASCO: In the name of our team from “A Brighter Day,” I want to thank for all the support you that you are giving to us.
RUBEN: To our fans, I want to thank you for all the support and share with you our dream, that you feel part of our song. The song now isn’t only ours, but also theirs. Make everyday your BRIGHTER DAY!
MICHAEL: Thanks for all the support!  It’s really appreciated!

ESC UNITED: Thank you so much guys!  Best of luck!

CHECK OUT THE FACEBOOK PAGE:
Tatiana Heghea: “A Brighter Day“