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 The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the ...

participated in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2007 The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the 52nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Helsinki, Finland, following the country's victory at the with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" by Lordi. Organised by the European Broadcasti ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, Finland, with the song " Hear My Plea" performed by Frederik Ndoci and Aida Ndoci. 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 deter ...

organised by Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH) in December 2006. To this point, the nation had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest three times since its first entry in . Due to the non-top 11 result in the previous contest, Albania was drawn to compete in the

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 mat ...

of the contest, which took place on 10 May 2007. Performing as number 11, the nation was not announced among the top 10 entries of the semi-final and therefore failed to qualify 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 ...

, marking Albania's second non-qualification in the contest.

Background

Prior to the 2007 contest, Albania had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest three times since its first entry in . The nation's highest placing in the contest, to this point, had been the seventh place, which it achieved in 2004 with the song " The Image of You" performed by Anjeza Shahini. Albania's national broadcaster, Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH), has organised

since its inauguration in 1962. Since 2003, the winner of the competition has simultaneously won the right to represent Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Before Eurovision

Festivali i Këngës

RTSH organised the 45th edition of Festivali i Këngës to determine Albania's representative for the

. The competition consisted of two semi-finals on 21 and 22 December, respectively, and the grand final on 23 December 2006. The three live shows were hosted by Albanian presenter Adi Krasta, actress Ermela Teli and singer

Vesa Luma Vesa Luma is a Kosovo-Albanian singer and songwriter. She has participated in many children’s festivals and song contests as a singer. At the same time, from the age of 8, she studied flute and vocal. Since completing her Music Professional Sch ...

Competing entries

Shows

= Semi-finals

= The semi-finals of Festivali i Këngës took place on 21 December and 22 December 2006, respectively. 15 contestants participated in the first semi-final and 16 in the second, with the highlighted ones progressing to the grand final.

= Final

= The grand final of Festivali i Këngës took place on 23 December 2006 and was broadcast at 21:00 ( CET). Frederik Ndoci and Aida Ndoci emerged as the winners with " Balada e gurit" and were simultaneously announced as representing Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007.

At Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 took place at

Hartwall Arena Helsinki Halli (formerly Hartwall Arena) is a large multi-functional indoor arena located in Helsinki, Finland. It was opened in April 1997. The arena is convertible for various events. The total seated capacity during ice hockey games is 13,34 ...

, Finland, and consisted of a

on 10 May and the

on 12 May 2007. According to the Eurovision rules, all participating countries, except the host nation and the "

Big Four Big Four or Big 4 may refer to: Groups of companies * Big Four accounting firms: Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, PwC * Big Four (airlines) in the U.S. in the 20th century: American, Eastern, TWA, United * Big Four (banking), several groupings ...

", 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 its non-top 11 result in the 2006 contest, Albania was required to compete in the semi-final. It was set to perform at position 11, following the and preceding . At the end of the semi-final, the country was not announced among the top 10 entries and therefore failed to qualify for the final, marking Albania's second non-qualification in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Voting

The tables below visualise a breakdown of points awarded to Albania in the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, as well as by the country for the semi-final and grand final, respectively. In the semi-final, Albania finished in 17th place, being awarded a total of 49 points, including 10 from and 8 from . The nation awarded its 12 points to in the semi-final and to in the grand final of the contest.

Points awarded to Albania

Points awarded by Albania

References

{{Festivali i Këngës

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 2006

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 pri ...