Anjeza won prize in Top Fest 8

After being postponed from 22nd of May, the final night of Top Fest 8 was held yesterday in Pallati I Kongreseve. Among the 17 finalists we find Anjeza Shahini, who together with won the prize for "Best interpret" Dren Abazi with the song Ti dhe unë. You can watch the performance below.

The winner of the competition this year edition, was the big favourite Elvana Gjata, who took part in Top Fest for the first time. Elvana took part in Festivali i Këngës in 2003, where her entry was followed by a song called "Me ty", which is the title of her Top Fest song! The song is dedicated to the Albanian artist Emmy, who died earlier this year. You can watch the winning performance here, together with the other performances (among them some other earlier FiK participants).

Split jury/televote results out

Albania came 11th among the juries, with 61 points. The televoting placed Albania 13th, with 42 points. So last like year, it seems like the juries liked the Albanian entry more than the viewers did. You can take a look at the full results HERE

Unlike the two last years of split voting, the jury and the televoters disagreed about the winner in the final. While the televoters had the actual winner as number one, the jury preferred Italy. If the old system of 100 % televote was still used, all the favourites from the semis would have qualified.

Albania finished 14th in the semi

The semi final results have been released, and they show that Albania with their 47 points, missed 8-9 points from qualifying. Albania received 7 countries, most from Greece, that gave 12 points. Albania gave their highest score to Turkey, which ended up with the same score as Aurela, but placed 13th because they received points from more countries than Albania.

Also this year the voting in Eurovision is political, like for example Albanian newspaper Telegrafi claims. The results actually show something different, with Malta scoring better than Turkey and Armenia, as an example. Almost all countries, Albania included has some neighbours which are likely to give some points. So, let's wait and see if someone actually says that the reason for their success is political voting instead...

Who felt the most passion, the jury or the European people? We'll give you the separate results when they come out!

Aurela tricks Eurovision rule!

Today, Aurela finally made some statement to her fans about her disqualification in the semi final.
She says not to be sad about not entering the final but about the fact that the first 5 countries had a handicap thanks to the organizers, who have already made their excuses to the Albanian delegation. That's the way it goes sometimes, she knows and says to have given her best on stage, to be proud to have represented Albaniaand that she really liked all the reactions to her performance from fans and others.

Already pregnant in the rehearsal

But this is not everything she had to tell us. After not being part of ESC anymore, she revealed to her fans today a secret. She has been on the ESC stage breaking the rule that there are only 6 persons allowed on stage. Yes, Aurela indeed may be the first one to be on the ESC stage with a seventh person, since that rule was introduced, as today she proudly announced to be pregnant!

At least in this way the Albanian performance in Düsseldorf was something special and historical.

No final for Albania in 2011

After a desastrous first semi final show, with loads of technical problems in almost for almost every broadcasting country, 10 countries managed to qualify for the big final night on Saturday.
Albania, being on starting position 3, represented by Aurela Gaçe and her song "Feel the passion" did not belong to the lucky qualifiers. The performance on the night was nevertheless very nice and we believe that the fan predictions were right, that Albania only slightly missed the final with a position from 11th-13th.


Live performance at the ESC Semi final one

More surprisingly for most must have been the failures from Turkey and Armenia to qualify. And for me personally that Norway did not qualify. Together with Poland and Albania these countires opened the show and were effected most by technical problems (especially Norway as you can see in this video of the Spanish broadcaster), thus none qualifying to the final show. Today the EBU will hold a conference in which these technical issues will be discussed, whilst it is to be expected that no further decisions considering the qualifiers will be made.

We can only hope that the second semi final will not be having those problems.

Further analysis of the outcome will be made after Saturday, when we know the split voting of Jury and Televote!

English Version of "Ende ka shpresë"

Alban Skenderaj and Miriam Cani, Albanias William and Kate, who finished second in the Fesitvali i këngës in December after Aurela Gaçe with "Ende ka shpresë", presented the English version of the song to the public. Months after announcing to be releasing an English version of the song, they performed the song finally in the version that likely would have been the ESC version if they had won. So you can compare the video below to our representative in Düsseldorf and make up your own mind to the better English version.

Personally, at least Miriam sounds better in the English version, while I liked the Alban part more in the original song. THe backdrop in this video is the one from the Festivali i këngës, which is still very impressive.

A message to the Albanian AV readers

Aurela has been so kind to leave a message in Albanian exclusively for you AlbaVision readers out there in Albanian. The Video is now uploadedon our channel AlbaVision Youtube Channel.



For the Intenational visitors: Aurela is thanking and asking for the support of the Albanians. She also greets the American fans who are not allowed to vote in the ESC.

Second rehearsal for Albania

Today was Aurela's second try on the stage, and this time in the clothing she will wear in the semi final on Tuesday. Other than that, there was nothing new happening. Take a look below:



Clip from eurovision.tv from the first rehearsal here.
The next rehearsal for Albania will be the two dress rehearsals held on Monday.

Will Albania qualify for the final?

