Stage designer for FiK goes for new elements

In an interview to sot.com.al, Bashkim Zahaj, the person who designes and constructs this year FiK stage, spoke out about all facts and backgrounds concerning the stage design, idea and development.

Read the most important bits of the the interview (translation of the Albanian interview into English) about this years Festivali i këngës stage below

sot.com.al: You are responsible for the stage design this year. What can you tell us about the idea behind this years stage?
Bashkim Zahaj: It is the first time that I am working together with Bojken Lako on the Festival of December. I'm impressed by his great ideas and I'm designing the stage based on those. What I can tell you is that this years stage is going to be one step further into the future, because for the very first time we are going to use electronic images on stage, that will make our possiblities be greater than ever.

The Festivali i këngës stage 2009

So the stage will look quite interesting you think?
At the moment we are still in the first phase of designing the stage. It's still too early for details but our first ideas were to have a stage that leaves space for a construction with its own electronic base.

This is sure not your first stage construction for the Festivali i këngës. What can you tell us about your career?
It have been many years now in which I gained much experience. I've been working for so long on many stages with good results. That's why I think that it's not my name that will be seeked by festivals, but the results of my projects.

B. Zahaj

When did you first construct a stage for the FiK?
It was in 1982 and the first 3-dimensional stage that the Festival had seen in its long history

How did you use your freedom in creativity from the 1990-s? (Since 1992 Albania is no communistic state anymore)?
Even before the 1992, luckily I belonged to the people who had their creative freedom unlike other artists.

The english titles of the Festivali i këngës songs

From now on until the week of the Festivali i këngës in late December we will present you most of the particpants in bonus articles, show you their background on FiK, their previous hits or whatelse makes their participation interesting.
But for now, here you get the list with all participants and the English titles of their songs:

[] = extra info

1 Adhurim Demiri - 24 Orët (24 hours)
2 Alban Skenderaj & Miriam Cani - Ende ka shpresë (There is still hope)
3 Besa Kokëdhima - E bukura dhe bisha (The beauty and the beast)
4 Blerina Shalari - Lutjes apo dashurisë (plea or love [depends on context])
5 Denis Hasa - Mbi xhaketen time (On my jacket)
6 Dorian Nini - Mirë se vini ne Shqipëri (Welcome to Abania)
7 Dorina Garuci - Mirëmbrëma ëngjëlli im (Good evening my angel)
8 Emi Bogdo - Letër për ty (Message for you)
9 Enkeleda Arifi - Një dashuri (One Love)
10 Entela Zhula - Lojë në dashuri (Playing with love)
11 Ernis Cili & Onanta Spahiu - famë (Fame)
12 Etmond Mancaku - Dashuri pas emrit (~ In love with the name [not the character f.e.])
13 Francesk Radi - Kemi dasem`o (We have a wedding'oh)
14 Goldi Halili - Në krahët e tua (In your wings)
15 Heldi Kraja - E diela pa ty (Sunday without you)
16 Herci Matmuja - Me cilin rri ti dashuri (With whom are you staying with, my love)
17 Kamela Islamaj - Jetova për ty (I lived for you)
18 Kejsi Tola - Pranë (Near [me])
19 Klajdi Musabelliu - Vetëm ti (Only you)
20 Kujtim Prodani - Ti Ishe Kryevepër (You were the masterpiece)
21 Linda Halimi - Nuk e kam pritur (I haven't expected)
22 Marjeta Billo - Përjetësi (Eternety)
23 Marsida Saraci - Vetëm s`jemi në botë (We are not alone in this world)
24 Mateus Froku - Dimër në shpirt (Winter in the heart)
25 NRG Band - Mina-Mina (Mina Mina)
26 Orges Toce - Mari (Marie)
27 Selami Kolonja - Marmara (Name of a sea)
28 Sajmir Braho - Shtegëtar i jetës time (Nomade of my life)
29 Aurela Gaçe - Të kam pranë (I have got you near)
30 Sonila Mara - Egoist (Egoist/selfish)
31 Xhejsi Jorgaqi - Rastësi (Accident)
32 Humus - S`ka (There is no)

Beginner Group:
1 Shpat Deda - Të kam Afër (I've got you near me)
2 Albi Xhepa Sam Jaupaj - Dritë (Light)
3 MariaPrifti - Pasuri e pasurive  (Wealth of wealthes)
4 Ilir Kazaferi - Nuk ke faj  (You're not guilty)
5 Megi Laska - Ëndrat ekzistojnë (Dreams are real)
6 Rudina Delia - Pa botë   (Without a world)

Juliana and Luiz won Kënga Magjike 2010!

