Albania’s Festivali i Këngës 59 — the first national final of the Eurovision 2021 season — finally kicks off this evening, Monday 21 December.
And while local fans in Albania and Kosovo can catch it by switching on their TVs, international viewers will need to try alternative means. Here’s when and how you can watch all three FiK 59 shows.
What time is Festivali i Këngës 59?
- Show one — 21:00 CET on Monday 21 December
- Show two — 21:00 CET on Tuesday 22 December
- Grand final — 21:00 CET on Wednesday 23 December
All three shows were pre-recorded last week. Only the results segment of the final will be live. All acts will compete in shows one and two. The first show will be the debut live performance of each song. Show two will see the artists deliver acoustic and unplugged performances. Sixteen acts will make it to the final where seven jurors will decide the winner.
Watch Festivali i Këngës 59 online
All three programmes will be broadcast on Albania’s RTSH 1 and Kosovo’s RTK.
The online live stream for all three shows can be viewed here. It should be available to view worldwide.
FiK 59 songs
- Agim Poshka – “Vendi im”
- Anxhela Peristeri – “Karma”
- Devis Xherahu – “Peng”
- Durim Morina (Mirud) – “Nëse vdes”
- Enxhi Nasufi – “Njësoj”
- Era Rusi – “Zjarri im”
- Erikson Lloshi – “Jo”
- Evi Reçi -“Tjerr”
- Fatos Shabani – “Ty”
- Festina Mejzini – “Kush je ti dashuri”
- Florent Abrashi – “Vajzë”
- Franc Koruni – “E morën botën”
- Giliola Haveriku – “E lirë”
- Gjergj Kaçinari -“Më jep jetë”
- Inis Neziri – “Pendesë”
- Kamela Islamaj – “Kujtimet s’kanë formë”
- Klevis Bega (Kastro Ziso) – “Vallja e jetës”
- Klinti Çollaku – “Do t’ja dal”
- Orgesa Zaimi – “Valixhja e kujtimeve”
- Rosela Gjylbegu – “Vashëzo”
- Sardi Strugaj – “Kam me t’ba me kajt”
- Stefan Marena – “Meteor”
- Viktor Tahiraj – “Nënë”
- Wendi Mancaku – “Si ajo”
- Xhesika Polo – “Më mbron”
Manjola Nallbani was forced to withdraw due to testing positive for COVID-19. She would have sung “Ora e jetës”.
Will you be tuning in? Have you picked your winner? Let us know in the comments.
Only INIS NEZIRI from the participants has the potential to achieve a good result at Eurovision.
Before the contest Mirud was my favourite. And although I loved the staging , costumes and choreography, Mirud himself did not seem well. He seemed to be sweating and like he was about to keel over. Im sure he can do much better than that and I hope all is well with him. Hopefully its just a massive hangover. lol Having said that it was still great. Although it was a bit muted and the notes a bit wobbly, because it looks like he might be unwell, the act is totally there. Would be great for Eurovision.
He was actually freezing haha, he said it on his Instagram. He recorded his performance at midnight at 6 degrees Celsius (the arena has no roof). Plus he was very nervous and wary of judgemental looks. A decent performance, all things considered.
Well for me they saved the best till last, I really like Miruds song and the Eastern dance rifts. Just a shame he didn’t quite have the charisma to pull it off!
I liked Mirud, but he seemed too worried about getting everything right. To perform a song like this, you must have fun while doing it. His vocals were great though. That beggining is awesome.
Completely agree Sabrina, he was obviously trying to remember the steps and forgot to have fun! Shame as it would of been a hands down win for me if he’d got it right
Overall a nice opening show for the 2021 season. The competition is good, and I have no idea how many finalists there’ll be, but if I had to advance 12 of them, mostly based on the song, but also taking the performance into account:
I am just glad that all of my top favorites were quite good tonight. 🙂
I wouldn’t count out Erik, even if we don’t like the lyrics of his song. Vocally, he was on point, and I guess if they had issues with an abortion themed song, they wouldn’t have put it into their line-up.
These are just my preferences. For instance, I believe that Era and Kastro will make it and I wouldn’t could out Erik either, although part of me would be sad that this message was endorsed. But to each their own. As you said, he indeed was stellar on stage.
I also wouldn’t count out Kamela. Her song is like a Valium for my insomnia, but she was point-on. If the vocal excellence is valued above some other aspects, she should be in. IMHO, the song comes first, but this IS FiK…
Rosela Gjylbegu – “Vashëzo” was a very positive surprise and I think might be my favourite so far. Era Rusi – “Zjarri im” was great as well, but I kind of expected that 🙂
Xhesika’s song really is haunting and she looked like she felt every bit of that on stage. I was also very impressed by Sardi’s dark and striking choreography.
