After two semi-finals 14 acts have been announced to participate in the grand final of the Festivali i Këngës 55 in Albania to be held on Friday 23 December. The winning act will represent Albania at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev.
The 14 song and acts are –
1. Dilan Reka – Mos harro
2. Edea Demaliaj – Besoj në ëndrra
3. Fabiola Agalliu & Agnesa Çavolli – Shkon e vjen
4. Flaka Krelani – Osiris
5. Franc Koruni – Macka
6. Genc Salihu – Këtu
7. Lindita Halimi – Botë
8. Lorela – Me ty
9. LYNX – Sot
10. Orges Toçe – Shi diamantësh
11. Rezarta Smaja – Pse prite gjatë
12. Xhesika Polo – Eva jam unë
13. XUXI – Metropol
14. Yll Limani – Shiu
Sebastian Calleja {copyright: facebook.com/Sebastian.calleja/Rubens}
Sebastian Calleja is a rising star from Malta who won the 2016 OGAEvision Song Contest with his rendition of Golden Boy (2015 ESC Israel). Now Sebastian has just released his brand new single for a very worthy cause. It is entitled L-Ghadu Tieghi and the proceeds will go to The Malta Community Chest Fund.
L-Ghadu Tieghi is composed by Rita Pace and Marc Spiteri Lucas. The song is about somebody with a chronic illness and how they feel or cope with the people and family around them.
The single will be available on CD single and DVD which includes the special music video that possible with the help of Jonathan Brincat and some company sponsors.
For more information on how to obtain the CD and DVD contact Sebastian at –
The lucky 16 finalists have been announced for the 2017 Malta Eurovision Song Contest final. A shortlist of 60 songs has been whittled down. Some familiar faces take to the stage once again hoping to represent Malta at the Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Kiev, Ukraine in May of 2017. They include previous finalists Brooke Borg, Claudia Faniello, Deborah C (this time as part of a duet), Kevin Borg, Klinsmann Coleiro, Maxine Pace, Raquela Dalli Gonzi, Franklin Calleja and Richard Edwards.
Here are the 16 finalists –
Brooke Borg – Unstoppable Cherton Caruana – Fighting To Survive Claudia Faniello – Breathlessly Crosswalk – So Simple Deborah C & Josef Tabone – Tonight Franklin Calleja – Follow Me Jade Vella – Seconds Away Janice Mangion – Kewkba Kevin Borg – Follow Klinsmann Coleiro – Laserlight Maxine Pace – Bombshell Miriana Conte – Don’t Look Down Raquela Dalli Gonzi – Ray Of Light Rhiannon Micallef – Fearless Richard Edwards – You Shauna Vassallo – Crazy Games
The date of the national selection is 18 February 2017.
Olga Satsiuk {copyright: facebook.com/olga.satsiuk}
Olga Satsiuk has just released a brand new dance single with Dee Flack entitled Davay soydom s uma (Let’s get together with the mind). It has an hypnotic trance feel to the song and will go down well on the dance floor.
Olga has come a long way since participating in the very first Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2003 representing her country Belarus with Tantsuy (Dance). She is a versatile and talented artist who has recorded pop and dance songs in the style of trance and drum and bass genre. She also recorded a rock version of the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest winner, Euphoria, by Loreen.
You can see a preview of the promo video for Davay soydom s uma below and you can also see her perform at the 2014 Lira national music awards in Belarus singing Sonechka. Check out also her version of Euphoria with the Prime Band.
Marilena {from the video for ‘Someday At Christmas}
Marilena has released a beautiful festive song entitled Someday At Christmas. The charming ballad was composed by Ron Miller and Brian Wells and was recorded by Stevie Wonder.
Marilena competed in the Malta Eurovision Song Contest selection in 2013 with her song Overrated and she was a part of the teen group Young Talent Team that represented Malta the 2004 Junior Eurovision Song Contest with Power Of A Song.
You can see the video for Marilena singing Someday At Christmas below.
Rebecka Karlsson charmed the public with her amazing performances on Idol in Sweden that earned her the runner up position. Her outstanding and crystal clear vocals and her many versatile stage performances were mature and beyond her 16 years of age. She clearly has a big future ahead of her.
Rebecka is still busy after the Idol success where she has been doing a short tour around Sweden with her fellow Idol finalists, Charlie Grönvall (who is the grandson of Benny Andersson from ABBA and was a part of Bracelet, who competed in the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2016 with Breakaway) and the winner Liam Cacatian Thomassen, who has just released the winner’s single, Playing With Fire. Today they were at Stinsen Mall, Sollentuna-Stockholm and tomorrow will be at the mall in Vasteras at 17.30 (CET).