Once again, a duet got the victory in Kënga Magjike, and this year it went to the earlier Albanian ESC representants Juliana Pasha and Luiz Ejlli with Sa e shite zemrën. The prize was given by the artists themselves. The second place went to Pirro Çako with the song Mirëmbrëma, si je?, only two points behind the winner. Ironicly, the winning song was also written by Pirro Çako.

Juliana and Luiz also got the Critic's Prize, while the third earlier ESC participant for Albania Olta Boka recieved the prize for Best Ballad for the song Mbete një breng. She finished at 8th place, with 384 points.

Top 5:
1. Juliana Pasha & Luiz Ejlli - Sa e shite zemrën - 697
2. Pirro Çako - Mirëmbrëma, si je? - 695
3. Rozana Radi & Ramadan Krasniqi - Valsi i tradhtisë - 570
4. Greta Koçi - Koha s'ndalet - 508
5. Eranda Libohova - Rroftë dashuria - 499

Linda Halimi was supposed to take part in the second semi final together with Nora Istrefi, but the entry "All mine" got disqualified by Ardit Gjebrea. This after breaking the contract by not comming back in time to Tirana for a Kënga Magjike rehearsal, after a job in Kosovo. What's more: Linda Halimi and Nora Istrefi have been suspended from the competition for the next six years!


Did the right song win? Let us know by leaving a comment.

Exclusive: Interview with Agim Poshka!

"Could imagine representing Macedonia at Eurovision ... in Albanian"

Agim Poshka

Agim Poshka should be a familiar name to fans and followers of the Festivali i këngës. For more than a decade he has to do with the festival now, sometimes as composer, other times as songwriter and at times as participant himself, for example in 2007 with the song "Kujt i them të dua?". In last years Festivali i kënges #48, he took part as a composer with the song "Gëzuar", interpreted by Guximtar Rushani. In the duet night it was Agim, who sang with him. Surprisingly, his name is nowhere in the line up for FiK 2010. As our following interview took place before the announcement of the participants, we had no possibility to ask about the reasons.
We are very glad to have had a talk to Agim Poshka about topics conserning the Eurovision, the Festivali i këngës and personal questions.
Read the full interview tranlated from Albanian into English below. (by Arben Bacaj)

Hello Agim, can you tell us, when was your first participation at the festivali i këngës and what makes it so different to other festivals to you?

My first participation was in the Nota Fest of 1999. From then on since 2000, in Tvsh.

Maybe I felt a much greater emotion on my first attempt, yet I feel the same tension after 10 years, because that is the handycap and at the same time advantage of every festival that is live.

You have already participated in the Festivali I kënges as a singer and as a composer, which seems more interesting to you?

I think both create a proper own feeling. But your emotions on stage are doubled if you are singer and composer at the same time, because not only your creation is judged, but also your interpretation. To compose music is something unimaginable and in case that a song turns out to be really good and you recognize that it fills people with happiness, the happiness that I or any other composer feels then is indescribable.

Would you like to represent us one day on the Erupean stage? 

Of course I'd love to represent my country at the Eurovision Song Contest. But it would also be my pleasure to represent Macedonia with a song in Albanian language, because that would also reflect the violated Albanian identity in Macedonia. Meanwhile the Netherlands is represented with songs in the language of small and rare, local languages and there is not any problem with that. Switzerland got represented by Celine Dion, who was Canadian back then. Now why can't I, as a resident in the Macedonian Territory, take part for them at ESC? The organizators for the Macedonian National Final suffer from their xenophobia, because it is absurd to take part in an multi-ethnic festival and keep the own National Final mono-ethnic for people with Macedonian origin only in Macedonian language.

Edmond Zhulali said in an interview to Shekulli, that a CD of the festivali I këngës will be released after the 3 nights. Last year such a CD did not exist, when Guximtar Rushani took part with a song you composed. Is there a studio version of that song “Gëzuar”?

