#mirud you can do better than that!

[juuret]

I have lots of questions for Mirud and all of them start with “why”

[anotherescsite]

THE ALBANIANS 2021

Festivali i Këngës 59 is the first national final out of the gates in Albania which has been a tradition for a little while. There was a time in the early 2010s were the Ukraine tried to muscle in on the honour, but the Albanians have stayed strong to continue with the tradition. The semi finals begin December 21 and the final is on December 23.

RTSH have decided to hold their national final outside in the winter evening air. I expect everyone will be performing in a puffer jacket, a beanie and mittens and no scantily dressed women and bare chested men. The national final splits the list of 26 songs (there may be a withdrawal - keep reading) into two semi finals to with the top 10 each going to the final for the right to represent the country at Eurovision 2021 in Rotterdam. As usual, the songs are in native language. They have the ability to request a language change after they win the Festival. 

I am listening to them for the first time without any bias towards any of them of the preferences of others. I’ve only heard of one of these performers that I can recall. They are in alphabetic order for no particular reason and have listened to studio versions.

Agim Poshka – “Vendi im” (“My place”) The music is very pleasant to listen to; it is like the music to accompany a hymn. Agim’s voice is a little lackluster and it drones on which is a shame because the musical accompaniment is very nice.

Anxhela Peristeri – “Karma” This begins with a loud opening and then scales back to a ballad which I found unusual. Anxhela has a decent voice and at half way it picks up an Oriental beat and some pace.  It doesn’t reach its potential though, and I’m somewhat disappointed. Her name translates to ‘Angela Pigeon’ which i found amusing.

Devis Xherahu – “Peng” (“Hostage”) A lovely Spanish guitar and Devis vocals are appropriately mournful and suitable. It picks up the pace and I like it alot. May not set the scoreboard alight. Decent entry.

Durim Morina (Mirud) – “Nëse vdes” (“If I die”) An attractive ethnic entry with the addition of electric sounds. I like the vibe and mood of the song; it has some challenging vocal moments that make it sound like an anthem, but not so.  

Enxhi Nasufi – “Njësoj” (“Same”) Upbeat number and Enxhi has pleasant vocals. It seems a bit dated like a mid 90s number. It’s okay as songs go.

Era Rusi – “Zjarri im” (“My fire”) A very different sound which sounds almost modern indigenous. Very exciting sound and I’m eager to see the stage production for the song. It does morph into a different creature for the chorus, but still interesting as a whole.

Erik Lloshi – “Jo” (“Not”) A quiet ballad song that suits Erik’s voice. Drum beat adds some drama, but it could be forgotten without a decent performance.

Evi Reçi -“Tjerr” (“Spin”) It is an interesting soundtrack to the song but I don’t know where it is heading. Sometimes sultry, sometimes country, sometimes traditional making it a very awkward song.

Fatos Shabani – “Ty” (“You”) I like the way the acoustic guitar works with his voice and the strings. He wrote it and it seems very personal. It works, but it won’t set the world alight.

Festina Mejzini – “Kush je ti dashuri” (“Who are you love”) There are some nuances to this song that make it special, but I’m not sure there are enough to sustain the interest of the audience. Festina seems to have a nice voice, but I’m not too taken by it.

Florent Abrashi – “Vajzë” (“Girl”) Florent took part in FIK 54; and doesn’t have the power seen back then. This is a sweet ballad, it is restrained and it’s very safe. I’m really disappointed.

Franc Koruni – “E morën botën” (“They took the world”) Franc brings some class to the show. It is a studio version which is a little restricted by has scope to be much more interesting live. Franc has a voice that could go down well, or fall flat.

Giliola Haveriku – “E lirë” (“Free”) Ballad with predominant piano, well placed percussion, touches of electronica and soaring notes. This could do very well if performed and styled well.

Gjergj Kaçinari -“Më jep jetë” (“It gives me life”) It begins with spoke singing which I don’t like. While the music is dramatic, but I’m really not taken by the style of it or the singing of the song. 

Inis Neziri – “Pendesë” (“Penance”) A power ballad which has the classic Albanian anthem punch to it. This will work very well with an orchestra and Inis has a very nice voice to carry it. 

Kamela Islamaj – “Ajo vajza” (“That girl”) A piano ballad which seems like elevator music. Not a powerful song or much interest for me. It seems very washed out and dated. 

Klevis Bega (Kastro Ziso) – “Vallja e jetës” (“The dance of life”) Thankfully, a non ballad. The music is great and the beat was louder and faster. It could perform very well on a stage with the right back up. Could be a bit to repetitive. 

