The 69th edition of the European Song Contest, "Eurovision", began on Tuesday.
Albania was among the ten countries that qualified for the final from the first semi-final. Norway, Sweden, Iceland, the Netherlands, Poland, San Marino, Estonia, Portugal and Ukraine also made it to the final.
The second semi-final will be held on Thursday. There, 10 of the 16 countries will advance to the final. The final is on Saturday, May 17.
Switzerland organizes Eurovision after 36 years
Switzerland also hosted the first Eurovision Song Contest in history.
Albania with "Zjerm" in the "Eurovision" final
Shkodra Elektronike's performance in the Eurovision semi-finals
The song "Zjerm" performed by the group Shkodra Elektronike has qualified for the final of "Eurovision 2025" being held in Basel, Switzerland.
Albania qualified second, right after Norway.
In addition to Albania and Norway, Sweden, Iceland, the Netherlands, Poland, San Marino, Estonia, Portugal and Ukraine also secured a ticket to the final.
The second semi-final will be held on Thursday. There, 10 of the 16 countries will advance to the final. The final is on Saturday, May 17.
Albania continues to hold the record represented by Rona Nishliu in 2012. She with the song "Suus" ranked fifth. Albania also entered the top 10 in 2017, represented by Lindita Halimi with the song "World".
Albania for the first time participated in "Eurovision" in 2004. That year, it was represented by Anjeza Shahini with the song "The Image of you", with which she took seventh place. This position remained the highest it reached until 2012.
Switzerland is hosting Eurovision after 36 years. Swiss singer Nemo won last year's Eurovision. Before him, Celine Dion had last won in 1988.
Switzerland also hosted the first Eurovision Song Contest in history.
Voting opens for the final
(Updated 22:54) - Voting is closed.
Voting is open to take 10 of today's 15 Eurovision performers to the final.
Albania, which was presented with the song "Zjerm", performed by Shkodra Elektronike, is also awaiting the vote for the final.
Albania has number 12.
Voting will remain open for 15 to 25 minutes.
Albania lights up Eurovision with "Zjerm"
Albania lit up the Eurovision stage with the song "Zjerm", performed by Shkodra Elektronike.
The group took the stage 12th.
The performance was accompanied by dynamic visual effects and characteristic electronic rhythms, being enthusiastically received by festival fans.
After Albania, three more countries will perform before voting for the finalists opens.
“Shkodra elektronik” was founded in 2019 and their repertoire mainly includes recreations and reworkings of Albanian song gems. They started as a project group in 2019 and during this time they performed at many important Italian and Albanian events. The first was on the occasion of the opening of the Kosovo and Albania Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2019. They continued to deepen their genre with the opening of the personal exhibition in Tirana of the artist Adrian Paci, and at the fourth edition of the “Zā Fest” Festival and others. In 2020 they began to release their first songs. The original song “Ku e gjeta vendin” was the winner of the special award at the “Lule Borë Festival” and they released others a year later such as “Synin si qershia” and “Turtulleshë”.
In the last edition, with the votes of the public, Besa Kokëdhima had the right to represent Albania in "Eurovision" with the song entitled "Heart in hand". While the winner of the edition was Mal Retkoceri with the song "Crazy". 22 songs were performed in the final.
Iceland opens Eurovision semi-final
The group “Væb” from Iceland
The Icelandic band "Væb" opened the Eurovision semi-final tonight in Basel. They performed the song "Roa".
Poland performed after them. Justyna Steczkowska performed "Gaja".
Slovenia performed third with Klemen, who sang "How Much Time Do We Have Left".
Tommy Cash represented Estonia with the song "Espresso Macchiato"
Albania will perform 12th.
