Today marks another day closer to the annual song festival in Albania, which decides their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, why today is interesting, is because we now have the list of participants for the upcoming edition of Festivali i Këngës.
Festivali i Këngës 64 – Participants
It might be the 64th edition of the festival, but only since 2003 (for 2004) was the festival used to decide the Eurovision participant. Now more than 20 years later, the festival has delivered multiple classic and traditional Albanian songs to the European stage, and once again will in 2026.
Elhaida Dani, who was appointed artistic director for the contest, was very pleased with the great interest and the number of submission that had been received. According to her, it has been some difficult days to decide the past compositions for the competition, and she was also happily surprised, even by newcomers: (Online translated)
- ““We have had a record flow, almost 120 songs, to round it up. It is a flow that the Festival has rarely seen. The list of who will be the winners and those who will compete in the 64th Festival… I am very happy with the names we have chosen, the jury and the commission have chosen to be the winners and I believe that the public will also be very curious and happy to see the names that will be announced, tonight at dinner on RTSH and on all our social networks.“
- “The selection was very difficult, because as I said, you can listen to 120 materials over and over again, we dedicated whole days to it, to give each song the time it deserves, to not take anything for granted and to hear what’s new this year. We were surprised by some new names, who we didn’t expect at all to bring such good and fresh material.“
- “Now it’s up to the artist on stage and the wonderful Festival Orchestra to show how good the songs are and how good we were in selecting the songs.“
With that, this is the list of the participants: (alphabetical order)
- 2 Farm
- Alis
- Egzon Pireci
- Endri Kaçaçi
- Enxhi Nasufi
- Erand Sojli
- Erik Lloshi
- Evi Reçi
- Fifi & Tiri Gjoci
- Frensi
- Gerta Mahmutaj
- Ghiti
- Gresa Gjocera & Bledi Kaso
- Inis Neziri
- Kamela Islamaj
- Kimi
- Kleansa Susaj
- Lorenc Hasrama
- Luna Çausholli
- Malvina Likaj
- Rezarta Smaja
- Rigersa Loka
- Sara Kapo
- Savjana Vjerdha
- Sheila
- Sihana Haxhnikaj
- Threex
- Vedat Ademi
Among the participants, there are multiple returning performers, as well as some new ones. Despite the list of participants is now out, the songs will however first be shared with the public sometime in November, no official release date has been set yet. This also goes for when the festival will be held, however, it is confirmed, that the festival will last for four consecutive nights. Two of the nights being the semi-finals, one being a nostalgia night, and then of course there is the final night, which is where the winner will be decided.
In 2025, Albania was represented by the duo Shkodra Elektronike, who together brought thier song “Zjerm” to the European stage in Basel, Switzerland. After having qualified from semi-final, Albania managed to score a total of 218 points in the grand final from the juries and the televote, which awarded the nation an 8th place finish.
Who are #YOU mostly excited about taking part and are #YOU planning to hear the songs ahead of the contest as well?
Let’s hear from #YOU on our forum site right HERE, or visit us on Facebook, X(Twitter), Instagram, Youtube, TikTok and Discord.
Source(s): RTSH.al (In Albanian)