ALBANIA: FESTIVALI I KENGES 57 THIS WEEKEND

ALBANIA: FESTIVALI I KENGES 57 THIS WEEKEND - WITH A TWIST

Albania has its Festivali i Këngës 57 this weekend and as usual it also serves as their national final for the Eurovision song contest. The semifinals are on 20 and 21 December, with the grand final on 22nd. FiK has been a rather distant from today's Eurovision on style and sound, somewhere between old Eurovision and Sanremo festival with live orchestra. The winner has then been shortened, rearranged and sadly often covered in English for the occasion and in some cases the result has been almost a different song. Now things might be changing a bit. They are looking for a younger audience - hopefully that also translates into having more modern sounding songs - and kids as a significant part of the jury. Also, the second night performances will be "Eurovision style" with performances including more than standing by the microphone in evening gown using props, lights and other tehniques - more of Eurovision vibe that is. Bring in the glitter and lights! But that will be the second night only, the final is back to traditional FiK look. Also, most songs seems to be shorter and close to the 3 minutes already and with occasional lines in English...

The artists include several familiar names from past few years like Bojken Lako, Dilan Reka, Elton Deda and last year's fan favorite Orgeza Zaimi. This blogger is pleased to see Revolt Klan's Bruno Pollogati making a solo debut. I'm expecting great things from Mirud with a song penned by Elhaida Dani ...

So the expections aside, did they deliver? Yes. The selection is very solid one and most every song is very listeneable (not always the case with FiK) and there's a variety of ballads, ethnic sounds and even some ESC by numbers uptempo nonsense. Below you can see my scoring for the first listening through. Some songs will fall and some rise after a few hearing but generally my first impression sticks pretty well. Who will win then is another story altogether though...

Mirud - Nënë ****

Aurel Thëllimi -Të dua ty ****

Soni Malaj - Më e fortë ****
Kelly - A më ndjen ****
Lorela Sejdini - Vetmi ****
Bruno Pollogati - Nuk ka stop ****
Klodiana Vata - Mbrëmje e pafund ****
Marko Strazimiri & Imbro - Leyla ****
Klinti Çollaku - Me jetë ***
Elona Islamaj - Në këtë botë kalimtarë ***
*Artemisa Mithi & Febi Shkurti - Dua ta besoj***
Dilan Reka - Karma ***

Eranda Libohova - 100 pyetje ***

Alar Band - Dashuria nuk mjafton ***
Bojken Lako - Jeto jetën **

Gjergj Leka - Një ditë tjetër **

Jonida Maliqi - Ktheju tokës **

Kujtim Prodani - Babela **

Lidia Lufi - Rrëfehem **

Eliza Hoxha - Peng *Orgesa Zaimi - Hije *

Elton Deda - Qetësisht (not available yet)

Vikena Kamenica - Naten e mire (withdrawn)*

Comments

ESC 2016 WISH LIST: MARGARET FOR POLAND

Małgorzata Jamroży aka Margaret has also been tipped for Eurovision and apparently she did turn it down but she'd be perfect. She's got a look and persona you can't unnotice nor forget, she's got hit songs, she has been voted or nominated for everything from Trendy artist to the Hope of the Year, Fashion Icon and Glamour Woman of the year besides the usual best video, song, album, debut..... Oh she's also a fashion designer! She's very clever with social medias and would surely use it to her advantage if selected for Stockholm 2016. Her debut album is titled Add the blonde , do we need to say more? Except it includes mostly Swedish written pop tunes like Tell me how are ya , Wasted , Start a fire and Heartbeat . And of course her debut single and internationally noticed Thank you very much that you can enjoy below with all its anti-textil feel. I think she's Eurovision perfection, she's cheeky and fun, can we have her?

SONGS OF THE YEAR 2015: #5 KRISTA SIEGFRIDS - ON & OFF

Krista Siegfrids is delivering nice pop tunes one after another and this one is particularly catchy and soon you will be singing along..... Hopefully her Melodifestivalen entry will be equally good!

