Rona Nishliu to sing Eurovision entry in Albanian

TIRANA, Feb. 16 – Rona Nishliu, the Albanian representative in Eurovision 2012 will sing her Suus entry in Albania.
“It’s confirmed now. I will sing my entry at the Eurovision Song Contest in Baku, in my beautiful mother tongue, Albanian,” the 25-year old singer from Kosovo recently told Eurovision website while in the US recording the song at the prestigious music studios in Los Angeles.
Asked about the lyrics of her song, Nishliu said “Suus is a Latin word that means ‘personal.’ The lyrics refer to an emotional condition while reflecting for the things that happened in the past and expectations of unsure tomorrows.”
As the first ever singer from Kosovo representing Albania in Eurovision, Rona becomes the third to have her Eurovision song in Albanian. She was selected as Albania’s representative after winning the national song contest, Festivali i Kenges, in late Dec. 2011.
“It was the 50th anniversary of the National Song Festival. I thought that it was crucial for me as an artist to give a contribution that would include original and spiritual work,” said Nishliu who was the only singer from Kosovo to participate in the last December’s national song contest.
Albania joined the Eurovision Song Contest in 2004 and achieved its only top ten placing in a final to date that year. The country was less successful since finishing 16th in 2005 and being eliminated in the 2006 and 2007 semi finals. Since then, Albania has always made it to the final finishing 16th twice and 17th once.