Festivali i Këngës
I had considered live commentary on FiK, but ended up watching it much later and didn't want to flood my social media with a bunch of random nonsense devoid of context. So instead here is some of my notes.
Festivali i 63-të i Këngës në RadioTelevizionin Publik Shqiptar.
Moderator: Ornela Bregu dhe Enkel Demi
This is the 63rd Festivali i Këngës... .wait, really? Turns out this is one of the oldest continuously running National Final selection shows. And Albania only started participating in ESC after the 41st Festivali!
Festivali i Këngës is usually the first national selection process of the Eurovision season, where countries reveal their competing entries for the main contest in May. Due to it commonly being held around Christmas week, Eurovision fans refer to this time period as "FiKmas".
It still boasts an orchestra. Which rules. Also you can have a few back up singers from the orchestra.
Opening with a man in a formal grey suit, red kicks, red Liverpool Soccer Jersey an amazing red sunglass with a voice with a very low pitch but somewhat underpowered. Still very fun. Looked it up, this is MC Kresha and the song is ‘Era”
It's clear the production value here is a fair bit higher than some NF last year (ahem Slovenia and Ireland). Albanian is a weird language, written in latin script the words don't look pronounceable but it sounds like a strange version of Italian. Update from the fluent-in-Italian GF Kat, this does not sound anything like Italian, maybe Russian with an Italian accent?
Just learned that the endonym for the Albanian language is shqip and Albania is shqiperia, also you can vote by SMS from Albanian or Kosovo.
Jet - "Gjalle"
00:15:28 - The first performer has glued bunch of pearls onto a black sweater and is wearing diamond shaped lightly tinted sunglasses. I like the hook of the song, the chorus contains many notes the performer cannot hit.
Kejsi Jazxhi - "Kur bota hesht"
Second performance has some really cool face jewelry and painted her hands with a metallic paint that matches her lavender/purple outfit. It rules. I don't hate this song, but honestly it doesn't stand out to me. It's a power ballad I wouldn't mind hearing this in the background of a cafe in downtown Tirana.
Vesa Smolica - "Lutem"
00:24:50 - Third performance has possibly the most possible sex appeal from a white outfit that covers every possible inch of her body. Also included, backup dancers, which is nice because she's standing on a platform that appears to be part of her dress and thus immobile. Also the best song so far.
Stine - “E kishim nis”
Fourth performer, every male performer has been wearing sunglasses so far. 3/3
Djemtë e Detit - "Larg"
Fifth performer brought a band and forgot his sunglasses. His band includes a Keytair and an old guy wearing a white feather coat with Gusle! Oh singer pulled out a Çifteli! Am I sucker for weird regional instruments? Oh wow, everyone is a sucker for weird regional instruments, big applause for these guys.
There are many performers but the production is, so far, no nonsense, which I appreciate.
Nita Latifi - “Zemrës”
00:41:40 - Sixth Performer I don't think I'm going to say something about everyone.
Gjergj Kaçinari - “Larg jetës pa ty”
Seventh performer. No sunglasses, only guyliner. Sounds like top 40 rock from the 90s, like if Bon Jovi wasn't so high-octane.
00:50:52 - I appreciate the camera stays on the performer as they walk on the stage, whether or not they have a dramatic entrance planned.
Orgesa Zaimi - “I parë”
Eighth performer has more than six performers on stage. And I don't think they meet Eurovision’s age requirement! (post listen update: per the Eurovangelists podcast, this is a hardcore nationalist anthem with fairly chauvenistic lyrics. So that's disappointing. I guess that kinda makes sense with this chanting.
00:55:35 - We’re pausing for a woman in a business outfit to speak for a while, she is introduced with a trumpet fanfare I know I’ve heard elsewhere (post listen update: same fanfare is used multiple times and sounds like a pre-recording each time, though there is a live orchestra on the stage.)
Ardit Çuni - “Amane”
Ninth performer, more sunglasses but does no one care about the number of performers limit? Pretty fun ethno-bop
Algert Sala - “Bosh”
Tenth performer. Wearing real glasses is interfering with sunglasses. Also we're in black and white. Don't hate this song but I think the studio version has much better vocals. The screen behind the performer AN ECLIPSE OF A BLACK SUN! Somebody has seen Dune II.
