ALBANIA

The Albanian final was held on the 23d December at the Palace of Congress in Tirana, hosted by Ledina Çelo & Kasem Hoxha. Before the final there were 2 semi-finals where the long list of 24 was reduced to a final of 12. For the first time ever in Festivali i Këngës history, the winner was chosen by a combination of an expert jury and online voting. The winning act was Lindita Halimi singing the song “Botë” (World)

The setting of the song is very simple with Lindita alone on the stage. The song is backing singer heavy but they may be shoved to the side-lines to concentrate on the main singer. She is very eye-catching with her small stature, long claw-like nails, beautiful flowing hair and gapped-toothed grin – all of which give her character and make her seem very likeable but also vulnerable. During the semi-final, she wore a tight fitting sparkly flesh coloured cat suit which did not suit her frame. Her dress in the final was classier and more tasteful but looked far too long on her and did not seem to suit her movement as a singer. I would suggest some time and effort be taken to dress her in something more suitable AND to work on her performance craft to the camera.

The song has an interesting introduction with some slightly unusual chord sequences. It starts off quite minimal but grows quickly but proceeds to do little else after the first chorus. She is very passionate during the song and gestures a lot which, if choreographed correctly and directed toward the camera, would be very effective. However, a lot of the song involves a lot of oooooh-ing and aaaaaaaaah-ing and doing vocal gymnastics which a) doesn’t sound nice and b) seems a total waste of time. The ending is a little abrupt, has no build up and there are no clues to suggest that the end is coming soon.

As ever with Festivali i Këngës, songs are performed in Albanian but also with an extensive orchestra and an array of backing singers. This has usually meant that songs have undergone an extensive transformation by the time it gets to Eurovision. Therefore, judging this song as is, is a little unfair. All we do know is that it will be performed in English in May. However what is in her favour is that the song is few seconds under the 3-minute mark and so not much will be done structurally to make the song eligible for the contest. The instrumentals need to have more light and shade - more drama - which will hopefully be mirrored in the reworked lyrics. I think this is an OK song but needs a lot of work in terms of performance and stagecraft. Her voice is good but she needs more actual lyrics and meaning - not constant warbling. Putting into English will be a good move if they don’t mess around too much with the current structure of the song.

ARTIST - Lindita

SONG - Botë (World)

MUSIC - Klodian Qafoku

LYRICS - Gerald Xhari