Eurovision 2011: The Best of the Rest (Part 1)

Like many Eurovision fans and fanatics (myself included), the period between the end of May and the beginning of December is often a melancholy bit of time while we wait for news on the next year's edition and constantly re-hash the events of the past.  For me, this is the perfect time to look back on the songs that didn't quite make it to Düsseldorf this year; some of these also-rans are just as entertaining or endearing as the tunes that made the journey to the main event.  Out of the forty-three nations that sent songs to Germany this year, thirty-four of them had national selections (and the rest, like France, Belarus, Turkey, et cetera, were internal selections made behind closed doors).  Needless to say, there's a lot of ground to cover!  So, starting alphabetically...

Albania: For me, the Albanian Preselection (or Festivali i Këngës) is one of the more underrated events of the Eurovision year.  It occurs early in the ESC cycle (generally falling around Boxing Day), and it tends to involve both young, fresh faces as well as veteran performers.  This year's FiK winner was Aurela Gaçe's "Kënga Ime", which eventually became the epic, aquiline "Feel the Passion".  However, in second place this year was the lovely duet "Ende ka shpresë (There is Still Hope)", written and performed by Alban Skenderaj and Miriam Cani.  

I don't know if this song would have been translated into English (as so many other Albanian entries have been over the past few years), but if it had, it could have possibly given Azerbaijan's Ell and Nikki a run for their money.  
 
(And, for the record, another personal favorite of mine was Kamela Islamaj's "Jetova per te dy (I Lived for Us)", which came in 10th place in the FiK.  While it might not have gone over as well in the ESC as "Ende ka shpresë", I absolutely love Kamela's soulful, bluesy, voice.)

Follow Up Single Time, Part 2

As the weeks progress, more of Eurovision's Class of 2011 are continuing on with their careers and releasing their next singles.

Bosnia and Herzegovina's Dino Merlin has followed up his 6th-place finish in Germany with his new single, "Undo".  Despite the title, the song is in Bosnian, unlike his ESC-entry "Love in Rewind".  Dino is actively touring this summer, and will likely release his next album in early 2012.


Albania's preeminent diva, Aurela Gaçe, has collaborated with local rapper MC Kresha to bring the world their new single, "Cash".   It might not harness Aurela's epic vocal prowess in the same way that "Kënga Ime/Feel the Passion" did in Düsseldorf, but it's still a fun listen, and any video that has echoes of "Tron" gets a thumbs-up in my book:

More new versions and videos released!

As expected, Albania has revamped their entry for Düsseldorf.  What was once Aurela Gaçe's "Kënga Ime" is now "Feel the Passion":

I feel like I'm in the minority here, but I loved Aurela's song the first time I heard it, and this revamp only solidifies my position.  Aurela is this year's diva, and whether she wins or not, she is making this her show.  (It's funny, though; I was talking with my friend Slavi yesterday before we saw the new video or heard the translation, and I told him how I imagined that the clip would somehow involve Aurela standing on top of a mountain or other high point, a wind machine fluttering around some epic dress, and an eagle soaring.  I should have placed money on it!)

It's Aurela Gaçe for Albania!

Well, the 2010 Festivali i Këngës has just wrapped up, and with a commanding victory, Albania has decided that their representative in Düsseldorf will be Aurela Gaçe, with her song "Kënga Ime (My Song)".  The 36-year old Aurela is no newcomer to the Albanian music scene; she won the FiK in 1999 and 2001, soon before her nation took part in Eurovision.  Albania, in the past, has taken advantage of the long time frame between their National Selection and Eurovision itself to edit, remix, and even translate their song into English (which shouldn't be difficult, as Aurela currently resides in New York), so it's hard to say what Albania's final version will look and sound like.  As it now stands, the song is over the 3 minute time length that Eurovision rules enforce, so something will have to change from the original version to the one we'll see on stage in Germany.

(I'd normally post the video of the song here, but it seems that most of the versions of "Kënga Ime" that were on YouTube or DailyMotion have either been removed or have disabled embedding...but here's a link!)

