|
 Anjeza
Shahini is an Albanian singer, born on the 12th August
1986, who in 2004 represented Albania in its first
appearance in the Eurovision Song Contest, with the
song The Image of You, originally known as Imazhi Yt
(Your Reflection).
The then 17-year old schoolgirl was plucked from
obscurity in 2003 when she competed at the three-day "RTSH"
song festival (Festivali i Kenges) at the Tirana
Palace of Congress in December. Along with 29 other
singers, she vied to win the public vote to represent
the Balkan state for the first time at the Eurovision
Song Contest in Istanbul in 2004, singing the song "Imazhi
Yt" (Your Reflection), a synthesised pop tune. After
two preliminary rounds, the singers faced a final vote
by jury and Albanian television viewers' televote. The
interval act at these national finals was actually the
previous winner Sertab Erener.
At the end of the final on 20th December, hosts Adi
Krasta and Ledina Celo presented Anjeza with her
special ticket for 12th May: a place in the Eurovision
semi-final in Istanbul. The victory was well received
by the Albanian public, although some comments were
made about her gypsy descendency, something which was
queried almost daily in the country's media.
The song, originally four and a half minutes in
length, was translated into English and re-named "The
Image of You", and Anjeza Shahini was also forced to
sing the song at one-and-a-half times it's original
tempo to bring the song in at the time of three
minutes, as stipulated by the EBU, controllers of the
Eurovision.
Anjeza sang in the semi-final first, using singers
which had lost out at the original selection procedure
for backup, and finished fourth out of twenty-four (a
top ten finished would secure a place in the final).
She was, therefore, qualified, and she sang live on
the Final night in May, alongside twenty-four other
countries. The performance was well received by the
Turkish audience, although there was reputed to be
problems with the microphone during the first verse
leading into the bridge ("Slave of my love, of my
emotions, you're in my acts..." instead of "[...]
you're in my eyes").
Anjeza Shahini finished a respectable seventh on the
night, with an excellent total of 106 points, behind
Eurovision veterans Ukraine, Sweden, Greece, Turkey,
Cyprus, and newcomer Serbia and Montenegro, and just
before Bosnia-Herzegovina. She was helped by extensive
block-voting between the Balkan nations, particularly
a surprising twelve points from Macedonia (attributed
to the large number of ethnic Albanians living there).
Since then Anjeza Shahini has been working on an
Albanian language album, although she has struggled to
match the huge domestic success of "Imazhi Yt" in
terms of sales yet. In late 2005 she announced her
intention to enter the national finals to compete in
the Eurovision at the Greek city of Athens. With the
song "Pse Ndal" Shahini made it through the two
semi-finals to the last twenty at the National Final.
The show aired on New Year's Eve 2005, where the
winner was announced as the song "Fire and Cold", by
Luiz Ejlli. The result provoked something of an outcry
in Albania, as other well-known domestic singers
failed to win, and even prompted accusations of jury
bias. |
