Portugal: “Festival da Canção” kicks off today!

The first semi-final of the Portuguese national selection for Eurovision 2015 will take place today live from Lisbon!

Six acts will compete at tonight’s show to get one of the three spots in the grand final:

1. Rita Seidi – Lisboa, Lisboa
2. Leonor Andrade – Há um Mar que nos Separa
3. Filipa Baptista – A Noite Inteira
4. Yola Dinis – Outra Vez Primavera
5. Gonçalo Tavares – Tu Tens uma Mágica
6. Adelaide Ferreira – Paz

A total of three acts will make it to the grand final. Two qualifiers will be selected by public televote while a professional jury, made up of six of the six competing composers, will choose an additional qualifier from the remaining artists (they can’t vote for their own entry).

For the 49th edition of “Festival da Canção”, RTP has invited a total of 12 national composers which have written their songs full in Portuguese.

Yesterday, rehearsals for the first semi-final took place in the RTP studios and you can see some pictures here. The broadcaster has also revealed some hints regarding the competing entries which will not be released until the live show:

1. Rita Seidi – Lisboa, Lisboa (“It makes you dance”)
2. Leonor Andrade – Há um Mar que nos Separa (“Strong song with drums arrangements”)
3. Filipa Baptista – A Noite Inteira (“It is a dance song”)
4. Yola Dinis – Outra Vez Primavera (“Cellos, violins and Portuguese guitar form the musical background”)
5. Gonçalo Tavares – Tu Tens uma Mágica (“Fresh disco pop-track”)
6. Adelaide Ferreira – Paz (“Strong song with a moving message”)

You can watch the first semi-final of “Festival da Canção” live at 22.00 CET on RTP 1 and RTP International.