Vajze has such a nice, pleasant chorus but it would certainly benefit from that 3 mins. limit. I liked it anyway.
Anxhela – Wow, that was intense in a good way!
Florent Abashi was the first act of the evening who wasn’t very thoughtfully styled, though. But Anxhela Peristeri was absolutely convincing, without a doubt a contender for the win.
Anxhela really brought it! The song grew on me with time and it’s very adequated for a live performance. I just don’t understand why choreographers insist on dancers carrying the singer around, but that’s a minor issue. I guess she’s a strong contender.
Also liked Sardi. Another song that grew on me and the staging translated the lyrics in a very creative manner.
I told y’all, Sardi’s good. 🙂 I will be really mad if they won’t let him advance to the final.
Are there eliminations? Since everbody is performing both days, I assumed they would go full Sanremo with that.
I think there are eliminations for the final day, though.
This is actually unreal imo. The stage looks amazing, the styling is immaculate and the dancing is brilliant. Thank god it didn’t rain!
This is so painful to watch. All performances have been already pre-recorded and it doesn’t even sounds live singing.
They are performing studio versions today and live performances tomorrow. I think they’ve done a great job, circumstances considered.
Three songs in and there’s already the first commercial break, after the commercial break the first interval act – I guess Festival i Këngës is getting more and more like Sanremo. 😉
Enxhi Nasufi was a great show opener by the way, thoughtfully styled and good vocals. The stage also looks very nice. I’m already enjoying this.
Eleven songs in and I really like their styling, they all look really good, even Kastro Ziso in his skirt and his leather vest. The vocal performances on the other hand weren’t all 100% convincing. Orgesa Zaimi was great, and the song was better live than in the studio cut. Also Erik Lloshi sounded great, too bad his song is a fetus’s plea to his mother not to abort it (I never noticed the heartbeat at the beginning of the song, was that already there in the studio cut?). Wendi Mancaku sounded also very good, much more convincing than last… Read more »
Orgesa had the best vocals so far. Really elevated the song and made me forget for a moment how disappointed I was about her song being so “well behaved” compared to her previous entries. Erik did great too, but yeah, there’s this elephetus in the room (sorry for the pun). Don’t know what Wendi is singing about (and after “Jo” it makes me anxious), but her and Gigliola’s were my favorite songs so far. I just think Gigliola hadn’t her best performance, while Wendi was great.
Gigliola really wasn’t good, you could barely hear her during the verses, it was much too low for her, the chorus was better, so it could just be an issue with the key.
Era Rusi was a lot, but we all should have expected it after last year. But at least she was moving – contrary to Stefan Marena who just stood there.
Oh and now my three other favourites in a row !
Considering last time someone here in the comments defined Era’s performance as “drunk people at a wedding reception” and I’ve never forgotten it, I would say it was a huge improvement. At least it had a theme and it was more entertaining than confusing.
And nobody put their hands between her legs … 😉
Sardi Strugaj was fantastic, my favourite until now hands down, great stage presence, really well sung. “Vashëzo” on the other hand wasn’t as impactful as I’d expected, the stage looked empty and everything was a little static. Xhesika Polo had some sound engineering issues (she wasn’t the first one), and that is a little problematic with a song like hers that is vocally very nuanced. I’m torn, she sung it well, but it didn’t really sound that convincing on screen.
Fatos Shabani’s song is very charming and his delivery was better than I expected. Anxhela Peristeri was vocally flawless. Probably the best vocal performance until now. I’m still not sure about the song, but I enjoyed the live more than the studio cut. This could win, though.
Evi Reçi rocked the yellow pantsuit, and the song is really memorable. That cannot be said for Inis Neziri’s “Pendesë”. Vocally I also have to give the edge to Anxhela. Kamela Islamaj deserves a better song. Klinti was after one bum note at the beginning vocally also very convincing, still don’t particularly like the song, though. And I really love Mirud, but this, in my opinion, just isn’t the song.
I think Inis did a great job and it’s probably between her and Anxhela. But I believe Inis is much better than her song. Evi Reçi looked fantastic and I love Kamela’s singing style. This won’t be her year, but I would love if she wins someday.
If it’s between Anxhela and Inis, I’d clearly go for Anxhela. But my heart still belongs to Sardi, especially after this performance.
“Pendesë” sounds like the quintessential Albanian entry, though. And I swear to God, if it wins, they will 100% translate it into English.
