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Eurovision Song Contest 2019
Country	Albania
National selection
Selection process	Festivali i Këngës 57
Selection date(s)	Semi-finals: 20 December 2018 21 December 2018 Final: 22 December 2018
Selected artist(s)	Jonida Maliqi
Selected song	"Ktheju tokës"
Selected songwriter(s)	Eriona Rushiti
Finals performance
Semi-final result	Qualified (9th, 96 points)
Final result	17th, 90 points
Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2018 • 2019 • 2020►

Albania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv, Israel, with the song "Ktheju tokës" performed by Jonida Maliqi. Its selected entry was chosen through the national selection competition Festivali i Këngës organised by Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH) in December 2018. To this point, the nation had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifteen times since its first entry in 2004. Prior to the contest, the song was promoted by a music video and live performances in the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Albania was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 16 May 2019. Performing as number 14, the nation was announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final. In the grand final on 18 May 2019, it performed as number two and placed 17th out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 90 points.

Background

Prior to the 2019 contest, Albania had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifteen times since its first entry in 2004. The country's highest placing in the contest, to this point, had been the fifth place, which it achieved in 2012 with the song "Suus" performed by Rona Nishliu. The first entry was performed by Anjeza Shahini with the song "The Image of You" finishing in the seventh place, the nation's second-highest placing to date. During its tenure in the contest, Albania failed to qualify for the final seven times, with both the 2016 and 2017 entries being the most recent non-qualifiers. In 2018, the nation qualified for the final with Eugent Bushpepa finishing in 11th place with "Mall".

In September 2018, the national broadcaster of Albania, Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH), officially confirmed Albania's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv, Israel. RTSH broadcasts the contest within Albania and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. Since its debut in 2004, it has consistently selected its entry through the long-standing competition Festivali i Këngës.

Before Eurovision

Festivali i Këngës

Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH) organised the 57th edition of Festivali i Këngës to select their participant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The competition consisted of two semi-finals on 20 and 21 December, respectively, and the grand final on 22 December 2018. The three live shows were hosted by Albanian-Canadian actress Ana Golja and Albanian television presenter Viktor Zhusti. The broadcaster had previously confirmed the nation's participation in the contest in September 2018. It opened a submission period between 16 May and 30 September 2018 for artists and composers to participate in the competition. The list of competing artists and songs was officially revealed on 17 October 2018, being shortlisted to compete in the two semi-finals of the contest.

Competing entries

Shows

Semi-finals

The semi-finals of Festivali i Këngës took place on 20 December and 21 December 2018, and were broadcast live at 20:45 (CET) on the respective dates. The first semi-final was closed by Italy's Eurovision Song Contest 2018 representative Ermal Meta. In it, the competing artists traditionally performed in cooperation with a symphonic orchestra. During the second semi-final, the 22 acts delivered performances of the final versions of their entries as intended to be performed on the stage of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Final

The grand final of Festivali i Këngës took place on 22 December 2018 and was broadcast live at 20:45 (CET). On the same day, prior to the live show, 14 songs competed and the winner was determined by the combination of the votes from a nine-member jury panel consisting of Agim Krajka, Arta Marku, Dorian Çene, Haig Zacharian, Olsa Toqi, Pali Kuke, Rona Nishliu, Rovena Dilo and Shpëtim Kushta. Before the end of the show, Jonida Maliqi emerged as the winner and was simultaneously announced as the Albania's representative for the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest. The results of the final are summarized in the table below:

Promotion

A music video for "Ktheju tokës" premiered via the Eurovision Song Contest's official YouTube channel on 10 March 2019. Outside of the music video, Jonida Maliqi travelled to the Banias Nature Reserve at Mount Hermon in Israel to film her introductory postcard. In the postcard, she is seen dressed in 1950s style clothing while walking through the surroundings. Maliqi is subsequently joined by four female dancers on the edge of a waterfall, where they perform an interpretive dance choreography. For further promotion, the singer embarked on a small tour with live performances at various Eurovision Song Contest-related events, including in Amsterdam, London and Madrid.

At Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 took place at Expo Tel Aviv in Tel Aviv, Israel, and consisted of two semi-finals held on the respective dates of 14 and 16 May and the grand final on 18 May 2019. According to the Eurovision rules, all participating countries, except the host nation and the "Big Five", consisting of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, were required to qualify from one of the two semi-finals to compete for the grand final, although the top 10 countries from the respective semi-final progress to the grand final.

On 28 January 2019, a special allocation draw was held at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in Tel Aviv that placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Albania was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 16 May, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show. Once all the competing songs for the 2019 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the producers of the contest rather than through another draw, for preventing similar songs being placed next to each other. Albania was set to perform in position 14, following Russia and preceding Norway. At the end of the semi-final, the nation was announced among the top 10 entries and therefore qualified to compete in the grand final.

Voting

Voting during the three shows involved each nation awarding two sets of points from 1–8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the nation they represent, with their names being published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results were released soon after the grand final.

The tables below visualise a breakdown of points awarded to Albania in the second semi-final and final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019, as well as by the nation on both occasions. In the semi-final, Albania finished in ninth place, being awarded a total of 96 points, including 12 by the televoters from Italy, North Macedonia and Switzerland, and the same number of points by the juries from North Macedonia. In the final, Albania reached the 17th place with 90 points, including 12 by the televoters from Italy and North Macedonia, and eight by the juries from Montenegro and North Macedonia. The nation's televoters awarded its 12 points to Norway in the semi-final and to Russia in the final. Its juries awarded its 12 points to North Macedonia in both the semi-final and final.

