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Kosovo: Positive statement by a senior official of the EBU!

Kosovo‘s hopes for participation in the Eurovision Song Contest seem to be boosted.

The reason for this boost was the statements of the senior official of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), Ratka Batcheva, regarding the national broadcaster of Kosovo, RTK, as published by the official Kosovo Eurovision account on X.

Ms Batcheva stated that:

“RTK is part of our family as it participates in our activities, as the current director of RTK, Mr. Hysen Honduzi, is invited to the General Assembly. The participation of Mr. Honduzi, the head of RTK, in the EBU Assembly, which will be held on December 4 and 5 this year in Lausanne, demonstrates that this Kosovar media is de facto a member of our organization. However, to be de jure a full member, there are porcedures and criteria set by the EBU, for example, Kosovo’s memberhsip in one of the two organizations like the ITU and the Council of Europe. We remain hopeful that Kosovo will soon become a member of one of these organizations and will automatically be a member and participate in Eurovision.”

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Kosovo: Out of the Eurovision Song Contest and in 2025!

Kosovo is not going to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2025 either!

Kosovo’s national broadcaster RTK has not received the coveted invitation from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to take part in the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest in Switzerland. According to a post by Kosovo’s official Eurovision account on X, the EBU did not give the green light for political reasons. In addition, they confirmed to RTK that in order to take part in the pan-European competition, they would have to become a full member of the organization.

For the record, Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, without the latter accepting this fact. To date, 104 member states of the United Nations and three more non-UN member countries (Taiwan, Cook Islands and Niue) have recognized Kosovo as independent, while 10 countries have withdrawn their recognition. At the European level, Kosovo’s independence is not recognized by Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain and Ukraine.

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Kosovo will apply to compete in Eurovision 2025!

A few days ago, RTK, the public broadcaster of Kosovo, announced that it plans to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025, taking place in Switzerland. Read more

Kosovo: RTK is going to broadcast Eurovision 2024!

Kosovo’s national broadcaster RTK is going to broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 live from Malmö, Sweden.

The two semi-final nights as well as the grand final are going to be broadcast specifically by RTK1 on TV and by Radio Kosovo 2 on the radio, with commentators Agron Krasniqi and Egzona Rafuna.

The non-participating countries that will broadcast the contest are:

  • North Macedonia – MRT
  • Unted States of America – Peacock
  • Kosovo – RTK
  • Montenegro – RTCG
  • Slovakia – Radio_FM

Source: Eurovision Kosovo

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Serbia: Breskvica reveals the meaning behind her song!

We are only a few weeks away from the first semi-final of Pesma za Evroviziju 2024 and Breskvica, one of the favourites to represent Serbia in Eurovision 2024, was present at the “Kec na jedanaest” show earlier today, where she talked about several issues related to her participation.

The first question of the presenters was if she expected her song to have such a big impact (1.500.000 views in one week) with her answering:

“The truth is that I expected it to do well because people usually love and support my songs, but with that many views and a million views away from Konstrakta’s track, which is the very next one, no I didn’t expect it!”

Then she was asked about how such a more traditional song came about since she has not used us to something like this. Her answer:

“I’ve always wanted to have a song like that! I love to sing traditional songs even when I am alone. I think my voice sounds different”

“So yeah, I’ve always wanted something like that but it had never come up. Just like Eurovision hadn’t come up because we didn’t have a song. I think that when you go to this competition you need to have a song that represents your country the way it should and also have the sound of your country”

“One day Henny (the songwriter) called me and said ‘I have a song that nobody wants but you will!'”

Based on the latter she was asked why no one wanted it and she replied “Because it’s not mainstream, it’s not modern, maybe they were afraid of it”.

Reference was also made to negative comments she may have received.

“It’s bad. Some of the comments are completely thoughtless, I don’t even want to talk about them. But it doesn’t matter because I’m so proud of this song! I can’t wait until the first semi-final for people to hear what it will sound like live, because some people don’t believe me that it will sound good, but I’ll do my best to convince them too!”

Afterwards, the presenters asked the young singer what is the meaning or even the subtext of the lyrics of the song that have caused a drama on the internet.

A brief description of what has happened

In the last few days there has been a panic on X as Albanians and Kosovars are calling for the song to be suspended by the EBU, as they believe that the song is inciting the Serbs to invade Kosovo!

More specifically, the lyrics of the song talk about “black birds” that cover the sky, it gets dark, thunders are heard and the nest of an eagle is destroyed. At the end of the song he comforts his son saying that “Soon all this will pass, the black birds will be gone, the sky will be clear again”.

According to this theory, the “black birds” symbolize the black eagle of the Albanian flag, the weather phenomena symbolize the war in Kosovo and the eagle symbolizes the Serbs and the hope that they will take back Kosovo.

On the other hand, although there are Serbs who agree with the above theory, most of them think that the song has to do with NATO’s bombing in 1999.

In this theory, the “black birds” symbolize the NATO planes, the weather phenomena symbolize the bombing, and the eagle symbolizes the Serbs and the hope-agony that one day this will all be over.

