Albania: Festivali i Kenges 59 final set for December 23; Most of the show will be pre-recorded

The Albanian national broadcaster, RTSH, has confirmed the dates of the upcoming Festival i Kenges, which will see its 3 show take place on December 21,22 and 23, while most of the competition will be pre-recorded.
Following the revelation of the 26 contestants and entries, RTSH confirmed that the 3 shows of the 59th edition of Festival i Kenges are set to take place on December 21, 22 and the final on December 23. The music event will be hosted by Blendi Salaj and Jonida Vokshi and will be directed by Martin Leka. All three shows will ufold in an open air venue, namely next to the Italia Square in Tirana due to the COVID-19 restrictions in the country.
The three shows
During the first night of the competition the contestants will perform the studio version of their entries as they will perform them for Eurovision 2021 while on the second night will perform an accoustic version of their entries. Then the jury will select for the qualifiers to the final which will hit our screens on December 23, with the acts performing once again their songs.
The Eurovision Story So far
In 2004 Albania debuted in the contest with Anjeza Shahini with the entry “The Image of You”, which came 7th . The country hasn’t achieve to win in its 15 appearances until now. Its best result was came in 2012 with Rona Nishliu and her 5th placing in Baku with her song “Suus”.
In 2019 Jonida Maliqi won the Festivali i Kenges 2018 and and went on represent Albania at its 16th participation in the competition. Her song Ktheju Tokes ended in the 17th place of the Grand final.
This year Arilena Ara was set to perform her song Fall From Sky on the Eurovision stage in Rotterdam, but saw her journey remaining unfinished due to the coronavirus pandemic after the contest’s unprecedent cancellation .