The second artist ever to represent Albania at the Eurovision Song Contest had her first rehearsal and press conference. Ledina Celo and her people appeared on a black and white themed stage. Just before the second performance, against EBU advice, Wig Wam promo discs were handed out to the numerous press and fans, while others found themselves having a hard time getting through the crowd when entering the room.

Rehearsal
At the beginning of the performance, Ledina's dancers lined up at the back of the stage covered in red sheets. Soon after the songs first words were sang, they were taken off by Ledina, revealing also four violins and a drum. Several times throughout the performance, the dancers pretend to be using those instruments – while there is no notion of them in the taped music. At other times, drums can be heard without any reference to this on stage. This can potentially turn out to be impressive, once they link those two. It is against the rules of the contest to use live music on stage.

Press Conference
The press conference started, as many others, with an introduction of the team. Shortly after, Ledina was asked why she sang in English rather than Albanian. She answered that most people do not understand Albanian and, as she wants people to understand the song, the language of choice became English. In her song, Tomorrow I go, she sings about love and marriage. When asked about the meaning of this to her, and her whether she is married or not, she said that marriage is still very traditional in Albania and she didn't want to sing about just love. More than this, her song is about the special thing marriage is. It is the moment when a girl leaves her parents, a big step on the young woman's live. Ledina herself is not married.

Of course the earlier problems around the Albanian entry were recalled. Head of Delegation Gezim Podgorica made a controversial statement about this. He said that as the Eurovision Song Contest is broadcast all over Europe, the public won't know the composer and writer of the song. This raised some jealousy by the writer and he started to complain. According to the Mr. Podgorica as the song is already public, it belongs to the singer herself. “Do you know the composer of Ruslana's song”, the head of delegation asked the audience. “No, no one knows”, he said when he got no reply. Wild Dances is written by Ruslana's husband and manager Alexander Ksenofontov and composed by Ruslana Lyzchicko herself.

Ledana started singing when she was very young, “my father sang too much” she said. She had her first stage experience at the age of twelve.

“We didn't come just to participate, but to show how good we (as a small country) are”, said Mr. Podgorica.

At the end of the press conference, Ledina performed a small part of her song in Albanian. It was only just after the first line, when she had to ask her team to remind her about the lyrics. The video of this performance will appear in the Video Reports section on our frontpage. note: the video will be on later today

Photo gallery

Click here fot a photo gallery of the Albanian rehearsal.