The Festivali i Këngës 58 was the 58th edition of the annual

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

n music competition

Festivali i Këngës (; ), commonly known as and also referred to as simply FiK or Fest, is an annual music competition in Albania organised by the national broadcaster (RTSH). Broadcast every year since its inauguration in 1962, the festival has determined th ...

. It was organised by Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH) at the Pallati i Kongreseve in

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest ov ...

, Albania, and consisted of two semi-finals on 19 and 20 December, respectively, and the final on 22 December 2019. The three live shows were hosted by Alketa Vejsiu. The winner of the contest was

Arilena Ara Arilena Ara (; born 17 July 1998) is an Albanian singer. Ara rose to national recognition in Albania, upon her victory at X Factor Albania in 2013. After her participation in the 18th edition of the music contest , her song "" found significant ...

with the song " Shaj", after receiving 67 points with two points ahead over

Elvana Gjata Elvana Gjata (; born 3 February 1987) is an Albanian singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born and raised in Tirana, she has been referred to as a "Diva of Albanian music". She rose to recognition in Albania and other Albanian-speaking ...

with the song " Me tana". Ara was then scheduled to represent Albania in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2020 The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was planned to be the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It would have taken place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's victory at the with the song " Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. This w ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

, the Netherlands, before its cancellation related to the

pandemic A pandemic ( ) is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has a sudden increase in cases and spreads across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. Widespread endemic (epi ...

of the

coronavirus disease 2019 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include f ...

(COVID-19).

Background and format

The 58th edition of

was organised by Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH) for determining for determining Albania's representative for the

. The former consisted of two semi-finals on 19 and 20 December, respectively, and the final on 22 December 2019, and was held at the Pallati i Kongreseve in

. The three live shows were hosted by Albanian television presenter Alketa Vejsiu.

Interval acts

On 31 October 2020, RTSH released the first details of the interval acts. The opening act of the first semi-final featured Albanian singer

Jonida Maliqi Jonida Maliqi (; born 26 March 1983) is an Albanian singer and media personality. Throughout her career, Maliqi has won six awards at Kënga Magjike and first place in 2008. She is also a double winner of accolades at the Top Fest in 2006 and 2 ...

performing " Ktheju tokës". The interval act featured Italian singer Mahmood, who performed "

Barrio ''Barrio'' () is a Spanish language, Spanish word that means "Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter" or "neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city delimited by functional (e.g. residential, comm ...

" and " Soldi". The second semi-final's interval act included Agim Krajka and Lindita Theodhori who performed "Kafe Flora". During the grand final, Italian singer

Giusy Ferreri Giuseppa Gaetana "Giusy" Ferreri (; born 17 April 1979) is an Italian singer and songwriter. In 2008, she took part at the first Italian edition of the talent show ''X Factor (Italian TV series), X Factor'', coming in second place. She topped t ...

and Albanian-born Greek singer

Eleni Foureira Eleni Foureira (; born Entela Fureraj, ; 7 March 1987) is an Albanian-born Greek singer. She began her music career in 2007 as a member of the Greek girl group Mystique, pursuing a solo career after the group disbanded in 2009. She has released ...

performed mashups of several of their songs.

Contestants

Prior to the scheduled event, in October 2019, RTSH published a provisory list of 20 artists shortlisted to compete in the two semi-finals of Festivali i Këngës, with the songs being revealed on 9 December. The broadcaster had previously opened a submission period for artists and composers to participate in the competition between May and September 2019.

Semi-finals

Semi-final 1

The first semi-final of Festivali i Këngës took place on 19 December 2019 and was broadcast live at 21:00 (

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 En ...

). The qualifying songs were selected by a jury panel consisting of two national and three international members with connections to the Eurovision Song Contest. 10 contestants participated in the first semi-final, while the highlighted contestants qualified for the grand final. The first semi-final was opened by the country's Eurovision Song Contest 2019 representative

performing her song "". The interval act included Mahmood performing his songs "" and "".

Semi-final 2

The second semi-final of Festivali i Këngës took place on 20 December 2019 and was broadcast live at 21:00 (CET). The qualifying songs were selected by a jury panel consisting of two national and three international members with connections to the Eurovision Song Contest. 10 contestants participated in the second semi-final, while the highlighted contestants qualified for the grand final. The interval act in the second semi-final featured Agim Krajka and Lindita Theodhori with the song "".

Final

The grand final of the competition took place on 22 December 2019 and was broadcast live at 21:00 (CET). The contestants that qualified for the final were announced on 21 December 2019, and the winner was determined by a five-member jury consisting of two Albanian members and three international members with connections to the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

. The five-member jury was made up of

Christer Björkman Christer Samuel Björkman (; born 25 August 1957) is a Swedish singer and television producer. He represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1992 with the song "I morgon är en annan dag". From 2002 to 2021, he served as a producer of M ...

(Sweden),

Dimitris Kontopoulos Dimitris T. Kontopoulos (; born November 9, 1971) is a Greek composer. Personal life Dimitris Kontopoulos was born in Athens, Greece on November 9, 1971. After graduating from the Ziridis school, he continued his studies in film scoring at Berkle ...

(Greece), Felix Bergsson (Iceland), Mikaela Minga (Albania) and Rita Petro (Albania). Each member of the jury voted by assigning scores from 1–10, 13 and 18 points to their preferred songs. Before the end of the show,

emerged as the winner with "" and was simultaneously announced as Albania's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020.

Controversy

Following the results of the competition, mixed reactions followed, with multiple individuals criticising the results itself and attributing the singer's victory to arranged voting. All three international jurors ranked runner-up Elvana Gjata first, whereas the two Albanian jurors placed her performance substantially lower. Host Alketa Vejsiu expressed her dissatisfaction with the Albanian jury members' votes, stating "I believe in meritocracy and I am deeply sorry that in this platform I could not give voice to the public. I am sorry if I disappointed he public and Elvana I understand and respect your sensibility please spare me of accusations. I was not the jury and I did not choose the jury." Jury member Mikaela Minga, who awarded "" two points, later stated that she down-voted the song due to its "

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influence", stating it wasn't "Albanian enough".

References

{{Festivali i Këngës 2019 in Albanian music 2019 song contests December 2019 in Europe Eurovision Song Contest 2020

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...