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 2009 The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 was the 54th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Moscow, Russia, following the country's victory at the with the song "Believe (Dima Bilan song), Believe" by Dima Bilan. Organised by the Euro ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, Russia, with the song "

Carry Me in Your Dreams "Carry Me in Your Dreams" is a song by Albanian singer Kejsi Tola, independently released as a single in 2008. It was written by Agim Doçi and composed by Edmond Zhulali. Musically, it is an English-language uptempo electronic and disco song ...

" performed by

Kejsi Tola Kejsi Tola (; born 3 May 1992) is an Albanian singer and songwriter. She represented Albania at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia, after winning the 47th edition of ''Festivali i Këngës''. Life and career Kejsi Tola was b ...

. 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 2008. To this point, the nation had participated in 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 ...

five times since its first entry in . Albania was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the contest, which took place on 14 May 2009. Performing as number 16, the nation was announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in 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 ...

. In the final on 16 May 2009, it performed as number 19 and placed 17th out of the 25 participating countries, scoring 48 points.

Background

Prior to the 2009 contest, Albania had participated in the

five 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 "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 ...

" 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 ...

. Albania's national broadcaster,

(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 47th edition of Festivali i Këngës to determine Albania's representative for the

. The competition consisted of two semi-finals on 19 and 20 December, respectively, and the grand final on 21 December 2008. The three live shows were hosted by Albanian singer

Elsa Lila Elsa Lila (; born 4 July 1981) is an Albanian singer. Life and career Elsa Lila was born on 4 July 1981 in Tirana, Albania. Her father was a singer of the former Albanian state choir, while her mother was a violinist, so both of her parents r ...

, composer Julian Deda and actor Gentian Zenelaj.

Competing entries

Shows

= Semi-finals

= The semi-finals of Festivali i Këngës took place on 19 December and 20 December 2008, and were broadcast live at 20.45 (

CET CET or cet may refer to: Places * Cet, Albania * Cet, standard astronomical abbreviation for the constellation Cetus * Colchester Town railway station (National Rail code CET), in Colchester, England Arts, entertainment, and media * Comcast Ente ...

) on the respective dates. The first semi-final featured all 20 artists performing their entries, while in the second one each artist performed a duet with an other Albanian artist.

= Final

= The grand final of Festivali i Këngës took place on 21 December 2008 and was broadcast live at 20.45 (CET). The winner was determined by the combination of the votes from a seven-member jury, consisting of E. Koço, G. Bojaxhi, F. Boshnjaku, G. Demaliaj, N. Çashku, M. Laze and L. Leopoldi.

emerged as the winner with "

Më merr në ëndërr "Carry Me in Your Dreams" is a song by Albanian singer Kejsi Tola, independently released as a single in 2008. It was written by Agim Doçi and composed by Edmond Zhulali. Musically, it is an English-language uptempo electronic and disco song, ...

" and was simultaneously announced as Albania's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009.

At Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 took place at the

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...

, Russia and consisted of two semi-finals held on 12 and 14 May, respectively, and the

on 16 May 2009. 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 one of the two semi-finals to compete for the grand final, although the top 10 countries from the respective semi-final progress to the grand final of the contest. On 30 January 2009, a special allocation draw was held that placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, with Albania being placed into the

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

, to be held on 14 May. Once all the competing songs for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the delegation heads of the 42 participating countries rather than through another draw; the nation was set to perform at position 16, following and preceding . In the grand final, it was announced that Albania would be performing 19th, following and preceding .

Voting

The tables below visualise a breakdown of points awarded to Albania in the second semi-final and grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, as well as by the nation on both occasions. In the semi-final, Albania finished in seventh place with a total of 73 points, including 10 from both and . In the grand final, Albania finished in 17th place, being awarded a total of 48 points, including 10 from and 7 from Greece, and . The nation awarded its 12 points to Greece in both the semi-final and final of the contest.

Points awarded to Albania

Points awarded by Albania

Detailed voting results

References

{{Festivali i Këngës

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

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 ...