Meet Portugal’s 26 composers for 2018!

RTP have released the names of the 26 composers who will compete in Festival da Canção 2018! This is 6 more than the originally planned 20 songs for the contest, suggesting that Portugal have some great songs waiting for us!
22 of the composers were invited by RTP, whilst another was invited by Luísa and Salvador Sobral. The 24th composer was selected by a “Masterclass” program promoted by Antena 1, and the final 2 composers were selected by the public. In a statement, RTP said:

“The enormous enthusiasm with which many figures in the world of music have welcome the RTP proposal, and the expressive number of applications submitted, justifies that rather than keeping to the original 20 songs in Festival da Canção 2018, 6 more have joined, thus we have today revealed 26 composers. The semifinals will now have 13 songs, with 7 qualifying from each, giving us a final with 14 songs.”

The composers selected by RTP are:

• Aline Frazão
• Armando Teixeira
• Benjamim
• Bruno Cardoso
• Capicua
• Diogo Clemente
• Diogo Piçarra
• Francisco Rebelo
• Fernando Tordo
• Isaura
• João Afonso
• Jorge Palma
• José Cid
• JP Simões
• Júlio Resende
• Mallu Magalhãrs
• Miguel Ângelo
• Minta
• Nuno Rafael
• Paulo Flores
• Paulo Praça
• Tito Paris

The composer selected by Luísa and Salvador Sobral is:

• Janeiro

The composer selected through Antena 1’s “Masterclass” is:

• Daniela Onis

The composers selected by the public are:

• Peter Serrado
• Rita Dias

The list of composers includes José Cid, who represented Portugal in 1980 with Um grande, grande amor. He also submitted an entry to Festival da Canção 2015, which came 3rd.

Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest

Portugal made its début in the Eurovision Song Contest 1964, and has since participated 49 times. Until their win last year, Portugal held the record for the most appeareances in the contest without winning even once! Before last year, their best result in the contest came in 1996, with Lúcia Moniz’s O meu coração não tem cor, which came 6th.
Last year, Salvador Sobral represented Portugal in Kyiv, Ukraine, with the song Amar pelos dois. He smashed previous records and won the contest with a whopping 758 points. Relive his performance below!

What do you think of this news? Are you happy to see even more songs from Portugal? Are you excited to hear the song that will follow Amar pelos dois? Which composer’s song are you most excited to hear? Let us know in the comments below!