Albanian broadcaster RTSH has confirmed, that Festivali i Këngës, the yearly music festival will proceed once again later this year. This is despite the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused most live events (and of course Eurovision) to be canceled.
Preparations for the next edition begins
As reported by Zeri.Info, Deputy General Director, Martin Leka, held the first consultation with creators (musicians, songwriters), who have made their mark on the 58th edition of the festival.
During the first consultation, issues were raised in regards to the quality of last year’s festival. The meeting also looked into establishing an evaluation commission for the selection of the participating songs, and the criteria for the participation in the festival.
In addition, the submissions will be made by the creators in September. The dates for this year’s festival is set to be announced in due course.
As it is a yearly tradition; that the winner of the respective Festivali i Këngës will represent Albania at the Eurovision Song Contest, the following year. RTSH is yet to confirm if this will be the case. Thus the dilemma of whether or not Arilena will be internally selected is yet to be confirmed/denied by RTSH.
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 a very respectable 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‘. The song was written by Michael Blue, Robert Stevenson, Sam Schummer. It was set to participate in the second semi-final of the 2020 contest.
If the festival proceeds, who would you like to participate? Do you think Arilena should be internally selected for Rotterdam? 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.