Klinti Çollaku – “Do t’ja dal” (“I will do it”) I’m sorry to say it, but this sounds like a filler. It’s a bit quiet and there is a unpleasant droning electric organ. It changes to a more grungy electric guitar sound, but it changes back quickly. Klinti does some vocal aerobic near the end; not saving the song though. 

Manjola Nallbani – “Ora e jetës” (“The hour of life”) has disappeared from Youtube and the link to the song on the RTSH gives an error. Expect it will be withdrawn or replaced.

Orgesa Zaimi – “Valixhja e kujtimeve” (“Suitcase of Memories”)  Albanian jazz. Not a bad thing if you can pull it off. Orgesa’s vocals suit the song, but I’m not a fan of the style.

Rosela Gjylbegu – “Vashëzo” An interesting song that has a curious sound and vocal combination. It seems like a Oriental-Albanian fusion which is really lovely to listen to. Looking forward to this live.

Sardi Strugaj – “Kam me t’ba me kajt” (“I’ll make you cry”) Mournful opening and creepy opening and I was expecting a bit of an explosion of sound which didn’t come. The songs music is quite dramatic to add tension to the song, but it overshadows and overwhelms the singing. Shame.

Stefan Marena – “Meteor” This could be better live; I think they were trying to get a sound that hasn’t been captured in the song. Quite a conventional song that I don’t think is special, but with the right sound it may be a surprise. 

Viktor Tahiraj – “Nënë” (“Mother”) I’m not a fan of songs about their Mummy, so this is at a disadvantage already. And a gentleman of this age should know better. The song is decent actually; the sound is good contemporary number. Viktor’s voice less so. 

Wendi Mancaku – “Si ajo” (“Like Her”) Quiet number that is well written to highlight the pleasant voice of the vocalist. It’s tempo is slow and can be mistaken for a boring song, but it is far from it. There is a sensual velvety sound to the song. I like it. 

Xhesika Polo – “Më mbron” (“It protects me”) Xhesika has a very rich voice and this is another song that has been written to take advantage of the singer’s talent. It is a very well written ballad that seem like a journey in a song. This could be a dark horse depending on the live performance.

CONCLUSION

The Albanian Festivali i Këngës always brings forward new music that is different to what has been heard before and has it’s own flavour. It is a good selection of songs for a national final with few songs that don’t interest me.

I can’t pick a favourite of the lot. If i was going to name a winner, I’d say  “Pendesë” more than anything else. It has all the makings of the usual Albanian entry. I would welcome a win for E lirë,  Më mbron, Vashezo or Nëse vdes. 

[sole-cuore-amore-e-droga]

Tel Aviv 2019: Straight outta Albania to Eurovision with ethno beats

Sorry to be late to start all this, but you know, Albanians love doing their show around the Christmas period - whether before or after. xD So after this show, I was rather engulfed in Christmas and stuff, packing the gifs for every family member, putting them under the tree and waking up to see their (belated) reactions to their own gifts. Oh, and a festive dinner on the Eve. (And now it's been less than 1 and a half months since the end of this!)

But enough about that, you guys are here for my honest review, right?

Right.

I, for one, am a true fan of the ridiculous runtime of Festivali i Këngës në Radiotelevizion Shqiptar (and how the full lenght title is pronounced with the broadcaster’s name included every other single time), and that's because it allows me to discuss every single detail that I see, that goes wrong, that's just plain hilarious, and printscreen those said things. Among all these weird sights that can be seen during the interval acts and advertisements there's at least one instance of somebody in the show being such a "mood". Just like the broadcaster's current higher up for all things Eurovision at home (i.e.: commentator, spokesperson and occasional conversator), Andri Xhahu:

“mmhmm sure, keep on telling how much you love all the acts while I pretend I care, but in fact I’d rather just go home and eat something real quick”

Trust me, everyone in this show is a master of not giving a single damn. Artists, backings, instrumentalists, interval acts even maybe? All kinds of people in Albania are just mediocred out by things happening in FiK, thus nothing is remotely surprising!

Well, except for the results this year. Sure, everyone had their little outrage on social media the very time it was revealed that the international public’s darling Mirud did not impress the FiK jurors enough to qualify, but others were simply rejoicing that at least another big fave qualified - and to the fans’ dy shokë, a favourite won once again! And this one is an artsy, mid-tempo call to all of the abroad Albanians to “return to the land”, provided by the one and only, Jonida Maliqi.

