TIRANA, Dec. 25 – The Albanian public broadcaster, RTSH, is making its last preparations for the traditional year-end national song contest which serves to pick Albania’s Eurovision representative. Some 26 songs have been selected to compete.
Elhaida Dani, who in 2013 made every Albanian proud by winning the Voice of Italy song contest seems to be this year’s favourite to represent Albania in the 2015 Eurovision song contest in Austria. She recently performed in an open-air concert at the Mother Teresa square on the evening of Nov. 29 when Albania marked its 70th Liberation anniversary along with British pop star Jessie J who was the special guest.
Conchita Wurst, Austria’s drag queen who won the 2014 Eurovision, did not respond to the invitation to perform in the Albanian festival, organizers said.
The festival is scheduled to be held from Dec. 26 to 28 with Floriana Garo, Turjan Hyska and Liberta Spahiu as hosts.
Back in 2012, Rona Nishliu became the most successful Albanian Eurovision representative after ranking fifth among 26 finalists in the 2012 song contest held in Azerbaijan. Nishliu collected 146 points to see herself rank 5th, the best result since 2004 when Albania made its Eurovision debut with Anjeza Shahini who came sixth.