Shkodra Elektronike - “Zjerm”
Eleventh performer, this is already a crowd favorite. A snafu with the group's keyboard leads to some frantic sound techs on stage. And THIS is why we don't have live instruments in ESC. I think I like this song but I'm honestly starting to get song contest fatigue. I could see this maybe doing well but honestly difficult to figure out. Oh wow, but the crowd loves it.
Lorenc Hasrama - “Frymë”
Twelve. Ok how many more we got? I actually like this more than the previous artist. I seems to have a very powerful performance behind it, and I could see a big pre-contest glow up helping the staging a lot. Unfortunately Albania isn't known for throwing a lot of money at ESC.
Elvana Gjata - “Karnaval”
Thirteenth or...OK it seems like we got an interlude as an artist is being dropped from the ceiling. Either way this is the best so far. OH TRUST FALL! There's some sex appeal here, seems like a tribute to Chanel’s Slo-Mo in a black body suit.
Mal - “Antihero”
Fourteenth, Ok peaked and looked at the run list. It Spoiled the result, but I needed to know there was light at the end of the tunnel. OH wow this guy's performance is hilarious. This is fun but this isn't getting out of the semi finals at ESC. Kinda reminds me of “Red Flag Parade” from Slovenia's (or ESCZ?) NF last year, I hope this ends up on some "Not good enough for Eurovision but good enough for me” lists. Maybe I'm happy because I know there's only one left.
Alis - “Mjegull”
Fifteen. And we got cloaks ladies and gentlemen, cloaks are now on the stage. Cloaks in a circle, this better be witchy. Oh wait it's a dude. Okay dudes can be witchy too. Are white guy cornrows a witchy hairstyle? Either way, happy to see sunglasses back. I think we ended at 5/9 male performers wearing glasses. This is 100 percent a rip off of Hozier's sound. Apparently this comes in third in contest voting which is insane to me.
2:01:30 Interesting that they are presenting trophies to a couple artists two hours in... what are these? There's an hour left. For some reason Shkodra Electronika and Vese Smolica are getting trophies and flowers? Did they win?
2:09:00 - Very Curious who this woman is, we once again have a VERY long sentimental monologue this time around little bit more sentimental. The camera pauses to film someone in the front row taking an iPhone video of the woman, does this man not know this is being televised?
2:10:25 - Oh she's singing something now.
Jury Voting. This very quickly turned into a contest between two artists.
2:48:18 - Awwww, I think Shkodra Electronika is having a hard time believing they won. The host has to show them the results on their tablet.
2:52:15 - Yup, the guy did not remember his lyrics.
2:53:10 - And now the woman has fallen off the cues and lost her place in the song. This is very cute.
Okay the livestream ends abruptly and it’s time to review some of the comments. Using google translate it seems like comments are very supportive of a representative cvultural statement over the commercial appeal of Karnaval. Looking at the voting results its fascinating that Shkodra carried almost ⅔ of the SMS vote while Karnaval carried ⅔ of the online vote. Given the history of corruption at FiK I’m not sure what this means, but it appears a lot of people are excited about Shkodra Elektronike.
“Karnaval” and “Antihero” are absolutely on my “Not Good Enough for Eurovision but Good Enough for Me” playlist. I may have to go back and re-listen to “Lutem,” “Larg” and “Amane.” Overall not a bad NF if it can boast that many potential playlist additions.
Also interesting looking at the Eurovisionworld voting, this is not an immediately popular entry among the wider community of ESC sickos, but I imagine that could change during the pre-ESC hype-cycle (currently only 3.3 stars on 7355 ratings. FiK polling has 39% of the community favoring Karnaval of 27% for Zjerm. Funny Antihero (one of my favorites) came in near dead last in contest voting but 4th in Eurovisionworld’s poll.
That's all I'll have to say about FiK this year. Thanks for reading. If you want to listen to a recap by people who are better at this than me, please check out the Eurovangelists podcast.