A third and final night of FikMas in Albania to choose the winner. As already mentioned, 25 entries were reduced to 18 following the first semi-final - which felt like a lot of work over 2 nights to not really narrow the field by much! With 18 contestants, and lots of interviews and other performances, it was a full show.
Performances for this show seemed to be a third pre-record performance by each contestant, filmed ‘as live’ (with some slightly different outfits the only thing to really differentiate from night 1 to be honest!).
The final opened with the same fantastic opening number as Semi-final one, which was great. I don’t believe an audience was in the (outdoor) stadium for this event as there was use of dreadful ‘canned’ applause throughout. I also can’t actually work out if there was any public interaction in the voting, or if it was just from a panel, but phone details didn’t seem to be shared.
Peppered throughout the evening were a number of additional acts, I assume performed by local groups/artists - including Eugent Bushpepa who performed Hallelujah (the Jeff Buckley version, not the Israeli entry version!), and a great version of The Eurythmics ‘Sweet Dreams’ with dancers – given the social distancing requirements, the show was really well put together.
Highlights for me on the night were:
- Kamala Islamaj with Kujtimet s'kanë formë. My favourite although I feel it may be a bit ‘soft’ for the Albanian jury as it doesn’t have that ‘anguish’ we’ve come to know and love!
- Anxhela Peristeri with Karma. Truly a standout song in terms of production, quality, and presentation. Anxhela has a solid strong voice and can definitely deliver. Potential winner
- Rosela Gjylbegu with Vashëz. This is a strong entry, and a strong Albanian flavour, combined with a great voice.
- Xhesika Polo with Më mbron. A power ballad which can hold its own, and a beautiful, pained voice.
- Festina Mejzini with Kush je ti dashuri. Quite a traditional Albanian feel – lots of wailing, pained, lost-love vibes and it showcases that genre well. Festina has a cracking voice too.
There were a number of awards given over the last 20 minutes, until finally the big one - the winner - was presented to Anxhela Peristeri for Karma in a cloud of pyrotechnics, smoke and ticker tape.
Her dancers joined her to celebrate briefly before the stage cleared and what I believe was the first truly live song of the whole Festivali was performed!
A really well-deserved win for undoubtedly the strongest song of the week.