Introduction

• Participant(s): Ronela Hajati
• Song: Sekret
  
• Writer(s): Ronela Hajati
• Composer(s): Ronela Hajati
• Broadcaster: RTSH
• Social media:       
• Team review: 

Like every year, Albania is one of the first countries to choose its Eurovision entry. The national final which is the “Festivali i Këngës”, has celebrated its 60th anniversary. Congratulations!

Albania is mostly the first country to pick its Eurovision candidate in the national final. The Albanian broadcaster RTVSH is always producing a big gala show including two semi-finals and a Grand Final, accompanied by an orchestra and live singing is a standard. Hence the 18th Albanian entry in Eurovision history is “Sekret” by Ronela Hajati.

The very successful singer Ronela Hajati was born in Tirana in 1989. Early she learned to play the piano and ballet dancing. She has become a pop princess in Albania, released various singles. Her breakthrough she could reach with the song “Mala Gata”  in the year 2013. Within two years Ronela’s songs made it into the Top 30 of the Albanian charts. But with the song “MVP”  she reached #1. Ronela took part in many show formats also “Dancing with the stars”.

In her Eurovision entry “Sekret”, which she composed and texted by herself, she tells a love story of a secret love:

Come on closer to me, me ya
Cause I love when ya near near

The style of her music is contemporary pop with a touch of Rn’B and Balkan influences. In “Sekret” the melody with a strong chorus is dominating. The song will probably be sung in the Albanian language. It is to be expected that the stage setting will be great again, so that this dramatic entry will shine. This song also attract listeners from other European regions. Albania will also be on starting position one in the first semi-final, which is a very good opener for the 2022 ESC.

History

• Debut: 2004
• Participations: 18
• Victories: 0
• Finals: 10
• Top 10: 2

Congratulation Albania for the 60th anniversary of the Festivali i Këngës - the Albanian music festival. Since 2004, this event is also taken as national final to choose the Albanian representative for the Eurovision Song Contest. In that year Albania joined the ESC. The outcome was a great 7th place in the Grand Final of Istanbul with “The image of you” by Anjeza Shahini. A very good start for a debut country.

Last year in Rotterdam, Anxhela Peristeri could impress with a great stage show. With the song “Karma” she reached the 21st place only. For Albania it will be the 18th song in the Eurovision Song Contest. So far out of 18 participations for Albania, the Grand Final has been reached ten times and a Top10 placing could be achieved for two times, the chance for a Top10 position is around 12%. The chances for reaching the Grand Final is approximately 59%.

Albanian music is not that well known across the European continent and beyond, therefore the Eurovision Song Contest is a great opportunity to get a worldwide audience with circa 200 million TV spectators. The songs from Albania in the ESC have mostly preserved the traditional roots with folkloristic elements, even in modern songs there is a traditional part that gives the special Albanian touch. Often, songs will be revamped to give it a better sound, sometimes the chorus is worked out in a better way than the original version.
The difficulty is to make popular Albanian music accessible for European ears. In the Albanian pre selection the songs are normally longer than three minutes, therefore the entries are shortened, revamped and translated into English to match the European taste even better.

Biggest successes

• 1x 5th place
  “Suus” | Rona Nishliu (Baku 2012) 
• 1x 7th place
  ”The Image Of You” | Anjeza Shahini (Istanbul 2004) 

Video Nostalgia

• 
  “Zjarr E Ftohtë” | Luiz Ejlli
  Rank 14 (Semi-Final), Athens 2006
• “Carry Me In Your Dreams” | Kejsi Tola

   Rank 17, Moscow 2009

• “Ktheu tokës” | Jonida Maliq
  Rank 17, Tel Aviv 2019
  
  

First Rehearsal