The first national final of the 2017 season has come just that much closer, with the dates confirmed for the 55th edition of Albania’s Festivali i Këngës. The shows will be broadcast from 21 to 23 December — in little more than three weeks time.
The confirmed dates for FiK55 are one week earlier than fans were expecting, meaning that the Eurovision 2017 national final season will start even earlier.
The two semi-finals will screen on 21 and 22 December, with the grand final to be held on 23 December.
The 24 competing acts were confirmed earlier in November. Returning to FiK55 will be fan favourite Flaka Krelani and American Idol singer Linda “Lindita” Halimi. The competition will also include returning artists Dilan Reka (2015), Orges Toce (2011), Lynx (2013, 2014) and Rezarta Smaja (2013, 2014, 2015).
Wiwibloggs readers earlier shared their excitement at the line-up of Fik55:
Steven:
I’m shaking with excitement that Flaka is back! So robbed last year!
(J)ESC Fanatic:
I hope there are many high-quality songs in there. Good luck, Albania! ????
And please, don’t ruin your song by revamping it again.
mocosuburbian:
Lindita and Flaka I’m screaming yasssssssssssssssssssssss
this is gonna be a gr8 selection
Twenty-four acts will be competing at Fik55, down from 30 last year. The smaller number of competing acts is part of a number of changes broadcaster RTSH is introducing, aimed at restoring public confidence in the competition. This will also include the introduction of a public jury vote along with the expert jury.
While the competing artists and their song titles have been revealed, the songs themselves are still a secret. The broadcaster is expected to reveal those in coming days.
Festivali i Këngës 55 – Artists and songs
- Albulena Jashari – “Fjalët ia lë zemrës” (The heart leaves)
- Classic Boys – “Dashuria për jetën” (Love for life)
- Dilan Reka – “Mos harro” (Don’t forget)
- Edea Demaliaj – “Besoj në ëndrra” (I believe in dreams)
- Edona Vatoci – “Mirëmëngjës” (Good morning)
- Elson Braha – “Edhe një herë” (One more time)
- Erlind Zeraliu – “Dhimbja e gëzimit” (Pain and joy)
- Fabiola Agalliu & Agnesa Çavolli – “Shkon e vjen” (It comes and goes)
- Festina Mejzini – “Atje lart” (Up there)
- Flaka Krelani – “Osiris”
- Franc Koruni – “Macka” (The pussycat)
- Genc Salihu – “Këtu” (Here)
- Linda “Lindita” Halimi – Botë (World)
- Linda Rukaj – “Vija e lumit” (River line)
- Lorela – “Me ty” (With you)
- Luka & Serxhio Hajdini – “Koha plaket” (Old time)
- LYNX – “Sot” (Today)
- Neki Emra – “Dashuri dhe urrejtje” (Love and hate)
- Orges Toçe – “Shi diamantësh” (Rain diamond)
- Rezarta Smaja – “Pse prite gjatë” (Why wait long)
- Tiri – “Më zgjo” (Wake me up)
- Xhesika Polo – “Eva jam unë” (I am Eve)
- XUXI- “Metropol”
- Yll Limani – “Shiu” (Rain)
Really want Fabiola Agalliu to win. She is a good friend of a good friend of mine, so if she wins, I will make sure she looks at the Wiwibloggs posts 😉
Yey! Love FIK! The first song is transkated wrong… It is I leave the words to the heart. ????
One of my favourite NFs 🙂 Live music, many rock songs / native sung songs, and no 3 minutes rule. So good with countries doing their own thing out of it. Will be very interesting to follow FIK!
Agree with James……Besoj was way better than Fairytale…. Uh oh!! I’d rather have it in the ESC than weirdly translated song.
fikmas my favorite holiday of the year :’) they need to let the songs out by now tbh
also hey its me i seem to be screaming on this website like 25/7
Thrilled for them, but I hope they realize that an internal selection would be the best choice for them.
@James
That would be amazing but unfortunately, “Besoj” was released in June.
Let’s all pray that RTSH won’t mess it up again by changing the song or translating it.
Can’t Albania just send Besoj instead? Hehe
Aww, thank you so much for including my comment, Robyn! 🙂
Just wanted to point out that some of the song titles have changed since the original announcement, Flaka’s song is now listed as “Osiris” for example. If it seems weird that they are having the finale on Friday, it is probably because on Saturday and Sunday there are other big shows in competing channels. So it is probably a good decision on their part to attract more viewers. And “macka” does mean kitty, but could also mean pussycat, depending on the context of the lyrics. It likely is pussycat though, I assume the song is about a charming lady rather… Read more »
Yey 😉 That’s close.
I just hope they learn from their mistakes and let the Albanian song stay in Albanian.
if you would like to know, Franc Koruni’s song “macka” in english could translate to “kitty” or “cat”