60 was the 60th 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 . It was organised by (RTSH) at the

Palace of Congresses The Palace of Congresses () is a venue in Tirana, Albania, where numerous multi-genre concerts, exhibition, festivals, competitions and other events are held, including the annual Festivali i Këngës and Kënga Magjike and the Tirana Book Fai ...

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, Albania, and consisted of two semi-finals on 27 and 28 December, respectively, and the final on 29 December 2021. The three live shows were directed by Redi Treni and hosted by

Ardit Gjebrea Ardit Gjebrea (born 7 June 1963) is an Albanian television presenter, singer-songwriter and producer. Life and career Gjebrea began singing at the age of five in Albanian children festivals, he was awarded prizes at local competitions for in ...

, Isli Islami,

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 ...

, Kelvi Kadilli and Xhemi Shehu. Ronela Hajati with the song "" emerged as the winner of the contest and represented Albania in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2022 The Eurovision Song Contest 2022 was the 66th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Turin, Italy, following the country's victory at the with the song "" by Måneskin. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and h ...

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, Italy.

Format

The 60th edition of was organised by (RTSH) in order to determine Albania's representative for the

, Italy. The contest consisted of two semi-finals on 27 and 28 December and the grand final on 29 December 2021. The three live shows were hosted by Albanian presenters

, Isli Islami, Kelvi Kadilli, Xhemi Shehu and singer

. In contrast to the prior year's outdoor location due to the ongoing

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COVID-19 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 fever ...

, the contest was again held as per tradition at the

, Albania.

Contestants

RTSH Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (; ; formerly TVSH , now mostly referred to as RTSH ) is the national public broadcasting company of Albania. Founded in 1938, it operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as we ...

opened an application period for interested artists and composers to submit their applications between 2 July and 30 September 2021 to the broadcaster before extending it to 15 October. A provisory list of 20 artists followed on 9 November 2021, shortlisted by a jury panel consisting of Gjebrea, Arta Marku, Elton Deda, Klodian Qafoku, Marjan Deda, Redi Treni and Zefina Hasani to compete in the semi-finals of the contest. Their songs were made available to listen to on the RTSH's official

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channel on 3 December 2021.

Shows

Contestants night

OlimpiaSmajlaj Performing festivali i Kenges 60

The first show took place on 27 December 2021 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 ...

). Three out of six contestants of the New artists section were selected by a seven-member jury panel, consisting of Anxhela Peristeri, Agim Doçi, Anxhela Faber, Osman Mula, Rozana Radi, Olsa Toqi and Olti Curri, to advance to the third show of the contest. However, all 14 contestants of the Established artists section advanced to the third show with no qualifications taking place beforehand. Key: Qualifier

Duet night

The second show took place on 28 December 2021 at 21:00 (CET). The contestants performed in a duet with previous personalities of except the three newcomers, who presented acoustic versions of their songs.

Eurovision night

The third show took place on 29 December 2021 at 21:00 (CET). For the first time, the contestants were permitted to perform in English or any other language. The winner of the contest was determined by the combination of the votes by the seven-member jury panel of the first show of the contest. Ronela Hajati with the song "" emerged as the winner and was thus announced as Albania's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022. Key: Winner Second place Third place

References

{{Authority control

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

2021 in Albanian music 2021 in Albanian television 2021 song contests 2021 in Albania December 2021 in Europe Eurovision Song Contest 2022