How big are Aurela's chances? First of all, we'll have a look at what the bookmakers say about whether she will make it or not. At the moment, Albania is ranked as number 11 and 12; by betting 100 euros on Aurela
to the final, you'll get around 200 euros back if she makes it. A simular result is seen right now among the ESC fan clubs, predicting Aurela to be one spot from qualifying. Also the readers of escstats.com place Aurela 11th.

What about the TV experts? The artists and experts of the known Swedish Inför Eurovision, are divided in theit view of the Albanian entry, and thinking that Aurela's voice was strong, while the video not as good. But in host country Germany things seems better,
and the expert of the German broadcaster ARD believes that Albania will go to the final, and might reach a 14th place there.

So which conclution should we draw from this? It seems that Albania will be one of those countries that either qualify or not qualify by a small margin this year, which can make the upcoming semi very exiting. Perhaps it will be Aurela's experience and strong voice that secures that the tradition for Albanian females to reach the final.

The second rehearsal is tomorrow at 11:30 - 12:00, followed by a new press conference. But while you wait, you can take a look at some more from the last rehearsal and press conference here.

Aurela: I was born to sing in arenas

As the title might tell you, Aurela feels comfortable on the stage in Düsseldorf. As well as rehearsing today, Aurela has been giving interviews and she had a press conference. You can watch clips from both below. She also gave an a capella version of her 1997 entry in FiK, Fati ynë shpresë dhe marrëzi, to esctoday.com


To the left: clip from Albanias press conference, from 2:52
To the right: interview with esckaz.com

Aurela Gaçe's interview with esctoday.com

Albania's first rehearsal

Aurela Gaçe got to try the stage Düsseldorf for the first time today, together with three backing vocalists, a guitarist and a drummer. The background for the performance is an eagle's wings. There is a huge use of pyroeffects and dry ice, adding to Aurela's powerful voice. Further, the Albanian delegation presented her dress on stage, which looks similar to the one she wears in the videoclip. Her stylist will be the same who made Olta Boka's outfit in 2008. Take a look at the rehearsal below:



We will give you info the press conference held after the rehearsal as well soon. The next rehearsal for Aurela will be on Thursday: 11:30 - 12:00, with a press conference held afterwards. So stay tuned!

Albanian Delegation arrives in Düsseldorf today

Departure: 15:00 

Arrival at Düsseldorf Airport: 19:15

Today the Albanian Delegation and the team around Aurela Gaçe will arrive in Düsseldorf for the start of the rehearsals on Sunday.

Albania's first rehearsal is set for Sunday, 1st May, from 11:20 - 12:00, right after Stella Mwangi from Norway finished.

From 12:10 to 12:30 the team will stay in the Viewing room and answer questions right afterwards in a press conference from 12:45 - 13:25.

The next Albanian rehearsal takes place on Thursday, 5th May.

Aurela Gaçe in Balkan Music Awards

The winners of this year's Balkan Music Awards 2011

have been choosen , and the best song from Albania is "Origjinale " - a collaboration

between Aurela Gaçe and DR. Flori & Marsel and Albavision Summerhit 2010, which holds a record of almost 5 million views in a period of 10 months, being the most clicked Albanian video on Youtube.

The show will take place on the evening of 4 June in Sofia , and millions viewers will be able to enjoy an impressive show , Aurela and other artists will perform live on stage during the show.

Kosovo: New steps in EBU agreement

The director of "Radiotelevizionit të Kosovës" - short RTK, Bekim Hasani, confirmed, that Kosovo got the right to participate in the upcoming Eurovision Dance Contest.

This is a first step towards a soon ESC participation. According to an article by koha.net, Kosovo has been negotiating with the EBU about Kosovo's status in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Düsseldorf in May.
Kosovo took on the mission to participate in the 55th ESC, but not as a performing participant. "RTK is considering the possibility that the Kosovars are offered the possibility of voting" this May, Hasani stated, making clear that Kosovo's intention in the meeting was to be part in the ESC as a voting nation only, like SerbiaMontenegro in 2006, when they could not agree on a representative for their country and only voted in that years ESC in Athens.
Although Bekim Hasani told proudly that Kosovo will be soon enough outfitted with the latest technical modalities providing Kosovars the opportunity to vote for the first time as an own country in the upcoming ESC, the mission was doomed from the beginning. This is not only because of Kosovo being no EBU member, but the rules of the ESC clearly decide that only the 43 particpating countries in 2011 can vote, as usual. What's left is the hope of an offer from EBU side, but that should be considered as very unlikely.

Yet Kosovo, showing more interest every year in being part of the ESC family, at least gave it a try and openly admits to do so to also support Aurela. The new door that opened in the end lead to the participation right in a "European festival of dancers" of the EBU. Whether the "Eurovision Dance Contest", the "Eurovision Young Dancers" or a third contest of the EBU is meant with "Festivali Evropian të Valltarëve", is to be seen.

We hope to hear more positive news in terms of Kosovo-EBU agreements and keep you informed

Could profit from votes of Kosovo: Aurela Gace