What do you think?  How does it stack up to last year's entry, "Nuk Mundem Pa Ty/It's All About You" from the lovely Juliana Pasha?  It came in 16th place in Oslo's final, after a 6th place semifinal finish.  Do you think Aurela will be able to best Juliana's benchmark, or even the national-record 7th place, set by Anjeza Shahini's "The Image of You" back in 2004?  I like the drama that Aurela brings to the song (not to mention her incredibly strong vocal prowess), and I'm still looking for lyrics to connect to the powerful melody.  Let's see what the future holds for this one!

Happy Holidays!

I just wanted to take a quick moment to wish all of my readers a Merry Christmas, Happy (Belated) Hanukkah, Festive Yule, and best wishes for every other holiday that I might be missing.  I still feel so honored and touched to see my flag counter grow, adding another country to my list.  (I'd still love to know more about you, my readers...feel free to leave comments!)  No matter where you are, or who you are, I hope the joy and spirit of the season reaches you.

Albania will be giving us their customary Christmas gift in a few hours with the announcement of the winner of the 49th Festivali i Këngës, which has become their national preselection for Eurovision.  As soon as it's announced, I'll pass along the news to you all!  (And I know that I'm supposed to be impartial, but if you must know, I'm supporting Kamela Islamaj all the way!  She rocked the FiK last year with Gjëra të thjeshta, and she's following it up with more rock...I'd love to know more about her, so if anyone from Albania or Kosovo has more information on her biography or singing career, please share it with us!  Any album out, possibly?)

ESC 2010 Reviews: Albania

Now that all of the Eurovision entries for 2010 have been announced, and preview videos are starting to come out for the individual songs, it's time that I put pen to paper (or, at the very least, fingers to keyboard) and give you all my reviews for this year's entrants (with a little peek at their previous ESC history)! Let's go alphabetically, shall we?

ALBANIA

Coincidentally, going in alphabetical order means that we check out Eurovision 2010's first announced entrant. Back on December 27, Albania's RTSH network held the final for the Festivali i Këngës (also known as the FiK, which always makes me giggle a bit). After holding semifinals for established Albanian artists, including two singers who bore Albania's flag at Eurovision in previous years (Anjeza Shahini in 2004 with "The Image of You", and Kejsi Tola last year with "Carry Me In Your Dreams"), as well as a semifinal for unknown talent, FiK's grand final produced a runaway winner, Juliana Pasha with "Nuk Mundem Pa Ty", or "I Can't Without You". Here's her performance at the FiK Final:



One of the lucky things about deciding your entrant so early on in the game (nearly five months before the "big show") is that a country has the power to tweak or change a song to their liking. Albania has a particular talent for this, and often will edit an entry's timing (remember, all Eurovision songs must be under three minutes!), instrumentation, and language. Here's Juliana's updated version, released just in the past few days:



My prediction:
It seems that Eurovision 2010 will become "the year of the ballad", with nearly half of the announced songs in a slower tempo. Simply for that reason, "It's All About You" should stand out. It's definitely well-sung and danceable, and in a competition that's all about first impressions and packing as much of an earworm as possible into only three minutes, that's a major plus. I wasn't a fan of this song at first, but that was mostly because I was a fan of the songs that came in second and third place in the FiK, Anjeza Shahini's "Në pasqyrë" and Kamela Islami's "Gjëra të thjeshta". But having accepted that I can't always get what I want, especially when it comes to Albanian song competitions, I find "It's All About You" a pretty solid lock to make it out of the First Semifinal, and I predict that Juliana will end up ranking somewhere between 6th and 15th place in Oslo.

General Stats:
Competing in Eurovision Since: 2004
Best Result: 7th Place, 2004
General Trends: Albania has tended to score in the middle of the pack in recent years, qualifying for the Finals in 2008 and 2009, with results of 16th and 17th place, respectively. Interestingly, Albania has tended to fare much better when represented by female singers than by men, who have never taken Albania out of the semifinals.

And, just as a bonus, here are the songs that came in 2nd and 3rd in the 2010 Festivali i Këngës: "Në pasqyrë" ("In the Mirror") by 2004 winner Anjeza Shahini and "Ghëra të thjeshta" ("Simple Things") by Kamela Islami. Enjoy!