RTSH, the Albanian national broadcaster has informed Esctoday.com that it has received around 65 songs for the 2013 Albanian Eurovision national selection. The 2012 Festivali i Këngës will be the mechanism used by the Albanian broadcaster to select both the Albanian Eurovision entry and representative, as it is every year.

As Esctoday.com informed earlier, RTSH had extended its song submission deadline until  22 October after requests from authors and composers who required more time. The 2012 Festivali i Këngës is scheduled to be held between 20 and 22 December at the Palace of Congresses in Tirana as every year.

RTSH informed Esctoday.com that a special jury will now evaluate all received submissions and will select between 28-32 songs that will compete in the  2 semi-finals ( 20 and 21 December). Between 14- 16 songs are expected to compete in each semi-final, and between 7-8 songs from each semi-final will then qualify for the grand finale of Festivali i Këngës scheduled to be held in Tirana on  22 December. A total of between 14-16 acts are expected to fight for the golden ticket to Malmö . RTSH is expected to reveal the 28-32 lucky songs/acts by mid-November.

RTSH also revealed to Esctoday.com that they are planning to invite international former Eurovision stars to attend the show. Which former Eurovision stars will fly to Tirana in December? We will be bringing you more information regarding this matter in due course!

Albania debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2004 with Anjeza Shahini’s The image of you. Albania is yet to win the event, the country’s best placing at the Eurovision Song Contest was in 2012 with Ronna Nishliu’s Suus, which achieved a 5th placing. Stay tuned to Esctoday.com for further information regarding the 2013 Albanian Eurovision national selection.

source: Esctoday.com, RTSH