Albania: The potential dates of Festivali i Këngës 62!

The submission window for the 62nd edition of Festivali i Këngës, the popular Albanian festival, which has also been used as the country’s national selection for Eurovision, closed on October 10.

According to an announcement made by RTSH, more than 80 songs have been submitted, signed by composers not only of Albanian origin, but also from countries such as Kosovo, North Macedonia, Germany, Sweden, Italy and the United States.

When will Festivali i Këngës 62 take place?

According to the OGAE Albania, FiK 62 will be held in four nights, at the Pallati i Kongreseve in Tirana, from Tuesday, December 19, until Friday, December 22, 2023, when we will find out who will represent Albania in Malmö.

 

Δείτε αυτή τη δημοσίευση στο Instagram.

 

Η δημοσίευση κοινοποιήθηκε από το χρήστη Eurovision Albania (@eurovisionalbania)

Artists selection

The festival will include 27 artists, 14 in the “big” category and 13 newcomers. In fact, we may see the return of a FiK star, Elsa Lila. Elsa Lila has won FiK three times, in 1996, 1997 and 2022 and according to Vip Magazine, she’s planning a return after her success with “Evita” last year.

Changes in voting

Festivali i Këngës will see another change in its voting format in 2023. In last year’s edition, Festivali i Këngës had two separate winners. The winner of the jury voting was crowned as the winner of the festival and the winner of the public vote was the chosen one for the Albanian representation in the Eurovision Song Contest. Indicatively,

• Elsa Lila with her song “Evita” won the jury voting and was crowned as the winner of Festivali i Këngës 61
• Albina & Familja Kelmendi with “Duje” won the public vote, being the jury runner-up and won the ticket to Liverpool

This year and according to Bojken Lako, the artistic director of Festivali i Këngës 62, the winner and consecutively the Eurovision 2024 Albanian representative will be chosen accordingly through a combination of jury and public vote. Hence, a Eurovision-style 50/50 format will be used in order to select the next Albanian act.

Festivali i Këngës has now started to implement the public opinion more, especially when it comes to Eurovision. For many years it was accused of corruption and the country’s inability to respond to the modern-day Eurovision standards.

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all news about Albania’s participation in Eurovision 2024!