The 18 performances of Albania’s
Festivali i Këngës 59 may have been pre-recorded, but the drama felt like it was live and rolling. And at the end of it after three nights and a three-hour finale a seven-person jury crowned
Anxhela Peristeri the winner with her dramatic ballad
“Karma”. Next stop? Eurovision 2021 in Rotterdam.
Festivali i Këngës 59 winner: Anxhela Peristeri will sing for Albania at Eurovision 2021
Anxhela, who has a quarter of a million followers on Instagram, was completely unfazed by the spotlight of the past month. And it showed most clearly in the final, where she stood centre stage hitting note after note in her mystical ballad “Karma”, which she told us sends a message about the actions we take and what the universe sends us in return.
The difficult history of Festivali i Këngës
Almost sixty years ago, a new music festival began in the city of Tirana – Festivali i Këngës. This festival would continue for decades, through communism, dictatorship, prosecutions and censorship, before coming the music show known and loved around Europe today.
It’s through the shows long and difficult history that we can see how the contest grew and developed into the festival that now airs today.
Beginning in the December of 1962, the festival was centred around light music, and was won by Vaçe Zela and her song ‘Fëmija I parë’. The song was about a happy mother who was thrilled to have been blessed with a child in her life.