They’ll translate (if this is not already a translation from English) and I predict a huge revamp. And this time they really need one.
I prefer Anxhela’s song, but I believe Inis has a higher ceiling in terms of potential results.
Not sure about this, Inis could easily pull another Lindita, but it’s impossible to tell without knowing any of the other entries.
I say it because I feel Inis would be the dream candidate for a singing competition. She’s beautiful, has a beautiful voice, hit all the notes and do it consistently… I can see herself winning jurors and audience members by herself. But of course it would help if she had a song that wasn’t so obvious.
But everything you say is also true for Anxhela, isn’t it? Besides, I heard quite a bit of a strain in Inis’ voice, whereas Anxhela was flawless. And I’m absolutely impartial, I really want Sardi at Eurovision. 😉
In theory, yes. But Anxhela is older (it shouldn’t matter at all, but we know it does, especially when audiences are judging women) and her style is less “universal” (and we know how juries can be allergic to what’s ethnic).
In any case, I’m fine with both of them, as I would be with Sardi. Honestly, I don’t even have a clear frontrunner this time.
”“Pendesë” sounds like the quintessential Albanian entry, though. And I swear to God, if it wins, they will 100% translate it into English.”
Uff… Yeah, I have that hunch too, but I’m afraid it will strip it of it’s most interesting aspect. I mean, most translations don’t ruin the song musically, but in most *Albanian* cases, they manage to strip them of their flair and make them just ordinary pop songs.
And yes, even though I really like Pendese, it does feel like a quintessential Albanian winner.
Is anyone having streaming issues? I’m in UK, all I’m getting is a green fuzzy screen?
Thankfully, they’re broadcasting it in Youtube too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxiBNYrzHJs&ab_channel=RTSH-RadioTelevizioniShqiptar
Thanks, Sabrina! I had some brief glitchings in image, but thankfully the sound was unaffected by it. I think this option will be better. 😉
Sabrina thank you so much, life saver! I hope I haven’t missed to much.
No problem. 🙂 I was experiencing the same issues you and Colin were having and I decided to click in the Youtube icon just in case, so I haven’t lost anything. You probably lost just the first 3 entries, because they had a looooong commercial break after that.
I saw all seven entries thus far. Enxhi, Gigliola and Orgesa showed some final-worthy skills.
Also, a genuine question for those following FiK, Sanremo and FdC – Do interviews with laureats do anything constructive when exceeding 3 minutes? I mean, I am all for giving a nod to veterans and producers, but anything above the 3 minutes time limit is suited for separate Tv interviews, not selection shows.
According to my almost non-existent skills in Albanian, I guess he was a doctor talking about the pandemic. If that’s the case, it was a curious choice for a music contest, but if makes more people social isolating and use masks, I’m in. It shouldn’t last that long though. FdC at least does these long things after all entries were performed, FiK and Sanremo do that between them.
Ok, I can support that purpose, but it really took too long and felt static.
Btw, Wendy was excellent. 🙂
My favorite so far (I love Gigliola’s song, but I think her performance wasn’t good tonight). I just hope the song isn’t about something like incentiving dancers to smoke. After “Jo”, I’m being carefully before endorsing a song without knowing the lyrics. 😀
So jealous of all of you Europeans being able to watch this on a Monday evening instead of a really early Tuesday morning for us Eastern folks. 😉
Eat more Brie instead of kimchi!
No, it starts at 2:35pm on Monday I believe for EST time in the USA!
It starts 2:00 pm for CST
Just letting you know 🙂
The curious thing is that I looked for it in RTSH’s site when it was already the 21st in Albania, and it was scheduled for 8:35pm, but they changed to 9pm now.
Era Rusi and Inis Neziri deserve the victory the most according to both songs and performances
So the winner is already known by the jury and broadcaster? If so, that feels a bit like a downer and “it’s all for the show”, for realz.
Is the line-up of the semis been kept a secret? I still can’t find it anywhere.
And of course I’ll be tuning in, what else would I do on a Monday evening in the midst of a pandemic? I would love to see at least one of my four favourites go through to the final, but it’s the black box Albania, so I’m preparing for the worst. 😉
All acts perform both nights.
Oh, I see, I didn’t know that, thank you. 🙂
FiK is starting to look a lot like Sanremo in all the complexity and nonsensity of its format.
It’s a part of its charm, perhaps.
I believe they will perform an acoustic version of their song on the second night based on rehearsel snippets posted on twitter.
First night – all songs get performed
Second night – acoustic versions of all the songs
Third night – the qualifiers get to perform again, just like in Eurovision