Points awarded to Albania

Points awarded to Albania (Semi-final 2) Score Televote Jury 12 points  Italy  North Macedonia   Switzerland  North Macedonia 10 points 8 points 7 points  Azerbaijan  Russia 6 points  Croatia 5 points  Croatia 4 points  Azerbaijan 3 points  Austria  Romania  Italy 2 points  Germany  Norway  Sweden  Moldova  Romania 1 point

Points awarded to Albania (Final) Score Televote Jury 12 points  Italy  North Macedonia 10 points   Switzerland 8 points  Montenegro  North Macedonia 7 points  Montenegro  Azerbaijan  San Marino 6 points 5 points  Greece 4 points 3 points  Greece  Russia 2 points  Cyprus  Malta  Romania 1 point  Croatia  Italy

Points awarded by Albania

Points awarded by Albania (Semi-final 2) Score Televote Jury 12 points  Norway  North Macedonia 10 points  Netherlands  Azerbaijan 8 points  North Macedonia  Russia 7 points  Azerbaijan  Sweden 6 points   Switzerland  Malta 5 points  Lithuania   Switzerland 4 points  Sweden  Netherlands 3 points  Croatia  Moldova 2 points  Russia  Croatia 1 point  Denmark  Austria

Points awarded by Albania (Final) Score Televote Jury 12 points  Russia  North Macedonia 10 points  San Marino   Switzerland 8 points  Italy  Azerbaijan 7 points  Netherlands  Cyprus 6 points  North Macedonia  Sweden 5 points  Norway  Italy 4 points   Switzerland  Greece 3 points  Azerbaijan  France 2 points  Greece  Australia 1 point  Australia  Russia

Detailed voting results

The following members comprised the Albanian jury:

• Gent Rushi (jury chairperson) – pedagogue, jazz musician
• Eranda Libohova [sv] – singer
• Dilan Reka – singer
• Julka Gramo – singer, moderator, entertainer
• Vikena Kamenica [sq] – mezzo-soprano

Detailed voting results from Albania (Semi-final 2)

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		G. Rushi	E. Libohova	D. Reka	J. Gramo	V. Kamenica	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Armenia	10	14	14	17	12	14		14
02	Ireland	11	11	13	13	13	12		15
03	Moldova	12	5	9	9	5	8	3	13
04	Switzerland	6	6	7	4	7	6	5	5	6
05	Latvia	17	16	15	15	15	17		16
06	Romania	14	13	11	10	17	13		12
07	Denmark	15	12	12	7	11	11		10	1
08	Sweden	2	8	5	3	6	4	7	7	4
09	Austria	3	10	10	12	10	10	1	17
10	Croatia	7	7	6	11	8	9	2	8	3
11	Malta	8	3	3	6	4	5	6	11
12	Lithuania	16	17	16	14	14	16		6	5
13	Russia	9	1	4	8	3	3	8	9	2
14	Albania
15	Norway	13	15	17	16	16	15		1	12
16	Netherlands	4	9	8	5	9	7	4	2	10
17	North Macedonia	1	2	2	1	1	1	12	3	8
18	Azerbaijan	5	4	1	2	2	2	10	4	7

Detailed voting results from Albania (Final)

Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		G. Rushi	E. Libohova	D. Reka	J. Gramo	V. Kamenica	Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Malta	18	12	11	15	16	17		11
02	Albania
03	Czech Republic	10	18	24	8	17	16		24
04	Germany	7	17	15	9	9	12		17
05	Russia	12	7	7	12	5	10	1	1	12
06	Denmark	6	19	19	11	18	14		21
07	San Marino	25	25	25	24	25	25		2	10
08	North Macedonia	2	5	6	4	1	1	12	5	6
09	Sweden	1	14	13	2	12	5	6	13
10	Slovenia	8	13	20	14	13	15		18
11	Cyprus	22	3	3	3	10	4	7	15
12	Netherlands	15	8	8	10	4	11		4	7
13	Greece	14	1	4	21	14	7	4	9	2
14	Israel	21	9	9	19	11	13		12
15	Norway	13	15	21	20	20	19		6	5
16	United Kingdom	11	16	14	13	19	18		20
17	Iceland	23	23	17	25	24	23		22
18	Estonia	20	21	18	16	22	22		16
19	Belarus	16	20	16	22	23	21		25
20	Azerbaijan	9	4	2	1	8	3	8	8	3
21	France	3	10	10	7	6	8	3	19
22	Italy	5	6	5	5	7	6	5	3	8
23	Serbia	17	24	23	18	15	20		23
24	Switzerland	19	2	1	6	3	2	10	7	4
25	Australia	4	11	12	17	2	9	2	10	1
26	Spain	24	22	22	23	21	24		14

Notes

1. On 3 December 2018, RTSH announced that Vikena Kamenica would withdraw from the 57th edition of Festivali i Këngës due to scheduling issues. Kamenica was subsequently replaced by Artemisa Mithi and Febi Shkurti.
2. Due to technical issues during the performance, Marko Strazimiri and Imbro had to perform again after all the performances.
3. Due to technical issues during the performance, Eranda Libohova had to perform again after all the performances.

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External links

• Festivali i Këngës Official Website

• Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest
• Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019
• Festivali i Këngës by year
• 2019 in Albanian music
• 2019 in Albanian television