Albania

Today, we will have Press Conferences again for the Eurovision Song Contest. We will keep you updated about them all the time. 15:31 Jesper Groth van Fyr & Flamme legt uit dat ze in het Deens zingen omdat ze dat zo fantastisch vonden aan het oude songfestival: dat was net een ansichtkaart uit ieder land. De mannen zeggen geïnspireerd te zijn door de muziek van eind jaren 70. Dat was niet een speciaal zo bedoeld geluid, maar door het schrijven ontstond dat zo. De heren geven aan dat ze alleen maar door het songfestival geïnspireerd zijn. Ze vinden de sfeer fantastisch. Ze waren ook nog erg onder de indruk dat ze een ooievaar gezien hadden. Een nieuw album zal waarschijnlijk in het Deens zijn, maar ze sluiten helemaal niet uit dat het anders wordt.  15:06 Gjon’s Tears is satisfied with the second rehearsal. He is happy that the team is heading in the right direction. Gjon’s Tears says about his clothes that he likes to work with people he knows. He thinks it is important to give Swiss talent a chance. He collaborated with Sacha Jean Baptiste on the staging. He says it has changed something in him. He thought he couldn’t dance but she convinced him to do it anyway. Gjon’s Tears is happy to have people around him who change him. He is talking about melody and text: he lives from melody, but in this case the message of “Tout l’univers” is in the text. He adds that he is not only here as a singer, but that he is also active here as a composer and lyricist. That is his livelihood. Gjon talks a lot because he says: people listen to me here. That may not be the case in five years. He was happy that his style is immediately recognized in his song.  14.49 Samanta Tina from Latvia sings a song by the Russian group A-Studio. Samanta speaks of the different roles she has: at home she is a mother, a sister and a daughter. As a teenager she was searching. She has participated in national finals for a long time and often. It brought her to tears when she first came on stage. She indicates that she would like to participate again if she gets the chance, just to experience it again. She doesn’t know yet in which genre she will sing. It is different every time she is on stage, so looking ahead is not her forte. She doesn’t want to be framed, she likes to mix genres. What she does know is that if she returns to the Eurovision song contest that it will be as a singer and not as a composer. “The stage is my place,” says Samanta.  13.12 The second rehearsal of the Finnish band Blind Channel went well, pyrothechnics are added, and the gentlemen do not care anymore if something goes wrong, for example if someone has to vomit during the performance. It’s rock ‘n’ roll. They think representing Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest is cool because they show what Finland is good at: rock. They also like being number 1 in the Finnish charts, but they actually want to be number 1 everywhere in Europe. Presenting themselves as Finnish rockers all over Europe is something they like even more. For the grunt at the end, they got advise from Lordi (ESC 2006): he opens his voice with Pepsi Cola and chocolate. Yet they don’t just listen to rock songs. A favorite Eurovision song they mention is “Euforia”. They don’t want to cover that song though; they would like to work with Loreen. Beforehand they had heard negative stories about the Eurovision song contest in Finland, but they especially like it very much. They do what they have been doing for eight years: perform.  12.47 VIKTORIA indicates that there are still some small things to be done about light and camera work. The delegation leader adds that these are very normal little things and thanks the people of the technology for their work. She tells about her father, who can be seen in the photo in the act, that he has ALS and therefore cannot be there to support her. When he saw the photo he burst into tears. VIKTORIA says to be very careful and to stay in her hotel room. The most important thing for her is to be able to perform here. The team used the time to write a new song, among other things. The subject is uncertainty and confidence in yourself and your own personality. Her personal victory (= viktoria) would be if she could make good contact with the audience and get the message across. Her inspiration often comes from movie soundtracks.  12.22 The members of The Black Mamba wrote their song about a woman from Amsterdam. They themselves have no clear memory of Amsterdam for reasons that they will not go into further. They very much hope that the woman will recognize herself in the lyrics. But they met the woman in The Bulldog, a coffee shop in Amsterdam. Perhaps that says something. They like to be called hypnotic, just like the snake after which they are named they like to hypnotize their audience. They then administer their positive poison. The Black Mamba does feel some pressure now that they are seen as “dark horse”, but they also say: they are just numbers. At the end of the press conference, the members of the group sing another song.  11.58 The rehearsal of Albanian Anxhela Peristeri went very well. The first is a bit more to explore the stage a bit. She indicates that she has learned here that an experience like the Eurovision song contest changes you in a positive way. She says she now knows she was born to sing. She likes the way she is treated in the Netherlands. She enjoys it. They spend a lot of time in the hotel room but have a good time together

Smoke and a wind machine accompany Anxhela Peristeri during her performance. A lot of red and black make it clear that this is Albania, in addition to the fact that Anxhela sings in her own language. Anxhela surprises with her strong-voiced ballad, perhaps one of the best of the festival. Anxhela is alone on stage, unfortunately the backing vocals are on tape as with many others.   in cooperation with Eurovision Artists