Albania | Preparations for the 59th edition of Festival i Këngës begin

The Albanian national broadcaster, RTSH, has announced that preparations for their National final have began today. Despite the pandemic, it has been confirmed that one of the longest running national finals will be held in some form this winter. This may be with or without a live audience, depending on the national COVID-19 situation. However, this news is warmly welcomed by Albanian Eurofans as their 2021 participation and the continuation of Festival I Këngës (FiK) is confirmed.

As Deputy director of RTSH, Martin Leka held a meeting today past songwriters, musicians and festival adivsors, whereby how to improve the competition was discussed. Since this consultative meeting, it has been rumoured that submissions will open for FiK in early September. There is still much to be confirmed, including the precise dates of the festival that usually opens national final season. Nonetheless, this gives hope that the Eurovision national finals will operate as normal in 2021.

What also has not been confirmed is the role 2020 representative, Arilena Ara, will play in FiK 59. The confirmation of this national final does likely suggest that Arilena will not represent Albnaia once more as she would have to win FiK all over again to do so.

However, her participation has in not been ruled out, and if she were to enter with another song that impressed viewers and juries as much as "Shaj", she will certainly have a hope to achieve what currently appears to be unlikely. More announcements are expected from RTSH in the coming weeks as they begin to finalise their plans for the 2021 season.

Arilena Ara was due to represent Albania at Eurovision 2020 in Rotterdam after she won the 58th edition of Festival I Këngës. However, due to the unfortunate cancellation of Eurovision this year, this participation was never realised. Whilst we await more news on FiK 59, let's reminisce back to last year and check out Andy's reaction to "Shaj".