Tonight, the televised part of the Portuguese national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 will kick off with the first semi final of the Festival da canção 2010 being held. Twelve acts will compete for six spots in the national final.

The show

The show to be broadcast on RTP1, RTP Madeiria, RTP Internacional and RTP Africawill start at 22:35 CET (21:35 local time) and it will be hosted by Silvia Alberto at the Campo Paqueno in Lisbon. Twelve acts will present one song each and televoting alone will select the top six to progress to the national final on 6th March.

How to watch?

A webcast will be provided hereor here.

Participants

Composer/Lyricist in brackets.

1. Nucha – Chuva
   (Marios Gligoris/Nuno Valério)
2. Ouro – Arco-íris dentro de mim
   (José Castanheira, Jan Van Dijck/Paulo Abreu de Lima)
3. Claudisabel – Contra tudo e todos
   (Jordi Cubino/Luis André Florindo)
4. Filipa Azevedo – Há dias assim
   (Augusto Madureira)
5. Jorge Guerreiro – Ai Lisboa
   (José Félix/Catarina Martins)
6. Dennisa – Meu mundo de sonhos
   (Barreto, João Sanguinheira/João Novo)
7. Nuno Pinto – Fogo lento
   (Américo Faria)
8. Filipa Galvão Telles – O amor não sabe
   (José Campos Sousa/António Tinoco)
9. The Agency – É assim que as coisas são
   (The Agency)
10. Gonçalo Madruga – Cores de um mundo
    (Gonçalo Madruga)
11. Evelyne Filipe – A tua voz
    (Joachim Vermeulen Windsant, Maarten ten Hove/Evelyne Filipe)
12. Vanessa – Alvorada
    (Nuno Feist/Nuno Marques da Silva)

Your opinion

• You can vote for your favourite song in our poll here.

In 2009, Portugal was represented by Flor-de-Lis, who finished eighth in the first semi final and 15th in the final with their song Todas as ruas do amor. In 2010, the country will compete in the first semi final of the Eurovision Song Contest on 25th May.