After two very long evenings filled with big voices, a live orchestra and a much-improved stage, Festivali i Këngës 55 — Albania’s selection show for Eurovision 2017 — is ready for the final.
On Thursday evening, semi-final two saw plenty of potential winners — including R&B star Dilan Reka and American Idol veteran Lindita Halimi. Both of them advanced to the final. Say, what?! Yes, producers went ahead and made the announcement at the end of tonight’s show. They went with 14 finalists rather than the 22 they selected last year. That will give you a few extra hours to get ready for Friday’s finale!
You can check out the performances from the second semi-final and the qualifiers below.
The finalists:
- Dilan Reka – “Mos harro” (Don’t forget)
- Edea Demaliaj – “Besoj në ëndrra” (I believe in dreams)
- Fabiola Agalliu & Agnesa Çavolli – “Shkon e vjen” (You come and go)
- Flaka Krelani – “Osiris” (Osiris)
- Franc Koruni – “Macka” (The pussycat)
- Genc Salihu – “Këtu” (Here)
- Lindita Halimi – “Botë”
- Lorela – “Me ty” (With you)
- LYNX – “Sot” (Today)
- Orges Toçe – “Shi diamantësh” (Diamond rain)
- Rezarta Smaja – “Pse prite gjatë” (Why did you wait so long?)
- Xhesika Polo – “Eva jam unë” (I am Eva)
- XUXI – “Metropol” (Metropoly)
- Yll Limani – “Shiu” (The rain)
SEMI-FINAL 2 PERFORMANCES:
Elson Braha – “Edhe një herë”
Lorela – “Me ty” (qualified)
Tiri “Më zgjo”
Fabiola Agalliu & Agnesa Çavolli – “Shkon e vjen” (qualified)
Rezarta Smaja – “Pse prite gjatë” (qualified)
Dilan Reka – “Mos harro” (qualified)
Albulena Jashari – “Fjalët ia lë zemrës”
XUXI – “Metropol” (qualified)
Luka & Serxhio Hajdini – “Koha plaket”
Classic Boys – “Dashuria për jetën”
Linda Rukaj – “Vija e lumit”
Lindita Halimi – “Botë” (qualified)
The grand final of Festivali i Këngës 55 will be held tomorrow night (December 23) at 21:00 CET. It will be streamed live on RTSH’s official stream here. We are expecting some big surprises during the grand final.
What do you think of the performances? We wanna hear your opinions, so comment below!
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Intersting that juires don t want Elson and Classic boys in final with operetic voices and songs. At Eurovision juries wili push that kind of song in final .
Thanks for your reviews Purple Mask.. The Albanian juries definitely seemed to agree with you but my favourites are from semi-1. About lindita’s dress it reminded me of martija from jesc and she had a much better and upbeat song so lindita left me underwhelmed.
I just woke up. Here are the SF2 notes: 1. (Elson) – Operatic ballad. Problem with equipment causing singer to be off key. Very old-fashioned song. There’s something missing here. 2. (Lorela) – Guitar ballad. She has a nice black dress, but I can’t hear her voice that well. The orchestra is drowning her out in the Choruses; this is not good. The song gets boring after a few minutes. 3. (Tiri) – Piano ballad. The singer has a nice tone of voice. It’s a very good song with lots of drama. He’s wearing a great black outfit with the… Read more »
@Purple Mask…….waiting for your first impressions from the second semi
Lindita I think has the complete package to win this year ..I can see her in top 5 in ESC with that song!! Dilan is the other pretendent ..He has an eurovision catchy song that could go far too.. But Lindita for me is way better than Dilan… Anyway whoever win either Dilan or Lindita Im sure they would have huge success .. These songs are perfect..There are also other good songs but not winning for me like Shiu of Yll Limani
“Shiu” is so bland . I would pick flaka, dilan or the song “sot”.
Albania is usually somewhere in the bottom third of my annual list. However, if they pick ‘Shiu’ as their song, and have a common sense of not translating it, they have a Top 10 material right there.
Mess, how can Dilan possibly be 18? He looks at least 27. A Nadav Guedj tea!
I agree with most people, Dilan or Lindita! I’d be very happy with either! ????
I agree… Dilan or Lindita. 🙂
DILAN!
I actually Love Albania this year!! As long as it’s either Dilan (My favourite I can see a sort of Israel 2015 thing happening with this) or Lindita then Albania has made it , even Flaka or Yll wouldn’t disappoint at all! FiK has found its feet finally!!! Just don’t let us down Albania!!
Is it 2100 CET when the festival begins ?
According to eurovision.tv, it is 2030 CET .
Ylliii its the winner! 10/10
Flaka would be nice as well
FLAKA FLAKA FLAKA!!!!!!!!!
Dilan or Lindita for me