ESC 2016 BELARUS: NAKED WITH WOLVES?

Today's funniest Eurovision related story comes from Belarus. Some sources claim Ivan wants to perform on stage naked and with live wolf or wolves. It surely would be a first on Eurovision stage! We have seen some forgotten underwear over the years, and some cardbox animals though..... Is it time to take things a bit further? No, according the rules live animals are not allowed, and Eurovision being a family show nudity won't do either. (It seems to be ok to be half naked if you are a dancer though..... )

CAROLA'S BOOBS STEAL THE SHOW, SVT APOLOGIES

Update! Another thing got Swedes talking last night: Carola's boobs when she was giving away an award. This is not the first time her boombs cause headlines; her misfortunate adventures in the 80's in Japan wer explained with her boobs being too big for Japanese market. Ok.... Or was it the song ? Anyways, Carola apologies and says she thinks the dress is stylish and elegant (even her friends said so) and she's a mature woman in her 40s, not a 16-year-old girl and looks like one. The Swedish Oscars, Guldbagge awards were given out last night. Carola was there as a guest star to sing Barbra Streisand's The way we were when honoring the movie stars who passed away during 2012. However, the cameras were too much on Carola, not on the stars showed in photos in the background and that upset many viewers as that part of the show was to celebrate them, not Carola. Oh well... The producer of the show tells in Aftonbladet the part of the show was made the sam...

Russia recycles the video

Here is the video for Alexey's previous hit Бам Бам! and here is the video for his Eurovision 2011 entry Get you as Alex Sparrow as he likes to be called now abraod. Looks like he potreys the new rich Russia well.... The only problem is that he can't play the bad part convincingly not even a second. And did I say the song is crap? And of course as he is a Russian star he must have nude fotos of him flotaing around internet trying to be sexy and he fails there, too, big time. If you are not bad nor sexy you shouldn't push it. Maybe he should stick to singing jolly little numbers like the Kalinka rip off instead....

Regina Lund - naked and censored

Regina Lund's new video Jag är osynlig was censored by Youtube only minutes after it had been uploaded. In the video she was playing a female Jesus who gets crusified in the end. "I was shocked!" she says. "There's nothing more naked in it as in every church! It's ok to have naked man hanging on the wall but my nakedness is too much on internet? ". Oh well, no comment. She's prepairing a new album Dare Regina Lund and we of course remember her from her Melodifestivalen 2007 adventure with Rainbow star .

GREECE: HELENA PAPARIZOU HITS AGAIN WITH HAIDE

Eurovision song contest 2005 winner Helena Paparizou has been enjoying Top-5 hits every year since 2003 with the exception of 2010 and 2014, this latest one being already her 27th! And Haide is charting also in Bulgaria and Finland, of all places. The catchiness of her hits has changed less over the years than her face.... Here's the English version , below the Greek version.

TIM SCHOU AND HIS NAKED GRAVITY

Tim Schou has a pretty good solo career going since he left his friends in London. He's travelling the world and relesing songs and videos. The latest one is a great track and comes with a steamy video that kinda takes away from the song really. But who's complaining. If you got it, flaunt it. Enjoy the video below. This post coming after the other Dane, Rasmus Seebach as wishlist for Eurovision. To think about it, Tim would do nicely, too. Maybe he should give it another go?

MÅNS ZELMERLÖW GETS NAKED FOR THE GOOD CAUSE

Reigning Eurovision song contest champion and the host of the next contest in May 2016 in Stockholm Mäns Zelmerlöw bares it almost all in GT following some other Eurovision stars like Blue and Jedward ( see more here ) All for the good cause of course, prostate cancer - something this blogger can also relate having experienced it in my closest circle. Nothing to laugh about. The annual Naked issue of GT or Gay Times features also several other celebrity men out of their designer fashion and stage or sports outfits. I guess Christmas came early to some fans when they can unwrap their most wished gift already now.... Maybe. But it's not the first time he gets naked.... he did so when hosting the annual QX Gala some years ago. Who knows what he and Petra have in store for us in May?!

Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

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