And so you thought a big FiK favourite wouldn’t manage to win 2 years in a row... let alone reach Eurovision. It was nearly a given FiK juries could rather have had their traditional FiK-ness when picking the winner and that it would have become Lidia Lufi or even one of those old people, one of them being THE CONDUCTOR OF THE WHOLE SHOW (and if he was not qualifying, he’d probably have been ultra upset and leave his position from FiK’s orchestra that he has now observed every year since idk), so it’s refreshing to see Albania take on some new winds - last year with Eugent Bushpepa, this year with Jonida. Not that she was a big favourite of mine though, but you know, “Mall” was so incredibly difficult to top standart-wise that I actually didn’t really mind letting go of the songs by Dilan Reka, Klinti Çollaku and Alar Band (and 3 more nonqualifiers) emotionally. I mean, with the competition this incredibly improving in competence and easy good winners, it was a given that none of these would have even come close to reach a stellar placing in the final leaderboard of FiK. And yes, I consider my taste incredibly out of fashion with what everyone wants. Thank you for noticing.

When I first heard this, I didn’t really have a great impression on this track - the 1st verse/chorus and the 2nd verse/chorus have an extreeeeemely long gap between each other, which bothered me. Shouldn’t the song have some short enough gateway to pass the point across easier? The second thing is that it’s a little too slow. Not long after she won I became acquainted with the song’s Nightcore versions (yep! 2 of them exist apparently), and going back to he studio version of this, the slowness of it put me off. But on later listens I managed to appreciate its better qualities - the song is intense, tackles a decent topic (which will probably be underlooked if the staging does not account for it clearly enough - looking at you France 2018), the folksy interlude is too precious to be gotten rid off for the upcoming revamp (I just think it needed to be placed elsewhere... until I realized it is in an alright position songwise), the backing vocals at the last few seconds add some charm to the song, and at least there are some vocalisations! Juries obviously love it when an act tests their high vocal abilities, and often great notes don’t go too unnoticed by them. Remember why was Eugent’s performance so loved by the juries - if he haven’t done THAT, nothing would have given him a final ticket in the first place.

So that means that the first time viewers at home have a hefty fine chance to also not get what’s happening, right? Unless the music gets drastically devamped (like in 2016) and the performance is too heavy to connect with this song, it is probably going to do alright. The 2nd night performances this FiK were all devoted to the idea of preparing the acts for Eurovision in an unavoidable case of one of them winning. And Jonida’s performance uses rather cartoonish (but decent cartoonish) city-at-night shots in the background (with street lamps, traffic lights, maybe a bridge and the rest) and several random dancers too, which you can see for yourselves below:

(I’d like to inform her though that constantly interchanging street motives on the background aren’t a very good addition - Latvia 2009 went with all-round street and city signs and that didn’t work, and the 2009 stage was HUGE! Also maybe the dress is a little too extravagant for the topic of the song but that’s a nitpick. Sorry about it)

And even though it’s just 1 song (and the reason the top 1s keep poping up right after FiK is over - a common practice even among very small Eurovision fan Youtube channels) (edit: now we have 4 songs at the point of me finishing this but still), I do believe that already writing it off is harsh. Obviously the Albanian revamp curse is going to take place, but sometimes it comes to a complete advantage if the artist knows what he or she is doing and how to turn everything to their strenght rather than weakness. Eugent just happened to do more impressive vocal heights than Lindita. And Eugent didn’t even need to wear something too extra unlike Lindita, which for some reason was having to deal with a bridal attire..? not a really suitable wear for a song about world problems, yanno what I mean?? So it’s for the better if Jonida’s team doesn’t have to harm the song all too much, choose a connecting staging, do something piercing about it, don’t make Jonida look like a clown on stage, and generally don’t let her come across as too weird and cold-hearted. She should be seen pouring her heart out and let the world know that she’s talking to the Albanians (and hopefully even Kosovars) ‘round the world - to all the Ritas, to all the Duas, to all the Bebes.

Approval factor: I didn’t say I hate it so I approve it wholeheartedly! Yes I like.

Follow-up factor: in my sole opinion I would still find “Mall” way better but this current entry is good enough also, so it’s obviously a fair enough follow-up after the previous and the rest past entries for Albania.

Qualification factor: somewhere in the middle of things right now, if only Jonida’s capable of making everythhing against her work in her favour and shock the naysayers like Eugent did post-revamp that looked like it killed his chances

NATIONAL FINAL BONUS

If you don’t want to read any more of my review from this point on, just simply leave this post, thanks!