Yes, somewhere around November the videoclip to “Gëzuar” which is currently in the editing phase is going to be released. It is a song I have composed with much love and the songwriter Olsa Poshka captured that feeling and converted it into lyrics. The song was received very well, also in the Festival and that was the greatest gift that I could have gotten for that end of year.
(See the duet performence at FiK 2009 on the right)

If the unknown Arben from the Diaspora asks you to create him a song for the next festivali i këngës, what would you reply?

I would tell him to come along with an idea first. Then I'd challenge him to see his singing skills. But I don't respond to it, I'd just demand him to sing any song to find out about his vocal affinities. This way I see if there is really an artistic world inside the person. That is a procedure that all composers practice.

At last something you want tell your fans on AlbaVision.tk (other musical plans for the future)?

Feel like doing a rebellion?

These days my new video clip for the song “Dita ime do te vije - feat. Kastro Zizo” (Eng.: My day will come) has been released. It's a rock song that expresses that rage of the youth against the injustices, that happen in this world and the lenghty transition, which our politcans are not able to turn into values. This rebellion would have no sense without the energy of Kastro Zizo who worked very well on the song and gave it a fantastic rhythm and I'd like to thank him in public for that. Personally, I had my musical commencements with a guitar. I've always loved rock music and this was a very good possibility to make some social or antisocial project, in which everyone could identify himself in the one or the other moment. I suggest to all readers who want a little taste of rebellion to watch the video clip.

Success AlbaVision and thank you very much for the interview :D 

Agim Poshka feat. Kastro Zizo - Dita ime do të më vij 

All you need to know about this weekends Kënga Magjike 2010

Several Albanian Eurovision stars and earlier FiK participants are taking part in Kënga Magjike this year. Continue reading to find out in which semi final your favourite will perform in. Like Festivali i Këngës, the festival will take place during three days, with the final at Saturday night. You can watch the final HERE, and then by clicking on the TV Klan logo that's shown below. If the link doesn't work, you can also watch it at TV Klans home page, but you have to turn off the safety settings if for this, of warch it with a program like RealPlayer.

Semi final 1: Thursday, 20:15 - 23:00
Semi final 2: Friday, 20:15 - 23:00
FINAL: Saturday, 20:15 - 23:00

The semi finals will be sent in rerun at 12:15 the day after the live broadcast. The finals rerun will be sent at Sunday at 10:15.

First semi: Olta Bokas song Mbete një breng will be heard this night, so will the entries of Pirro Çako, Era Rusi, Greta Koçi, Teuta Kurti, Vedat Ademi, Andi Kongo, Adrian Gaxha, Burn and Mateus Frroku, which will also be seen in FiK this year.

Second semi: The two earlier ESC participants Juliana Pasha and Luiz Ejlli will perform Sa e shite zemrën in this semi final, as well as Linda Halimi, Voltan Prodani, Eranda Libohova, Goldi Halili and Vesa Luma.

Kënga Magjike will as usual be presented by the earlier FiK winner Ardit Gjebrea, who also wrote It's all about you for Juliana. The winner will be decided by the artists themselves, and this year it will also be public who voted for who. The last edition was won by Rosela Gjylbegu and Eliza Hoxha, who also performed Një tjetër jetë together with Pirro Çako in the duet night of FiK last year. Stay tuned at AlbaVision to get the results of this edition!


Greta Koçi, Koha s'ndalet (semi 1)

First song from FiK 2010 already online!

This years entry from Ernis Çili & Onanta Spahiu famë (meaning "fame") is already online, just a day after the publication of the participants list. You can listen to the song below.



Onanta Spahiu took part in the last edition of Festivali i Këngës as well, in the second night, for "new artists". She didn't reach the final with her song Dashurisë i erdhi vjeshta.. The song is written by Ernis Çili.

All participants fromFiK 2010 announced!

The complete list of participants is now online on the website of the Festivali i këngës.

