Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

participated in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2005 The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the 50th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, following the country's victory at the with the song "Wild Dances" by Ruslana. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (E ...

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

, Ukraine, with the song "

Tomorrow I Go "Tomorrow I Go" is a song by Albanian singer Ledina Çelo composed by Adi Hila and written by Pandi Laço. The song was released as part of a CD compilation on 29 April 2005 by CMC Records. Musically, it is an English-language folk-influenced ...

" performed by

Ledina Çelo Ledina Çelo (born 9 February 1977) is an Albanian singer and model. She is best known for representing Albania at the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv, after winning the 43rd edition of Festivali i Këngës. Life 2003–present In D ...

. Its selected entry was chosen through the national selection competition

Festivali i Këngës Festivali i Këngës (; ), also referred to as simply FiK, is an annual music competition in Albania organised by the national broadcaster Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH). Broadcast every year since its inauguration in 1962, it has also determ ...

organised by

Radio Televizioni Shqiptar Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (; en, "Albanian Radio and Television"; mostly called RTSH ) is an Albanian public broadcasting radio and television company. Founded in 1938, it operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmi ...

(RTSH) in December 2004. This marked the second time that Albania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest since its debut in . Due to the top 10 result in the previous contest, the nation automatically qualified for the

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

, which took place on 21 May 2005. In the final, it performed as number eight and placed 16th out of the 24 participating countries, scoring 53 points.

Background

The

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...

(EBU) announced in 2003 that Albania would debut at the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

in . Therefore, the country's national broadcaster,

(RTSH), chose the annual competition

as the selection method to determine Albania's representative for the contest. The first entry was performed by

Anjeza Shahini Anjeza Shahini (born 4 May 1987) is an Albanian singer. She is best known for representing Albania at 2004 Eurovision Song Contest in Istanbul, after winning the 42nd edition of Festivali i Këngës. Career 2003–2009 Anjez ...

with the song "

The Image of You "The Image of You" is a song by Albanian singer Anjeza Shahini. The song was composed by Edmond Zhulali and written by Agim Doçi. Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH) released it as a CD single in 2004. A rhythmic English-language electropop bal ...

" which finished in seventh place at the Eurovision Song Contest 2004.

Before Eurovision

Festivali i Këngës

RTSH organised the 43rd edition of Festivali i Këngës to determine Albania's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2005. The competition consisted of two semi-finals on 16 and 17 December, respectively, and the grand final on 18 December 2004. The three live shows were hosted by Albanian-Sudanese singer Hueyda El Sayed and presenter

Leon Menkshi Leon Menkshi is an Albanian TV personality. Menkshi presented the official votes from Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest from 2006 to 2011. His career in TV started in 1990, by being chosen to host the Albanian National Song Festival (which ...

. Guest performances were featured from Albania's Eurovision Song Contest 2004 representative

, Italy's Eurovision Song Contest 1988 representative

Luca Barbarossa Luca Barbarossa (born 15 April 1961, Rome) is an Italian singer-songwriter who has released 12 albums since 1981, and is known for his participation in the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest. Early career In 1980, Barbarossa won the Castrocaro Music ...

and the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2004

Ruslana Ruslana Stepanivna Lyzhychko ( uk, Руслана Степанівна Лижичко, ''Ruslana Lyzhychko''; born 24 May 1973), known mononymously as Ruslana, is a World Music Award and Eurovision Song Contest winning recording artist, holding ...

from

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

Competing entries

Shows

= Semi-finals

= The semi-finals of Festivali i Këngës took place on 16 December and 17 December 2004, respectively. 16 contestants participated in each semi-final, with the highlighted ones progressing to the grand final.

= Final

= The grand final of Festivali i Këngës took place on 18 December 2004.

emerged as the winner with " Nesër shkoj" and was simultaneously announced as Albania's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2005. Key: Winner Second place Third place

At Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 took place at the

Palace of Sports Palace of Sports or Sports Palace (russian: Дворец спорта) is a generic name of comprehensive indoors sports venues introduced in the Soviet Union (compare with Palace of Culture) of big size that includes various sports halls and auxil ...

, Ukraine, and consisted of a

semi-final A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

on 19 May and the

on 21 May 2005. According to the Eurovision rules, all participating countries, except the host nation and the " Big Four", consisting of , , and the , were required to qualify from the semi-final to compete for the final, although the top 10 countries from the semi-final progress to the final. Due to the top 11 result in the previous year, Albania automatically qualified for the contest's grand final and performed eighth, following and preceding .

Voting

The tables below visualise a breakdown of points awarded to Albania in the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, as well as by the nation in the semi-final and final, respectively. In the grand final, Albania finished in 16th place, being awarded a total of 53 points, including 12 from and 10 from both and . The nation awarded its 12 points to Macedonia in the semi-final and to Greece in the grand final of the contest.

Points awarded to Albania

Points awarded by Albania

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 2005, state=collapsed

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...