But if, however, you do want to read these post-ramblings, pls b mah frien.

So did we have Fest 57 through and it always delivered a fiesta of too many ads and too many intervals. Like you could have sworn that this show should have ended 5 years earlier than initially planned. Yet you wake up and find it still going, but more in the post-show form, with the jury still continuing to blabber about what exactly do they like in a contestant’s song for some reason. And then, when you least expect anything to happen - they mention “lista finale”! Ahh what a miracle.

Anyway, in this segment I’m here to highlight some special things that have happened:

• The puppetmaster from Night 2. No one knew what was that for, no one knew why was it needed, no one knew if it was even a little bit funny. But this Francesca Michielin’s auntie delivered a bunch of stuffed ‘humans’ to show around in front of the camera and stage something out of them. And the world was s h o o k

• Sound problems. One contestants had quiet mics at the beginning of the song (and this is FiK, which means that the poor acts WILL get a definite repeat of their entry, even if they had said their word against it. Sorry Miss Põldvere...), and another act got away with the entirety of it being completely not tuned in correctly soundwise, thus sounding completely all reverb-y and at one point even the mic feed for the backings was louder than the vocals of the artist. Hilariously enough, the both reprised acts won an award!

• Speaking of which, everyone thought that the first award of the night was actually the winner announcement. Even me. Oh how much we were falsely alarmed on this particular thing... xD

• Obviously the results. I honestly don’t think that Mirud’s nonqualification is such a mystery, despite the fact that as of lately the FiK juries are down for uplifting the audience faves. But I saw something that could have turned his song into something unbearably weak and nondescript, despite his pain and heart streamed out in bold colors through the song, considering this is the country that revamps their entries a lot. It could have been, and I’m dreading to say this but I am gonna say it anyway, a meaningless R’n’B ballad trying to show something, but projecting it too weakly. Of course I liked it, but I wouldn’t have pointed at it saying; “that right there, it’s definitely a contender”. But I definitely felt sorry for him and his song. Look what I messaged him:

• Dilan Reka’s quality stepdown. Look, I didn’t even listen to “Mos harro” as of yet, but I can definitely feel that “Karma” is some sort of a sub-par standart entry everyone gave hard time for because it wasn’t as likeable as “Mos harro”, which could have been the beginner of the good Albanian streak I suppose had it won the NF over Lindita? Or at least that’s what the fans think. Anyways, I liked “Karma” and I don’t ever want to stop defending its fun factor. The only thing not worth defending in this is Dilan’s styling:

No but WHO TOLD HIM YELLOW SUNGLASSES AND THIS SUIT WERE A GOOD IDEA???? leave.

• The girl who sang "Hallelujah" during a results break (there were several of these, can you believe that?). That was presumably Ana Kondra (you know, the one that advised to not touch her tree two years back? In JESC?) presumably singing in a personally warped take on English language, if not the actual English.

• Somewhere in the world there was hype-a-comin’ for these two: the cheap beats queen Soni Malaj and the retro hipster queen Orgesa Zaimi. While I can’t say I disliked their songs legit, it beats me as to what is attracting people to support the latter a lot, considering Orgesa submitted a bit of a huge stepdown from the cheerful “Ngrije zërin“. She at least retained her hipster attire though, even if without those French sunglasses. Oh and as for Soni, I gotta commend the Eurofan audience for still giving in some cheap Balkan pop trash! Though for country like Albania, it was never gonna win anyways. And I wasn’t hyped either. Seriously, who thought that adding some extra confused guys spout “bum bum bum” at the beginning was remotely GOOD??

Think I noted all momentswise. May I add that I’m glad to hear Jonida was allowed to sing in Albanian by RTSH (who apparently DECIDE what kind of language is more fitting for their own entry once it’s decided it’s ready for Eurovision???? I feel you, Elhaida’s composer from FiK 2014, if I had to face these rules, I’d have quit too)? It definitely takes this song up for advantage, and who cares if no one can understand it - we still have had an Albanian song about personal matters qualify, plus it was performed live on such an unfortunate occasion back at home so the power had to be extremely maxed out for that to work, and it did.

And one last thing: I did only watch the final of this, and the first time I heard this performed live, I was lowkey convinced this would indeed win because the orchestra made it sound like a stereotypical FiK winner - dramatic female ballad/midtempo/whatever having this dramatic power in chorus with all of the instruments blown right onto it. Not even the rest of the top 3 and other ballads this year were this much instrumentally packed. So there goes.