[Artist - Song - (Composer)] Bold = known Albanians/ in the FiK scene

And these are the 32 artists:
1 Adhurim Demiri - 24 Orët (A.Demiri)
2 Alban Skenderaj & Miriam Cani - Ende ka shpresë (Alban Skenderaj & Miriam Cami)
3 Besa Kokëdhima - E bukura dhe bisha (Rezart Lika)
4 Blerina Shalari - Lutjes apo dashurisë (Blerina Shalari)
5 Denis Hasa- -Mbi xhaketen time (Xhavit Ujkani, Lyrics: Ismail Kadare)
6 Dorian Nini - Mirë se vini ne Shqipëri (Jetmir Barbullushi)
7 Dorina Garuci - Mirëmbrëma ëngjëlli im (Sokol Marsi)
8 Emi Bogdo - Letër për ty (Suela Kalaja)
9 Enkeleda Arifi - Një dashuri (Adrian Hila, Lyrics:Pandi Laco)
10 Entela Zhula - Lojë në dashuri (Edmond Veizaj)
11 Ernis Cili & Onanta Spahiu - FAM (Ernis Cili )
12 Etmond Mancaku - Dashuri pas emrit (Etmond Mancaku)
13 Francesk Radi - Kemi dasem`o (Francesk Radi )
14 Goldi Halili - Në krahët e tua (Fatrin Krajka)
15 Heldi Kraja - E diela pa ty ( Heldi Kraja)
16 Herci Matmuja - Me cilin rri ti dashuri (Gent Myftarai)
17 Kamela Islamaj - Jetova për ty (A. Male)
18 Kejsi Tola - Pranë (Kristi Popa)
19 Klajdi Musabelliu - Vetëm ti (L.Jorganxhi)
20 Kujtim Prodani - Ti Ishe Kryëveper (Kujtim Prodani)
21 Linda Halimi - Nuk e kam pritur (Linda Halimi)*
22 Marjeta Billo - Përjetësi (Klodian Qafoku)
23 Marsida Saraci - Vetëm s`jemi në botë ( Valentin Veizi)
24 Mateus Froku - Dimër në shpirt (K. Bahiti)
25 NRG Band - Mina-Mina ( NRG Band)
26 Orges Toce - Mari (Orges Toce)
27 Selami Kolonja - Marmara (Selami Kolonja)
28 Sajmir Braho - Shtegëtar i jetës time (E.Sina)
29 Aurela Gaçe - Të kam pranë (Shpetim Saraçi)
30 Sonila Mara - Egoist (Sonila Mara)
31 Xhejsi Jorgaqi - Rastësi (G.Lako)
32 Humus - S`ka (Humus)

* Linda Halimi has announced to take back her participation at the FiK 2010, see article below.

 Those 32 acts belong to the professional category.
Another 6 newcomers will also take part, some of them with known names as composers:

1 Shpat Deda - Të kam Afër (Shpat Deda)
2 Albi Xhepa Sam Jaupaj - Dritë (Bojken Lako)
3 MariaPrifti - Pasuri e pasurive  (Frederik Ndoci)
4 Ilir Kazaferi - Nuk ke faj  (Ilir Kazaferi)
5 Megi Laska - Ëndrat ekzistojnë (Fabian Asllani)
6 Rudina Delia - Pa botë   (Rudina Delia)

The 32 professionals and 6 newcomers are devided into the two semi on 23rd and 24th December with 19 participants, 3 of those Newcomers, 16 of the professionals

8 professionals from every semi will qualify to the final, followed by 1 newcomer, making a final with 18 contestants.

Which big names are missing? What do we have to expect from these names? Songtitles in English? Infos about the participants? Etc.etc.A detailed analysis and promos for the artist will follow.

BREAKING NEWS: Winner already decided?! Linda withdraws!

I just had a talk to Linda Halimi, who takes part in the Festivali i këngës 2010 in December. She posted following into her facebook page, below u can see our smalltalk in Albanian, I'll translate for you into English:

Free Translation into English:

"Linda Halimi: My participation at the festivali i këngës is confirmed... But this time i'm going to take things easy and just promote my new song as the winner has been already decided (THOUGH THE FESTIVAL HASN'T KICKED OFF YET). Nevertheless, I congratulate ALBAN SKENDERAJ AND MIRIAM CANI for the first prize at the FiK 2010! :) Respect :)

Linda Halimi: I feel much respect for Miriam and Alban... but it feels very bad if you take part only to fill out a number when you actually try to achieve something... This worries all of us simple participants, not all of us are allowed to speak out. But I WILL SPEAK OUT what worries me in public.. so that it can get better in the future haha...

