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Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest

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Albania
Albania
Participating broadcasterRTSH
Participation summary
Appearances8
First appearance2004
Highest placement7th: 2004

Albania has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest seven times. The Albanian broadcaster, Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH), has been the organiser of the Albanian Eurovision entry since the country's debut in the contest in 2004, and has used the long-standing Albanian song contest, Festivali i Këngës, to select the Albanian Eurovision entry.

History of Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest

File:ESC Albania.PNG
The ESC logo with the Albania flag in the heart.

RTSH first showed interest in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2003, applying for that year's contest. However three more countries also applied to enter the contest for the first, and Albania was not allowed to compete in the contest, having been forced to wait another year before debuting.[1]

2004

The first Albanian entrant to the Eurovision Song Contest was decided through the long-standing Albanian song contest, Festivali i Këngës. The winner of Festivali I Këngës 42 would go on to represent Albania in its first Eurovision Song Contest. The winner was Anjeza Shahini with the song "Imazhi yt" (Your reflection). This was translated into English, and performed at Eurovision as "The Image of You". She qualified for the final, coming 4th, and received 106 points in the final, placing 7th of 24 countries competing. This placing allowed Albania to skip the semi-final of the 2005 contest, automatically qualifying for the final.

2005

The Albanian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was again selected through Festivali I Këngës. The winner of Festivali I Këngës 43 was Ledina Çelo with "Nesër shkoj" (Tomorrow I will leave), translated as "Tomorrow I Go" in English. Çelo could not replicate Shahini's 7th place, receiving only 53 points and placing 16th.

2006

The winner of Festivali I Këngës 44 was Luiz Ejlli with "Zjarr e ftohtë" (Fire and cold), however the song was not translated into English for Eurovision, and was the first Albanian entry at Eurovision to be sung in Albanian. In the semi-final of the 2006 contest he received 58 points, placing 14th of 23 in his semi-final and failing to qualify for the final.

2007

The 2007 entry was Frederik Ndoci with "Hear My Plea", performed at Festivali I Këngës 45 as "Balada e gurit" (The stone ballad). The song was performed at Eurovision in both English and Albanian. In the semi-final of the 2007 contest he received 49 points, placing 17th of 28 in his semi-final and failing to qualify for the final.

2008

The winner of Festivali I Këngës 46 was "Zemrën e lamë peng" (Hearts trapped in time) by Olta Boka. However the result of the juries that selected the winner was controversial and rumours arose that the final two judges intentionally awarded high marks to Boka in order to avoid sending the runners-up, Flaka Krelani and Doruntina Disha, to the contest. Press reactions in Albania were not happy with the decision, and RTSH announced that they would investigate into alleged cheating by the final two judges to give their points.[2][3][4] Despite this, Olta Boka's victory remained, and she sang for Albania at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade, Serbia. At the contest she qualified Albania for the final, placing 9th in a field of 19 in the second semi-final, and at the final received 55 points, placing equal 16th in a field of 25.

2009

Albania was the first country to select both their artist and publicly present their song for Eurovision 2009. The winner was again selected by Festivali I Këngës. The winner of Festivali I Këngës 47 was Kejsi Tola with the song "Më merr në ëndërr" (Take me in your dreams), which was composed by the composers of Albania's first entry Edmond Zhulali and Agim Doçi.[5][6] The song was performed in English as "Carry Me in Your Dreams".[7] Albania finished 7th out of 19 in the 2nd semifinal with 73 points, thus qualifying for the final. In the final, where both jury and televoting were used, Albania scored 48 points, finishing 17th in a field of 25. However, had only televoting been used Albania would have placed 11th in the contest. Conversely if only jury voting had been used Albania would have placed 23rd.[8]

2010

The winner of Festivali I Këngës 48 was decided on 27 December, with Juliana Pasha taking the victory over former winner Anjeza Shahini. She represented Albania at Eurovision 2010 in Bærum with the song "Nuk mundem pa ty".[5][6] The song is a typical up-tempo composition, and has been compared to Christina Aguilera's "Keeps Gettin' Better"[9] and Britney Spears' "Womanizer".[10]

2011

Albanian participant for the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest was chosen during Festivali i Këngës 49 in December 2010. The winner of 2011's Festival of Song was Aurela Gaçe, winning for the third time after 10 years. Her song was named "Kënga ime" ("My Song") and it was translated into English with the name "Feel the Passion", published in March 12th, 2011, during a show called "Historia nis këtu" ("The story begins here") in RTSH. Albania will be participating in Semi-Final 1 against 18 other countries, fighting for a place in the grand final in May 14th.

Contestants

Year Artist Title Final Points Semi Points
2004 Anjeza Shahini "The Image of You" 7 106 4 167
2005 Ledina Çelo "Tomorrow I Go" 16 53 X X
2006 Luiz Ejlli "Zjarr e ftohtë" X X 14 58
2007 Frederik Ndoci "Hear My Plea" X X 17 49
2008 Olta Boka "Zemrën e lamë peng" 16 55 9 67
2009 Kejsi Tola "Carry Me in Your Dreams" 17 48 7 73
2010 Juliana Pasha "It's All About You" 16 62 6 76
2011 Aurela Gaçe "Feel the Passion" X X 13 47

Voting history (2004-2011)

Albania has given the most points to...

Rank Country Points
1  Greece 85
2  Turkey 61
3  Bosnia and Herzegovina 48
4  Spain 29
5  Germany 26

Albania has received the most points from...

Rank Country Points
1  Macedonia 55
2  Greece 47
3   Switzerland 39
4  Croatia 26
4  Turkey 26

NOTE: The totals in the above tables include only points awarded in Eurovision finals, and not the semi-finals.

References

  1. ^ Bakker, Sietse (2002-11-22). "No new countries at next Eurovision Song Contest". ESCToday. Retrieved 2008-11-03. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ Klier, Marcus (2007-12-17). "Albania: press reaction on Festivali i Këngës". ESCToday. Retrieved 2008-11-03. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  3. ^ Viniker, Barry (2007-12-19). "Albania: Festivali I Kenges result under investigation". ESCToday. Retrieved 2008-11-03. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ Konstantopoulos, Fotis (2007-12-21). "Olta Boka's victory under inverstigation". Oikotimes. Retrieved 2008-11-03. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ a b Klier, Marcus (2008-12-21). "Albania decided: Kejsi Tola to Eurovision!". ESCToday. Retrieved 2008-12-21. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help) Cite error: The named reference "Albania 1" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b Wells, Simon (2008-12-21). "Albania: Kejsi Tola chosen to sing in Moscow". Oikotimes. Retrieved 2008-12-21. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help) Cite error: The named reference "Albania 2" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  7. ^ Hondal, Victor (2009-03-08). "Albania: Kejsi Tola to sing Carry me in your dreams". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-03-08. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ Bakker, Sietse (2009-07-31). "Exclusive: Split jury/televoting results out!". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 2009-08-06. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ "Juliana Pasha's song compared to "Keeps Gettin Better"". YouTube. 2009-12-29. Retrieved 2009-12-29. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ "Juliana Pasha's song compared to "Womanizer"". YouTube. 2009-12-25. Retrieved 2009-12-25. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

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