We look forward to hearing more of Rebecka’s music in 2017. You can listen to some of Rebecka’s songs from the Idol tv show on Spotify and you can see her performances in the Idol final below – All By Myself (Celine Dion), Only Girl In The World (Rihanna) and her version of Playing With Fire.
Justine Shorfid was a finalist in the 2015 Malta Junior Eurovision Song Contest national selection. There she performed the Etta James song, I’d Rather Go Blind. Justine is also competing in The Entertainers – Singing Challenge on Net tv in Malta.
Now Justine has had a big success at the Erseb Festival. She won first prize in her section for singing Proud Mary (performed by many acts including Tina Turner). Justine also got the second prize in her section for performing the musical classic, Summertime. She got the overall prize too.
Justine has a very soulful voice and I am sure we are going to hear a lot more from her in the future.
You can see Justine perform Proud Mary on The Entertainers below.
Austria have selected internally for Nathan Trent to represent them at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev. ORF and Eberhard Forcher and Christof Straub (father of Zoë, Austria’s 2015 entrant) looked for fresh new talent to enter the contest. They decided upon Nathan to do the job.
You can see Nathan’s latest single release, Like It Is, below.
Brendan Murray has been confirmed to be the representative for Ireland at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev. An announcement was made by his manager, Louis Walsh, on the Late Late Show on RTÉ tv in Ireland.
Brendan was a former member of the boyband, Hometown. A call for songs has been made and more information can be found at http://www.rte.ie/tv/eurovision/ Louis Walsh hinted he was looking for a ballad type song for Brendan in the style that Adele or Ed Sheeran might sing.
You can see Brendan do a short rendition of the Johnny Logan Eurovision winner, Hold Me Now (1987 ESC Ireland), below.
Elené Mikiashvili is one of the contenders in the 2017 Georgian Eurovision national selection with her song Fighter. Here Elené talks to ESC Covers about her song and music career so far –
1. Can you tell us something about your song ‘Fighter’?
My song’s composers and lyric authors are Swedish twin duo Ylva and Linda Persson, and the instrumental music author is Will Taylor. The lyrics are about the girl who is never giving up and always fighting for success like me.
2. What would it mean to you if you were to represent your country at the Eurovision Song Contest?
It’s very important to me and it would be a big responsibility, because it is my dream to represent my country at Eurovision, now I have a chance and I am going to do my very best.
3. You successfully participated in The Voice of Georgia. Can you tell us something about your experience in the show and songs you performed?
The Voice was the biggest experience for me, it was for me the first TV show and of course was a big challenge, and it is such a big competition. My first blind audition song was ‘Proud Mary’ by Tina Turner, which is my favourite song. The second battle song was ‘Love On Top’ by Beyonce and it was a different and interesting version and I won the battle third round knockout where I took a golden card from my mentor, then there were the live shows where I sang ‘Vogue’ by Madonna and I had a great stage show with dancers and on the second live show my song was ‘My Man’ by Barbra Streisand from the movie ‘Funny Girl’.
4. Your mentor was Anri Jokhadze (who represented Georgia at the 2012 Eurovision). What was it like working with him and have you spoke to him about entering a song for the Eurovision selection in Georgia?
Anri is my great friend, teacher and mentor and everything!! He always helps me and tries to give me good advice, of course he knows about Eurovision and he likes my song!
5. What are your favourite musical tastes? Who are your musical influences?
I like everything that is good, I can listen to classical music when I am in the mood or alternative rock or pop, etc. My favourite singers always were Barbra Streisand, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson and favourite group is Coldplay.
6. You have recently been collaborating with DJ Giga Papaskiri. Could you tell us about this and the songs you have released.
Giga is a very talented and good boy, we are working together and already have our original songs and some covers, people like our music and we are doing our best, we have already made our first music video which will soon be published and we are working on a second one.
7. Do you have any favourite Eurovision songs from the past?
Yes, my favourite songs are Eldrine – ‘One More Day’ (ESC 2011 Georgia), Nina Sublatti – ‘Warrior’ (ESC 2015 Georgia), Loreen – ‘Euphoria’ (ESC 2012 Sweden), Aram mp3 – ‘Not Alone’ (ESC 2014 Armenia) and Mørland & Debrah Scarlett – ‘A Monster Like Me’ (ESC 2015 Norway).
8. Did you watch the Junior Eurovision Song Contest this year? What were your feelings about the win for Georgia and Mariam Mamadashvili?
I think Mariam Mamadashvili is a very talented young girl who has a huge future on the stage. When I first listened to the song I was shocked how beautiful she was singing , and when she won I was very, very proud!
9. Is there anywhere where readers can listen to your music?
Yes of course, on youtube I have several videos and on my Soundcloud channel.
Thank you Elené ….we wish you good luck with your participation