Arben: Is the winner really decided or is that only your opinion on the winner song as you think it's such a wonderful song?

Linda Halimi: the winner is decided.

Arben: Strong of you to go public, just go on, you have the right to!

Linda Halimi:  No, it's simply not fair. It's not like I hoped to be the first place, but we only don't speak out because we dont want to loose the right to take part. It does not mean that we don't know the truth! Belive me, as a participant (if i won't withdraw) i feel bad because of the fact that I'm participating means that i am not there for nothing in the end... and if you know the winner already? Why put unnecessary effort into it. If they really feel the need for all those expenditures, they can do the SHOW also right now for the winner!

While writing, the debate has not finished on facebook:

Linda also states, that the Kënga Magjike will be the greatest Musical show that Albania has to offer in near future. At least it is a fair contest, also Top Fest belongs to those fair festivals.

"The RTSH says no artist is left in Albania to represent us to the world. Yet they do not give new artists any chance and aid for a that aim. I don't want to spend all that money for dresses, the way to Tirana etc. for nothing. People, my participation is DEFINATELY CANCELLED. I will publish my song later here. I am the only artist speaking out the truth though everyone knows it. I don't know if I ever return to that contest."

If Lindas statements turn out to be right, a comment of Irgen Dragovoja would sum the whole situation up:

"And they say new artists have to hand in the creations, songtexts, fotos just so that in the end Alban, promoting head of Vodafone wins the thing!"

IS the winner of the Festivali i kënges already DECIDED?! We'll see the outcome, have your say.

More names for the Festivali i këngës 2010

Kamela is in

This week the full list of participants in the Festivali i këngës is expected to be published. Dorina Garuci, Linda Halima, Besiana Mehmedi, Kejsi Tola and Besa Kokëdhima have already confirmed their participations at this year's National Final.
According to Shekulli more names have done so by now, namely Alban Skenderaj and Miriam Cani who will compete together with a duet. Alban took part several times in the Festivali i këngës, as artist, jury and host of the show. Not forgotten is his set of votes that made Olta Boka win in the very last moment in FiK 2007, when

Alban and Miriam take part

Also Valon Shehu and Kamela Islami, who landed a fenomenal 3rd place last year with the outstanding composition "Gjëra të thjeshta" by Kristi Popa, are most probably taking part this year. So now the first male names are added to the list of FiK participants.

We already know that Jonida Maliqi is the female host of the 49th Festivali. The male host is rumoured to be Josif Gjipali according  to Shekulli, who kindly add not to know what to expect from him. So don't we but we are interested on his host talents and the job that the two will deliver to us.
More news to follow.

News on Juliana, Dorina, Ilira & Genta

This week has been a week with a lot of little news which alone would have not reached out for a single article, so we have a little compilation of news this time.

Ilira Gashi

First there is Ilira Gashi, who is competing in the Swiss National Final together with "the Colours" and the song "Home". She belongs to the first qualifiers out of the first Web-preselection phase and is therefore part of the National Final on 11th December, when the representative for Switzerland at the ESC 2011 is to be found.

To reach that very same National Final is also the aim of the Kosovo-Albanian Superstar Genta Ismajli, who still has to hope to get enough votes to reach the Final with the song "This is my night".

Genta: ESC for every prize?

There is nothing she and her managment leave out to reach that aim, tons of publicity on her facebook page and interviews with Eurovsion related sites likes Esctoday. If in the end the Swiss people vote & support her also that massively as her own fans, is questionable. We stay tuned.

Back to Albania. Dorina Garuci, who exclusively confirmed her participation at the Fesivali i këngës to Albavision weeks ago, has now given away the title of the song with which she will perform in the National Final for Albania. The song is called "Ti", which simply means You in English.

"Do jetë një tokë një qytet, një qiell i ri"

At last, we can report from the "Kënga magjike 2010". The first heats are over now and the winners of each heat divided into the Semifinals. Juliana Pasha and Luiz Ejlli, who are competing together with a duet of Pirro Çako (Lyricist of Nuk mundem pa ty) will start in Semi two. More about the Kënga Magjike later.
But that is not every news of Juliana. Last week she was part of the Albanian show "Me and you", where two stars who are well befriended have a complete show for themselves to host, sing their best hits and talk to and about each other. In the last edition Juliana running the series, together with Sidrit Bejleri. In the show she sang also her hits like the wonderful "Një qjell i ri" (A new heaven), with that she got 3rd place in the FiK 2007 and "It's all about you" (ESC '10) played of a live band, sung half in Albanian half in English, I can advise to listen to both. you can watch the show again HERE.

