From Lisbon… to Lisbon! Host country Portugal kicks off its search for their 2018 act
From Studio 1 of RTP’s headquarters in Lisbon, the first semi-final of this year’s Portuguese music festival will see the first 13 contestants of Festival Da Canção 2018 battle it out for a spot in the grand final.
Take a look at the 13 acts competing in this heat below:
ARTIST(S) – SONG TITLE – COMPOSER(S)
- Joana Espadinha – “Zero a Zero” (Benjamim)
- Peu Madureira – “Só Por Ela” (Diogo Clemente)
- Anabela – “Para Te Dar Abrigo” (Fernando Tordo)
- Rui David – “Sem Medo” (Jorge Palma)
- José Cid y Gonçalo Tavares – “O Som da Guitarra É a Alma de Um Povo” (José Cid)
- JP Simões – “Alvoroço” (JP Simões)
- Catarina Miranda – “Para Sorrir Não Preciso de Nada” (Júlio Resende)
- Beatriz Pessoa – “Eu Te Amo” (Mallu Magalhães)
- Joana Barra Vaz – “Anda Estragar-me os Planos” (Francisca Cortesão)
- Bruno Vasconcelos – “Austrália” (Nuno Rafael)
- Maria Amaral – “A Mesma Canção” (Paulo Praça)
- Janeiro – “Oficialmente (sem título)”(Janeiro)
- Rita Días – “Com Gosto Amigo” (Rita Dias)
Tonight’s show will see Jorge Gabriel e José Carlos Malato delivering a great show to the Portuguese audience which seems to be very exciting after their Eurovision victory in Kiev. The Second semi-final taking place next Sunday will be presented by Sónia Araújo e Tânia Ribas de Oliveira and one of this year’s ESC hosts Filomena Cautela alongside Pedro Fernandes will host the Grand Final live from Multiusos Pavilion in Guimarães.
This is how the stage will look like for the two respective semifinals to be aired both tonight and next Sunday, which also might remind to the one used last year during the semi’s.
Semifinal qualifiers as the Portuguese entrant in May will be chosen by following the 50/50 procedure from the combination of the votes of an expert panel, whose members you will find by the following lines, and the televote. The ones which get to reach the first 7 spots of the scoreboard ranking will make it through to Guimarães in March.
RTP has presented a renewed jury panel with Júlio Isidro as the spokesperson. These are the names of its eight members:
- Júlio Isidro
- Tozé Brito
- Carlão
- Sara Tavares
- Luísa Sobral
- Ana Bacalhau
- António Avelar Pinho
- Mário Lopes
You can watch the festival live from 20:00 onwards on our multi-window platform which you can also tune in to watch the last semi-final of Selectia Nationala in Romania.
Which is the act you are most excited for? Who will get to qualify to the Grand Final on March 4th?