ALBANIA

The Albanian Final was held on December 28th at the Palace of Congress in Tirana, hosted by Turjan Hyska, Floriana Garo & Liberta Spahiu. Before the final there were 2 semi-finals of 13 songs, with 9 qualifying from each. The winning song was "Diell" (Sun) sung by Elhaida Dani.

As ever the Albanian song was chose using their "Festivali I Këngës" competition, this edition being the 53rd one! This year's competition had a range of styles and genres although 'Balkan-esque Ballads" seemed to protrude most. All semi finals and finals were judged by a jury of Albanian music professionals, including 2012 entrant, Rona Nishliu. "Diell" seemed to be the favourite beforehand and easily took the victory.

The song starts a bit like "L'essenziale" however the tune and structure is completely different. As the song goes on, more rocky elements are introduced to the backing, including a guitar solo in the middle. The verses are quite breathy whilst the real power comes in during the choruses. I think the song is also lifted due to the presence of the live orchestra, something with will not be there in May.

Elhaida is possibly the most famous Albanian singers at the moment. Not only has she appeared in previous "Festivali I Këngës" but in 2009 she won Star Academy Albania and in 2013 she won "The Voice of Italy". So one can firmly say she is used to performing consistently live in front of a huge audience. If I had one criticism of her style it would be that she over-does it a bit and can sound like she's really straining. During the final she wore a very nice red dress with slicked back hair. This seemed to suit her as she moves around the stage with ease and seems to like to uses her arms a lot!

As ever, this Albanian song as it stands is nearer 4 minutes than 3 minutes. Apart from the guitar solo, I can't really see what they can take out without losing all the aspects of the song. The other likely change is the language. After her win, Elhaida said that the song would more than likely be performed in English. Although I am generally a bigger fan of mother tongue entries I think this would benefit from a change although part of me wonders if a change to Italian would be even more beneficial..? I don't think they should do too much to the performance quality. She doesn't need any backing singers and doesn't require the distraction of extra dancers or even a dynamic backdrop.

This is a very slick song but there is something missing at the moment. I don't feel much connection to her or the song, something that may change with a language switch. The first bit of the chorus is really the only part of the song which is at all memorable and I don't think after 25 other songs in the final this will be at the top of any televoting list - apart from Italy and San Marino maybe. It's not really the style of Eurovision songs I like but I feel that a discerning jury panel may well give something like this full marks.

ARTIST - Elhaida Dani

SONG - Diell (Sun)

MUSIC - Aldo Shllaku

LYRICS - Viola Trebicka, Sokol Marsi