FiK49 producer Bojken Lako speaks out

"7 people from the audience will have a guest jury role."

An article from vipat.info translated into English for you.

"Bojken Lako has already an idea in his head, how the Festivali i këngës is going to take place. While speaking out about that, he reveals the important point of a competition between 18 songs on the final night, working on it with the best festival staff.

It is known that Bojken Lako succeeds with everything he does, so that it would be uncompromising not letting him have it his own way. Asked whether he would leave his job as  the producer because of disagreements, he says they do not exist. During the interview to the newspaper, Lako, who for the first time takes over the role of the producer, talks about the work done and his goals for December:

Interview by Fatmir Nikolli from 31st. Oct. 

The work with the RTSH has begun, at the moment in which phase of the preparations are you?

The work started two months ago for me and Edmond Zhulali and Alfred Kaçinari, who support me. Until now we have dealt with technical realizations that the event should have. We went through the Scenography, the way we want to have the festival to be presented and by whom, the voting method etc... This year the voting procedure is going to be different. We will have two semi finals with each 14 contestants and 9 of each semi go through to the final. Two different sets of juries with each 7 voters will select the the winner. One group is the central jury and the other group are 7 people from the audience.  

Concerning the stage and the presentation, do you already have an idea how it will be?

On these categories we are still working, but we think this year we will have something different. The scriptwriters this year, Iva Tico and Zefina Hasan, will try to be more communicative and down to earth this year.

We have a staff that stands very close to the artists, which gives us the possibility to make concrete and tangible performances for the audience. Bashkim Zahaj has worked seriously on a modern stage technology for this years festival. The work on that is not yet finished so that it would be too early for details now but we are working unremitting on a modern and at the same time traditional stage.

You as a filmmaker are expected to bring change to this festival, innovations...

Bojken Lako

A new director brings new professional ideas with him. I will give my best to make a professional show with a modern setting. The fact that i was invited for this job, encourages me and a confidence in the works I've done the last years. I'm the youngest to face this challenge and wish to show that the belief that was given to me can be justified.

How about the song selection, has it started?

The last day to submit a song is the 6th of November and then all songs will go through an internal selection first. But for that, Edmond Zhulali is the contact person.

You cooperate with Edmond Zhulali, Alfred Kaçinari and Bashkim Zahaj. How is a collaboration between the generations?
 It is not difficult, we easily unify our experiences. And even if they belong to an older generation, they work with the soul of a young one. It's a pleasure to learn from their experiences."

Kejsi Tola returns to Festivali 49!

Kejsi Tola will once again take part in the Albanian national final this year. It seemed unlikely that the Albanian representative in ESC 2009 would take part in the next edition, since she has started studying at the University of Arts and stated to focus on the studies. According to eurovisionary.com, her song will be in an 'alternative style'. This will be the third year in a row that the young artist takes part.


"Ndonjëherë", which Kejsi Tola participated with in FiK 2009, came on 15th place in the final.

Besa Kokëdhima in FiK 2010

Breaking news

Besa Kokëdhima

It was already rumoured that Besa Kokëdhima would consider a participation and therefore a return at the Festivali i kenges this year. Some minutes ago she confirmed it on her fb page.

Besa Kokëdhima's last appearance in the Festivali i këngës was in 2008 with the song 'Ajër', which got a great resonance from the audience. Also Eurovision fans from all over Europe highly favourited the song.
A participation in the last year's edition of FiK was already planned with the song 'Kalorësi i nates', but shortly before the first kick of of the festival she refused to take part, suddenly, instead Pirro Çako, who composed the song, took part himself with another song.

The song 'Kalorësi i nates' appeared almost some months later, when she participated in the "Top Fest 7" with that song, where she won the prize for the best female singer.
Listen to 'Kalorësi i nates' below:


This year she returned to FiK and if she does not refuse to take part again in the last moments, her competition can be prepared for another big hit, we are sure.

