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New artistic leader for Festivali i Kėngės
Albania: First country to pick song for ESC again
Albanian broadcaster RTSH has asked Pirro Cako to become the artisitic leader of the 47th edition of the Festivali i Këngës. Pirro cako is a well-known Albanian singer/songwriter and was responsible for the winning song of the 1988 festival, E duam Lumturinë, performed by Parashqevi Simaku. In 2006 he wrote the song that finished in second place, Pa ty, pa mua performed by Rosela Gjylbegu. Besides that, he hosted the festival last year together with singer Elsa Lila.
Cako stated in a recent interview with Albanian newspaper Panorama: 'It’s a big honour for me to become the new artisitic leader of this fantastic event. The broadcaster gave me the free hand to organise the festival the way I want it and the way I like it'.
Another thing that has become clear already is that the young talented singer Greta Koçi won’t participate in the forthcoming Festivali i Këngës. Koçi has shown interest to represent her country in The Eurovision Song Contest several times already. She took part in the Festivali i Këngës in 2006 and 2007, which resulted both times in a disappointing 5th place. ‘I will never take part again as long as there’s a 100% jury vote in the festival’, the singer said in an interview.
In recent years the Festivali i Këngës has received huge criticism for its selection system. A lot of participants and fans seem to prefer a televoting to pick the winner, or at least a 50-50 system of jury and televoting.
Many thanks to Gafurr Sahiti for his contribution to this article.
Related polls
- Jury vote, do you agree?
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Mina:
I'm sure. Juries tend to vote for entries like the ones i mentioned. And since Bulgaria, San Marino and Turkey voted for most of them, it's easy to guess the rest jury votes. Just like the previous years. Juries gave nul to Finland in 2006, and 10/12 to Bosnia Herzegovina.
I think Albania did a good job in this year`s contest. Olta has a really good voice, the performance was great too, it should have finished higher.
About the Albanian NF... the producers should change the voting system at least 50%-50%.
Candyman,
you assume way too much, noone knows who the other juries would vote for. That's the idea with the juries..that you can't know what they'll vote for 
One can give 12 pts to Greece, another 4 and another one 0. How can you guess they would give nothing to Russia, or that Sweden and Ukraine would fight for the victory or that the Uk would be in Top 10 just because we know the votes of 2 juries and the 3 top points of Bulgaria? There were 40 more countries you know..LOL
I didn;t like her vocal perfomance but she's not voiceless.
I guess the rest of juries voted high for UK Ukraine and Sweden, gave a few pts to Greece and nothing to Russia.
The Turkish just gave 1p to portugal.. weird isn;t it? portugal didn't get high pts from 2 juries we know and wasn't in bulgaria's jury top 3.
One thing is for sure. Ukraine and Sweden would have fought for the victory and United Kingdom would have been in top 10!!
I think the Monagasque jury was the most weird of all. lol
And yes televoting is so predictable the recent years. 50/50 voting system would make Eurovision more exciting!
what makes you think that Serbia and Croatia won't vote for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia even if they use juries?
Nothing at all. But if that happens, then noone can complain, can they? They'll just have to accept that that's how things are going to be from now on.
if Kalomira got 4pts from the Turkish back-up jury and 12p from the San Marinese one, what makes u fear that Sakis won't get points from juries? Juries voted for Charlotte Perelli!! I mean they dont vote anymore for boring ballads and excellent voices
Charlotte Perelli might not have been one of my favourites and I didn't like her performance but vocally she was very good and the song WAS old-fashioned. And we just know the votes of 2 juries and one of them gave us 4 pts for an excellent performance...so who knows what the rest gave us?
I just don't know what criteria each jury will have..it's not as easy as it is with televoting..lol
Although apart from Lebanon Switzerland, Norway and Greece are mu favourites
I loved the Swiss entry as well (it was a big fan favourite i remember) but the perfomance let me down. I expected something more impressive. They could have done better but 8th place ain't bad. besides, switzerland proved that they can do well without diaspora voting and neighbour voting (austria ignored them and germany gave them 4pts i guess)
what makes you think that Serbia and Croatia won't vote for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia even if they use juries?
Anyway, if Kalomira got 4pts from the Turkish back-up jury and 12p from the San Marinese one, what makes u fear that Sakis won't get points from juries? Juries voted for Charlotte Perelli!! I mean they dont vote anymore for boring ballads and excellent voices..
I agree with everything you've just said Mina, even the bit about Sakis at the end! 
If only Svante Stockselius was like you, understanding everybodys opinions and viewpoints, then we would have a much better contest!
Vincent,
my personal opinion is that the song most people prefer wins. Now if they vote for it because of cultural/musical/diaspora/neighbour reasons it's a different story.
And I'm not just saying this because Greece is among the countries that benefits from televoting or because my favourite song happened to win this year; I do think it's fair that the song that gets more votes should win.
The reason I support the idea of 50/50 jury-televoting and one vote per phone is because I understand the position of some countries like Cyprus, Belgium, Netherlands and so on...they DO have a point when they say that it's not fair that because of someone's neighbours/friends/diaspora even with an average song they can get to the final whereas they have to have a really good song to achieve the same thing.
It's easy for us to say 'send a good song' but, really, how good was Fyrom's song this year? With 24 pts from Serbia/Croatia, they would be in the final if the jury hadn't selected Sweden. Without those 24 pts? They would only have 40 pts and end up 16 th in the 2nd semi.
