Sixteen songs shortlisted to select Eurovision representative

TIRANA, Nov. 7 – Albania’s public broadcaster has shortlisted 16 songs to compete in the 52nd edition of the Festivali i Kenges which serves as the official national competition selecting Albania’s representative to the Eurovision song contest. The selected candidates, most of whom young talented singers, will compete in the semi-finals scheduled for December 26 and 27. The best songs will proceed in the final on Dec. 28 when Albania’s Eurovision representative is announced. This year’s line-up features Luiz Ejlli and Frederik Ndoci, who represented Albania in the 2006 and 2007 Eurovision song contests.
Last May, Albania failed to qualify in the final of the Eurovision song contest in Sweden, where it was represented with an ethno rock ballad sung by Albanian-Montenegrin Adrian Lulgjuraj and famous Albanian singer and guitarist Bledar Sejko.
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.
Next year’s Eurovision festival will be held in Demark after Emmelie de Forest victory in the 2013 contest with the “Only Teardrops” song.