Breskvica’s response

“Every song, every lyric, each person interprets them differently. That’s the beauty of this job and music in general”

“I don’t know what anyone might hear in this track. I do know that we, when we were writing it, had in mind a battle between good and evil, that no matter what, good always wins in the end even if it’s destroyed by evil”

“One can still, perhaps, identify the lyrics with personal situations, personal struggles that they have gone through and managed to stand on their feet again”

“I wouldn’t go further than that”

Then in response to whether she could provide any information about the staging of the song, she said:

“I think that in Eurovision it’s 50% the song and 50% the performance. The staging can definitely ‘lift’ or ‘bring down’ a song”

“We’re working on something spectacular but I can’t reveal any more than that. I would love to because I can hardly contain myself, I’m very excited!”

“I think people will really like it. We’ve really put a lot of effort into the staging, and we’re still working on it all day. I hope people like it!”

Furthermore, the presenters asked her if she had a favourite song from this year’s PZE and she replied that she really likes Teya Dora‘s song and thinks it could do quite well, just like Zorja!

She also stated:

“The Eurovision stage is something huge. I would love for people to know about me as well as other of our country’s artists”

Finally, she concluded, setting a date with the viewers for Tuesday, February 27th, in the first semi-final of PZE 2024!

Below you can watch the full interview:

Breskvica’s participation in PZE 2024:


What do you think about Breskvica? Would you like to see her in Malmö? What do you think of the lyrics? Let us know in the comments below!

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Kosovo: EBU is positive on RTK’s Festivali i Këngës!

The Director of the first Festivali i Këngës in Kosovo, has stated that they have received a positive response from the EBU, regarding their music festival. Read more

Kosovo: RTK pushing for full EBU membership!

The Chairman of RTK confirmed that the national broadcaster of Kosovo continues pushing for full membership in the European Broadcasting Union.

Speaking to the Board of RTK regarding the first month of 2023, Besnik Boletini, the Chairman of the national broadcaster confirmed that organisation continues lobbying for full EBU membership, through attending EBU events and hoping for full membership and invitation for participation the Eurovision Song Contest.

In order to be eligible to participate in the Song Contest, Kosovo must become member of the International Television Union and of course a member of the United Nations. Earlier this year the broadcaster launched Festivalit të Këngës which would be used as the nation’s Eurovision selection should it be able to compete.

In the past Kosovo has been allowed to participate in other Eurovision related events. In 2011 it took part in the Eurovision Young Dancers represented by Tringa Hsya. In this year’s Eurovision Song Contest the partially recognised nation of the Balkans is somehow present as the Albanian representatives hail from Kosovo.

Source: Eurovoix

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Kosovo: RTK will be broadcasting Eurovision 2023!

RTK, the national broadcaster of Kosovo will broadcast live the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 which will take place in Liverpool, UK next week.

Kosovo’s national broadcaster will broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest to viewers across the country once again. RTK has been broadcasting the Eurovision Song Contest live for over a decade.

So far, the non-participating in Eurovision 2023 countries that have confirmed the broadcast of this year’s contest are the following:

  • Chile – Canal 13
  • Kosovo – RTK
  • North Macedonia – MRT
  • Slovakia – Radio_FM
  • United States – Peacock

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Source: Eurovoix

Kosovo: RTK is starting their selection process for Eurovision with “Festivalit të Këngës”!

The management of the Kosovar Public Broadcaster RTK, signed today to the creation of a new project called “Festivalit të Këngës”. This project is intended to be used in the future as the country’s selection method for the Eurovision Song Contest.

The Festivalit të Këngës will be held in Kosovo and the purpose of the broadcaster is to offer to the TV audience a cultural and artistic event. The previous years, the citizens of Kosovo could watch in TV the Albanian selection for Eurovision Song Contest, Festivali i Këngës. Therefore, the tender process of the selection was widely known. 

RTK specifically stated in the press confrence that they aim for Festivalit të Këngës to be used as the selection method for Kosovo’s participaion in Eurovision, whenever the country makes its debut.

In 2022, RTK’s Director-General Ahmet Xhekaj stated that he aimed to apply for an EBU membership by the end of the year. However, this has not happened so far. Mr. Xhekaj believes that Kosovo may now have a greater chance of joining in EBU following the removal and suspension of Russia and Belarus by the organization.

Do you think that Kosovo will be able to make their debut in the Song Contest in the near future? Let us know in the comments down bellow!

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Source: RTK

Kosovo: RTK aiming to apply for EBU membership by the end of the year!

The General Manager of RTK announced that the Kosovan broadcaster intends to apply for membership in the EBU at the end of this year.

Kosovo is seeking to become a full member of the European Broadcasting Union by the end of this year to be able to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. Mr. Ahmetxhekaj confirmed that in case RTK becomes a member, Kosovo will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. He told Nacionale that:

It is a joint plan of the current management of RTK that in the coming period, maybe at the end of this year or next year, to officially apply for membership in the EBU.

Mr Ahmetxhekaj believes Kosovo may now have a better chance of joining EBU following the removal and suspension of Russia and Belarus. He explained that:

Now the chances may be greater due to the movements of the latter in terms of the exclusion of Russia and Belarus.

However, the General Manager of RTK acknowledges that there are significant obstacles to membership, as he is not a member of the International Telecommunication Union, which is a prerequisite for joining the EBU. In 2019, a vote was taken to remove ITU membership as a criterion for joining the EBU, but it was not approved.

In the past, Kosovo has participated in other Eurovision events. For example, in 2011, RTK selected Tringa Hsya to participate in that year’s Eurovision Young Dancers competition.

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Source: eurovoix