Jonida Maliqi will host Festivali 49!

The Albanian singer and songwriter Jonida Maliqi will be the hostess of this years edition of Festivali i Këngës. With her she will have two male hosts, as Elsa Lila had in FiK 2008, and will host all three shows together. But these are yet to be announced. Many artists have hosted the festival before, like last year, when the couple Alban Skënderaj and Miriam Cani led the show.

Jonida has participated in FiK before, last time in 2007, where she ended up in 4th place. In the 2004 edition of the festival, she came third with the song "Frikem se më pëlqen", which you can listen to below:

Genta and Ilira both in Swiss Final?

The open voting phase of the Swiss Web-Preselection for the National Final started this week and the two Albanian acts in this round are doing more than well:

First there is 16 years old Ilira and the swiss band The Colours. The song gets a nice resonance by not only Albanians, but also the Swiss in Switzerland. The radio channel DRS3, which had the right to pick 10 of the competing songs for an own selection, of which 3 qualify for the finals, picked the song "Home" into that selection. At the moment Ilira and The Colours own the second place, which would result in a direct qualification for the grand National Final on 11th December.

Then there is Genta, who spoke out to Telegrafi.com. According to her, she is amongst the Top 10 in the Web Selection of the channel SF and has qualified for the final. With the song "This is my night" she hopes to represent Switzerland in Düsseldorf and at the same time simplify a debut of Kosovo in the ESC with her participation for Switzerland.

Not long now until we see whether both managed to qualify for the National Final.

The Kosovo 2011 question

The question of a debut of Kosovo at the ESC is a highly debatted topic ever since Kosovo's independency in 2008.
Regarding 2011 as the debut year, we found this article from koha.net:

The decision about a possible return of the music festival "Akordet e Kosovës" will not be made this year, even though the Ministry of Culture, Youth & Sports promised a decision already for 2010.
The "Akordet e Kosovës" has been on hiatus for over 15 years now and since the independency of Kosovo a revival of the format was planned for Eurovision purposes, as the new 'AeK' should have been the National Final of Kosovo for the Eurovision Songcontest.
Now, the official reason for postponing the comeback of the Festival is that he channel has not enough budget this year.

Former minister Valton Beqiri sees another reason in the postponement of the festival.
He stated that an organization of that festival shouldn't be influenced by the status of Kosovo at the EBU and the pressure of entering Eurovision as soon as possible. "We don't have to wait for Kosovo to have a full membership at the EBU. It's better to start off now and by the time we enter the ESC, we are ready and have a professionally organized National Final."

Teuta Kurti

Also Teuta Kurti, regular participant at the Festivali i këngës, the National Final for Albania, spoke out for a revival of the "Akordet": " We don't have to wait  for the ESC. What we need is a festival with 'live' acts competing (in Kosovo) amongst each other and on the day we gain the membership for the EBU, we already have the preselection and chosen song."
She added that she would take part herself in the "Akordet" if it was about to take place again.

A debut of Kosovo at ESC is doubtable once again, as the RTK seems more to wait  than acting for a membership of the channel at the EBU, unfortunately.

The AlbaVision Top 15 (Oct. 2010)

In the Albavision Charts section we show you our most played songs of the month. Octiber has come to its end and below you can see the Albavision playlist of the month :)

This month there were not many ESC, Festivali i këngës or Albanian Stars in the Top 15...
 You can copy any song into youtube to listen to the songs you still don't know.

1) Mohamed Fouad - Been Edek

2) Sexion D'Assault - Désolé

3) Shakira ft. Dizzee Rascal - Loca

4) Taha, Khaled & Faudel - Abdel Kader

5) Aurela Gaçe (FiK Winner '99 & '01) - Origjinale

6) Rihanna - Only Girl (in the world)

7) Alizée - Les collines (never leave you)

8) Juliana Pasha (ESC '10) - It's all about you

9) Taio Cruz - Dynamite

10) Danny Clark, Jay Benham & Susu Bobien - Woundrous

11) Flori (FiK '08)- Playback

12) Magic System - Un gaou a Oran

13) Immediate Music - Believe

14) Ali Payami vs Aquagen and Warp Brothers - Blade

15) Snow Patrol - You could be happy

Featured Song:
7) Alizée - Les colline (never leave you)