So, I would like to see how this system works for a year (not next year, I want Sakis to win )
Mina,
it is a bit strange and boring that Greece gives Albania 10 pts year after year..Is tends to be like Belarus giving 12 pts to Russia each year. But i do not think that the solution for this would be the 50% jury voting. I think the jury voting is going to be as political/ neigboury friendly as never before and we would end with the same results again. And one vote per phone is very restrictive for me. What happens if you wish to vote for more than one entries? or if you like 2 oe 3 songs, but the one more than the other and you want to show this? In semis 2007 I voted many times for Malta, becuase it was my favourite, some times for Bulgaria as my second favourite and 3 or 4 times for Iceland..and i would like to do so next year and not be restricted in any way.
Mina
"I found a way to guess 2010 winner...it will be the country that the Uk will give either 12 or 0 points to..LOL"
LOL Mina!! Actually I was genuinely surprised we didn't give Russia any points this year, after all "Believe" is quite a modern song. I wonder if Terry had mentioned the Timbaland collection whether we would have voted for Russia?
Candyman
"Nope. If Lebanon had take part, they would have won i think. Their ballad was a masterpiece"
I totally agreeeeeeeee on that!! "Quand tu S'enfuit" is my favourite song of 2005 even though it didn't technically make it to the contest! Although apart from Lebanon Switzerland, Norway and Greece are mu favourites
Candyman,
i agree with you, one more time :-)
I saw facts, there aren't 1 M Albanians in greece. 1 M immigrants! for god's sake.
And the Armenians in Greece are almost 35,000. In 2007, Armenia got 6 pts while this year 12pts. No Need to explain more. Greeks voted for Armenia. Wish we knew the televoting numbers as well.
oh yes...it is all about diasora voting, again..here we go....uuufffff..
Greece is a small country considering we are under 12.000.000 and 1 million is Albanians..lol..if we didn't vote as much as we do (or if we didn't have many Armenians, too) I'm sure they would get 12 pts this year.
I do think that the it's because of diaspora voting but if there weren't Greeks to vote for their songs, they wouldn't have gotten 10pts in the finals. Greece isn't a small country to manipulate the voting, and only Albania got only 11.000 votes in 2006. I'm sure they have gotten more televoting votes the other years. So it proves something.
Yes, but Russia got 0 points and they did win
Look..if the Uk votes 1st, we'll just write down the countries they gave 0 pts to
yeah but Russia wasnt the only one country that got zero from the U.K. And it was the 1st country to vote this year!
write down all the countries? lol no every1 will be nervous for the results..
Btw, in 2003 they gave 12p to Ireland and they didn't win. They gave 7p to Turkey and they won (but Russia was close to win and they were ignored by the UK public lol)
Mina,
they've just participated in 3 finals! You should take into account the semifinals as well.
they've just participated in 3 finals! You should take into account the semifinals as well
7, 8, 8 in 3 semifinals and 10 pts in 3 finals is a pretty good record.
I don't know if you live in Greece but if you do, do you really believe so many Greeks voted for the Albanian songs? Because I don't.
Anyway I won't insist...but if next year televoting is used again, do you want to bet we'll give them 10 pts again?
That's what I said...we'll watch where the 0 pts and 12 pts from the Uk will go..somewhere in there, we'll find the winner
But only 10 countries get votes from the UK and the rest zero. So how can we know who the winner is? Greece got their 12p this year but they didn't win. lol
Candyman,
I was talking about the final. In every single final they've participated, we've given them 10 pts.
Mina...about your forecast..lool!! Since i think that Sakis will get 12pt from the UK..now we already know the winner of 2009(..hm some wishfull thinking of mine??)
lol yeah just like in 2006 with Anna Vissi!
take a map and see the winning entries since 2001.
Estonia->Latvia->Turkey->Ukraine->Greece->Finland->Serbia->Russia->?
i mean all countries are connected to each other..lol
but if they introduce the 50/50 voting system, the outcome might be a surprise.
Anyway i think Helena would ahve won the 2005 contest anywa
Nope. If Lebanon had take part, they would have won i think. Their ballad was a masterpiece.
And don't be so optimistic for Sakis. wait for other entries to be announced.. we may have surprises..
Every single year Albania has participated they get 10 pts by Greece..
That's not true.
2006 semifinal: Albania got only 7pts. I guess Albanians living in Greece were on holidays.
2007 semifinal: Albania got 8pts if i'm right. Second year on holidays.
2004 semifinal: Albania got 8pts.
But only 10 countries get votes from the UK and the rest zero. So how can we know who the winner is? Greece got their 12p this year but they didn't win. lol
Yes, but Russia got 0 points and they did win 
Look..if the Uk votes 1st, we'll just write down the countries they gave 0 pts to and the country they gave 12 pts to.
One of them will be the winner
How is Ukraine connected to Greece?
How is Greece connected to Finland?
How is Finland connected to Serbia?
Or Serbia to Russia or Latvia to Turkey?
Ukraine-Russia
Greece-Turkey
Greece-Serbia
Latvia-Estonia
Estonia-Finland
Latvia-Russia
Estonia-Russia
Finland-Estonia
Serbia-Russia
aha
Jonny,
I found a way to guess 2010 winner...it will be the country that the Uk will give either 12 or 0 points to..LOL
2008 Russia - 0 pts by the Uk
2007 Serbia - 0 pts by the Uk
2006 Finland -12 pts by the Uk
2005 Greece - 12 pts by the Uk
but we can't know how many pts will UK award to the winner! We don't even know the 2009 entries LOL
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