Albania’s Festivali i Këngës — the first Eurovision selection show of the season —kicks off tonight with the first semi-final at the Pallati i Kongreseve in Tirana. The director of the show Rezart Aga has promised that it will be spectacular, and hosts Ledina Çelo and Kasem Hoxha want you to feel the heat and their chemistry. As ever the artists will sing accompanied by the RTSH orchestra, who are keeping it old school and keeping it real!
The first semi-final begins at 20:45 CET. You’ll be able to watch it on the RTSH official live stream and, if that fails, on this alternative stream. Remember to use the hashtag #FiK55 during the shows!
National broadcaster, RTSH (Radio Teleivizion Shqiptar) has revealed the running order to wiwibloggs. Fan-favourite Flaka Krelani will open the show, while LYNX will close.
Semi-Final 1 running order:
1. Flaka Krelani – Osiris (Osiris)
2. Xhejni Lito – Pritja (The wait)
3. Genc Salihu – Këtu (Here)
4. Erlind Zeraliu – Dhimbja e gëzmit (The pain of joy)
5. Xhesika Polo – Eva jam unë (I am Eva)
6. Festina Mejzini – Atje lart (Up there)
7. Edea Demaliaj – Besoj në ëndrra (I believe in dreams)
8. Neki Emra – Dashuri dhe urrejtje (Love and hatred)
9. Yll Limani – Shiu (The rain)
10. Franc Koruni – Macka (The pussycat)
11. Orges Toçe – Shi diamantësh (Diamond rain)
12. LYNX – Sot (Today)
After the two semi-finals, the professional jury will select eight songs for the final, the public jury will select three songs, and the media jury will select the final three. At the grand final, the winner will be decided by the professional jury and the public jury, given a 60%/40% split.
Twenty-four acts will be competing at Festivali i Këngës 55, 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.
In this year’s edition, the internationally renowned Albanian soprano singer, Inva Mula will be the guest of honour.
Who are you looking forward to hearing tonight. Will you be watching #FiK55? We wanna hear your opinions, so comment below!
For those who had trouble with the live broadcast, I found a youtube playlist of SF1.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLFzrqM06uKnSN-VVrjxK1tUyXiEJCZBQ8&v=uH9b0BiNa9M It’s just the performances, no talking or any in between stuff.
No Colin…. They are planning on announcing the finalists after both the semifinals are done with.
Are the results in? I mean, it’s been six hours since the show began…
Ylli Limani and Flaka Krelani the best right now love them both
Xhesika is definitely my favorite, along with Edea. Hopefully they both make the final!
So overall I liked songs no. 1, 7, 9, 10 and 12.
The singer in song 6 was also outstanding, but the song was just too different.
The top two I think are songs 7 and 9 – I would pick song 7 because it’s more dramatic, but song 9 will also work. Good luck to all the performers. x
Song 11 – It has a great vibe about it, but I personally disliked the singer’s tone. I’m sorry; this one’s not for me.
Song 12 – Okay, distortion on guitar, distortion on voice… did we suddenly get transported to Georgia?! This is a great band with a great singer; it could do rather well. It’s the spanner in the works. 🙂
I just wanted to see the stage. Nice. And what a surprise – a song that includes guitars. NOT. LOL
Song 10 – A great performance! This was a lot of fun. Yes it has a lot of rapping, but somehow with the trad/folky background it didn’t come across as aggressive. More like playful. Surprisingly, I enjoyed this one. 🙂
Song 9 – The singer is very strong; his voice reminds me of Ott Lepland (Estonia). The song is okay; it has a slight chance I reckon.
Omg omg omg omg Yll Limani Shiu thats the winning song not only the winner of fik but of Eurovision 2017 i love this song omg ????
Unfortunately, transmission is awful. Literally, there is no less than 2 minutes before it breaks. Sometimes only after a second or two. I really hope the finals will be available on official ESC page in better quality.
I don’t know why I think in this way but somhow albanian music is very professional.
Random commercial break, okay…
The song we just had (I think no. 8) with a guy singing very painfully and slowly while an operatic backing singer was totally upstaging him… honestly sometimes I despair at such musical arrangements and choreography. It’s probably a good song, very emotional, but it was completely ruined by that lack of staging!
Flaka- Osiris and Edea -besoj ne endrra the best at the moment still waiting for Yll Limani and Lindita
Song 5 and 7 are the best at the moment
Song 7 – Now THAT is a winning song. Finally!! Thank you Edea Demaliaj! 🙂
Really want to know what are they talking about!
So we now have an interval act, and it looks like we are commemorating those who have passed away? That would be why the audience is quiet then.
Song 4 – Very dramatic and operatic. The singer was very nervous at the start but got better as he went along.
Song 5 – Too loud for the microphone!! Ouch, my ears!! But full marks for trying. 🙂
Song 6 – This was gripping. Totally different to anything else I have heard this year; very religious sounding in places. The singer is really outstanding, but I don’t think this is the winning song.
The audience is SO silent….
Not really liking any of the tunes as of yet 🙁
Albania has never sent songs that I’ve liked. I’ll wait for the winner to be announced.
The feed is very unstable here. I’m having to re-start it every 2 or 3 minutes.
So far I have seen a great start – the first woman singer was literally on her knees giving “Osiris” some Anna Vissi-esque realness.
The second song saw some very strange vocal sound effects!!
And now the third song is… piano jazz??
Yay……yeah 🙂
It appears to be all working now. 🙂
P.S. Don’t try the ‘alternative stream’ or you’ll get bombarded with inappropriate pop-ups!!
Yeah Kris, I saw the same thing. But i’m having to re-start my computer because it needs updates to run the sound properly. I’ll look a bit more into it once it’s done.
They seem to be showing clips of older seasons with a tickr saying something in Balkan language……don’t understand it…..duh!!
Started people…..the first link is working for me
Neither seem to work. Why dont they go through Eurovision TV as well?
So there won’t be any qualifiers today? Right?
@HubertZnajomski the problem is that Festivali i Këngës was not created to be a national final for Eurovision, but a national song festival. Then, so far, Festivali i Këngës has been a familiar TV show for Albania and diaspora, and I understand that Radio Televizioni Shqiptar needs to create another show especifically for selecting the Albanian representative for ESC, but people must understand that, at the end, Festivali i Këngës is a TV show of Albania and for Albanian families, not an Albanian Melodifestivalen.
FiK is the most boring ESC selections. Sorry. I can’t watch it more than 20 minutes…
I think I might tune in, thanks for the reminder.
Funny moment: I mis-read the headline as “55 semi finals start tonight.” 🙂
I will attempt to tune in, thanks for the info.
Waiting for the songs, my favourites so far are Flaka Krelani and Lindita Halimi 🙂 As for the guest of this 1st semifinal, it’s INVA MULA, not IVA. She is one of the best known opera singers in Albania and worldwide (if you remember the film “5th Element”, the singing voice of Diva Plavalaguna is Inva Mula).
prepare for 40 days of internal acts
Why didn’t they release the entries before? 🙁
Anyway, I’m looking forward to listening to Flaka’s song, she was great last year.
Vitet shkojnë, rrjedhin një nga një, lind një fjalë, bëhet melodi, në çdo zemër kur ti ndalon, një mik të ri takon, mirësevjen ti festa jonë!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
sley me flaka
also osiris + apollo (switzerland) will this be the year of ancient mythology?
Can’t wait to hear Lindita Halimi tomorrow!
Flaka!! Slay Queen!
I literally don’t know what I would do without wiwibloggs! Thanks so much for reminding me and where I can watch it ????????????
Hey where can I watch the performances?