The panel of experts of the traditional Festivali i Këngës contest has selected, in tonight’s first show, the finalists for the “new proposals” category of the contest. The gala took place this night in the Palace of Congresses of Tirana, where the 20 total candidates performed theri candidatures live for the first time.
Out of those 20, only 17 have eventually made it to the final, after the jury has eliminated 3 out of the 6 “new” artists: Viola Xhemali, Kejsi Rrustja and Xhuli Pjetraj. On the other hand, the 3 debutants which will still fight for the Festivali i Këngës prize are:
- Ester Zahiri – “Hijena”
- Eldis Arrnjeti – “Refuzoj”
- Olimpia Smajlaj – “Dua”
They’ll be joining the already pre-qualified 14 acts from the “big” category on Wednesday’s grand final:
- Alban Ramosaj – “Theje”
- Denis Skura – “Pse nuk flet, mama?”
- Endri & Stefi – “Triumfi i jetës”
- Evi Reçi – “Më duaj”
- Gjergj Kaçinari – “Në ëndërr mbete ti”
- JANEX – “Deluzional”
- Kastro Zizo – “Kujë”
- Kelly – “Meteor”
- Mirud – “Për dreq”
- Rezarta Smaja – “E jemja nuse”
- Ronela Hajati – “Sekret”
- Saimir Çili – “Nën maskë”
- Shega – “Një”
- Urban Band – “Padrejtësi”
THE JURY FOR THE SHOWS
RTSH announced a few hours before the start of the show today the list of the seven members of the jury that would choose both the 3 finalists of the youth section and the winner of the 60th edition of the festival.
The jury of Festivali i Këngës 60 is composed of the following members:
- Agim Doçi- composer, wrote the Albanian songs for Eurovision 2004 and 2010
- Osman Mula- composer who works for RTSH
- Olsa Toqi – composer of “Fairytale”, Albania’s Eurovision 2016 entry
- Anxhela Faber – CEO of Acromax Media GmbH
- Anxhela Peristeri – Albanian entrant at Eurovision 2021
- Olti Curri – composer of “Karma”, Albania’s Eurovision 2021 entry
- Rozana Radi – singer-songwriter
what to expect of tomorrow’s show
After today’s semi-final, the second show of Festivali i Këngës 60 will be held. In this gala, the Albanian public will be able to watch performances from several national artists who have a successful run along the 60-year long run of the festival in the country.
Furthermore, this year’s finalists will perform duets with previous participants, giving them the option of performing a previous Eurovision song or the English version of their FiK candidate song. The show will begin once again at 21:00 CET.