Last month, the 26 finalists of Festivali i Këngës 59 were released, along with their entries. Due to the pandemic, the contest is set to be held outside near the Italia Square in Tirana. Now, revised dates have been released, with the first two nights potentially being pre-recorded.
Due to the uncertainty of the pandemic, the provisional dates given were between the 17th and 26th of December. This was to ensure flexibility depending on both the weather in Tirana and public health.
Now, it is expected that the festival will be broadcast on December 21, 22 and 23. The approximate timeline of the festival is as follows:
- 21st December – Night One (all acts perform)
- 22nd December – Night Two (all acts perform acoustic versions of entries, finalists announced)
- 23rd December – Live final, winner announced
Note, these are subject to change, so take with a pinch of salt. On the topic of change, it appears that Manjola Nallbani’s COVID diagnosis has forced her to withdraw, as her song ‘Ora e jetës’ has been removed from the YouTube playlist of the entries.
First two nights to be pre-recorded?
According to ESC Plus, RTSH are planning to pre-record the first two nights of the festival tonight (Wednesday 16th) and Friday (18th), with only the final being broadcast live on Wednesday 23rd December.
This means that it is highly likely that the finalists will be leaked before the first two nights are broadcast, so there will likely be spoilers on social media later this week.
Vote in Eurovision Prediction
This week, ROUND ONE of Eurovision Prediction 2021 opened. In one week, the final of Festivali i Këngës 59 will take place and it’s time for you to predict who will be the winner!
For those of you who have never played Eurovision Prediction before, it is a game where Eurovision fans from all over the world battle it out to become the champion! All players need to do is predict which entry will win each national final that takes place during the 2021 Eurovision season.
You can predict the winner of Festivali i Këngës here!
Albania at the Eurovision Song Contest
Albania debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest back in 2004 and has participated every year since. Anjeza Shahini was the first to fly the country’s flag at the contest with her song ‘The Image of You‘. She finished in 7th place with 106 points.
Over the years, Albania qualified for the final on 8 occasions. So far, their best result is Rona Nishliu’s 5th place achieved in Baku in 2012 with her iconic ballad ‘Suus‘.
In 2020, Albania was due to be represented by Arilena Ara, with her song ‘Fall From the Sky‘. She had controversially won Festivali i Kenges 58 with “Shaj” the previous December, which had been translated for the contest. It was set to participate in the second semi-final of the 2020 contest prior to the contest’s cancellation.
Are you looking forward to Festivali i Këngës? Who would you like to represent Albania at the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest? Let us know! Be sure to stay updated by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter, @escxtra on Instagram and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates! Also, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to see our reactions to the news in the upcoming months.
Either Mirud, Anxhela, Era or Inis should win.