1.
Albania
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Albania, officially the Republic of Albania, is a country in Southeastern Europe. It has a population of 3.03 million as of 2016, Tirana is the nations capital and largest city, followed by Durrës and Vlorë. The country has a coastline on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, the Adriatic Sea to the west. Albania is less than 72 km from Italy, across the Strait of Otranto which connects the Adriatic Sea to the Ionian Sea. In antiquity, the area of Albania was home to several Illyrian, Thracian. After the Illyrian Wars, it part of the Roman provinces of Dalmatia, Macedonia and Moesia Superior. In 1190, the first Albanian state, the Principality of Arbanon was established by archon Progon in the region of Krujë, the territory of Albania was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century, of which it remained part of for the next five centuries. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, following the Balkan Wars, the Kingdom of Albania was invaded by Italy in 1939, which formed Greater Albania, before becoming a Nazi German protectorate in 1943. The following year, a socialist Peoples Republic was established under the leadership of Enver Hoxha, Albania experienced widespread social and political transformations in the communist era, as well as isolation from much of the international community. In 1991, the Socialist Republic was dissolved and the Republic of Albania was established, Albania is a democratic and developing country with an upper-middle income economy. The service sector dominates the economy, followed by the industrial. After the fall of communism in Albania, Free-market reforms have opened the country to foreign investment, especially in the development of energy, Albania has a high HDI and provides universal health care system and free primary and secondary education to its citizens. Albania is a member of the United Nations, NATO, WTO, World Bank, the Council of Europe, the OSCE and it is also an official candidate for membership in the European Union. Albania is one of the members of the Energy Community, Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. It is home to the largest lake in Southern Europe and one of the oldest lakes in Europe, Albania is the Medieval Latin name of the country. The name may have a continuation in the name of a settlement called Albanon and Arbanon. During the Middle Ages, the Albanians called their country Arbëri or Arbëni, Albanians today call their country Shqipëri. As early as the 17th century the placename Shqipëria and the ethnic demonym Shqiptarë gradually replaced Arbëria, the two terms are popularly interpreted as Land of the Eagles and Children of the Eagles
2.
Radio Televizioni Shqiptar
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Radio Televizioni Shqiptar is the public broadcaster of Albania, founded in 1938 in Tirana. RTSH runs two analogue and digital television stations RTSH1 HD and RTSH2 HD, five digital thematic television stations known as RTSH, in addition, four regional radio and TV stations serve in Gjirokastër, Korçë, Kukës, and Shkodër. The international radio service broadcasts radio programmes in Albanian and seven other languages via medium wave, and uses the theme from the song Këputa një gjethe dafine as its signature tune. Since 1999, RTSH has been a member of the European Broadcasting Union, RTSH is the official organizer of the Albanian Song Festival Festivali i Kenges, the winner of which represents Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest. RTSH is funded by a combination of advertising, a licence fee of US$12.00. The beginnings of RTSH date to the creation of Radio Tirana on 28 November 1938, the first Albanian radio station was launched by King Zog I and Queen Geraldine Apponyi in a ceremony at the former building of the Municipality of Tirana. This officially marked the first broadcast of Radio Tirana, in 1987,66 hours of programmes were broadcast in 20 foreign languages every day. In 1959, Radio Tiranas director by that time, Petro Kita, founded the first Experimental Television Center to provide the basis for the latter Albanian television, TVSH. The first test programme was held on 29 April 1960, at 6,00 pm and was introduced by the journalist Stoli Beli, the official launch was set for 1 May 1960. Children movies and then programmes were broadcast, three times a week for about one hour. Television programs were launched by 1971. Color broadcasts started in 1981, and became regular by 1982, in 2002 TVSH ranked second with an audience share of 17. 1%. The second channel, TVSH2, began broadcasts in 2003. In 2012, several digital channels were launched under the RTSH logo. Despite the countrys size and isolationist policies, Radio Tirana was a fairly major international broadcaster during the Cold War. Its programmes had a reputation for being more than dull propaganda. During Albanias alliance with China in the 1960s and 1970s, Radio Tirana had to walk a line between being anti-West whilst also being anti-Soviet. As such, Radio Tirana kept close to the policy of the Peoples Republic of China
3.
Eurovision Song Contest 2004
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2004 was the 49th Eurovision Song Contest and it was held in the Abdi İpekçi Arena in Istanbul, Turkey. This was the first occasion in which the contest was held in Turkey after they had won the competition in 2003 with Sertab Erener singing Everyway That I Can, the hosting national broadcaster of the contest was Turkish Radio and Television Corporation. Ukrainian singer Ruslana won the contest with Wild Dances and it is notable that this was only Ukraines second participation in the contest. This was also the year in a row in which the contest was won by a woman. To accommodate the number of countries who wished to participate. The countries which didnt qualify for the final are normally calculate like participating countries, the contest was held in Istanbul following Turkeys victory in the 2003 contest in Riga, Latvia with Sertab Ereners Everyway That I Can. Originally the Mydonose Showland was chosen by TRT to host the event, korhan Abay and Meltem Cumbul were presenters of the show. In the semi-final and the final, Meltem Cumbul warmed up the audience with a sing-a-long of Eurovision classic Nel blu dipinto di blu, originally by Domenico Modugno. Sertab Erener returned to the stage in the final to perform Everyway That I Can, the 2003 winning song, Sertab also interviewed contestants in the green room. The Turkish dance ensemble Fire of Anatolia performed as the interval act, an official CD was released and, for the first time, the entire contest was released on DVD which included the Semi-Final and the Grand Final. The contests new official logo was used for the first time this year. The slogan for Istanbuls contest was Under The Same Sky, which communicated the importance of a united Europe and this year was also notable as it was the first year that Turkey voted for Cyprus and the second year in a row that Cyprus voted for Turkey. Nevertheless, in a move that angered some Cypriots, when the country presented its votes no map of the island was shown and this was due to Turkeys recognition of the northern half of the island as an independent republic. It is likely Turkey pulled out of showing the map because it would have highlighted the southern portion of the island. This was also the first year that the scores were only re-read by the hosts in one language. Before 2004 every point was repeated in French and English, but due to 36 countries voting and this was in the opposite of the original country representative spoke in. Also, this year was the first time in which a non-winning entry scored over 200 points, prior to this contest, only Rock n Roll Kids and Love Shine a Light, the winners in 1994 and 1997 had passed this mark. In this contest, all songs in the top 3 got over 200 points and this years Eurovision contest was the first to be a two-day event, with one qualifying round held on a Wednesday and the grand final held on the following Saturday
4.
Eurovision Song Contest 2012
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was the 57th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, following Ell & Nikkis win at the 2011 contest in Düsseldorf, the contest was held at the newly constructed Baku Crystal Hall, with semi-finals held on 22 and 24 May 2012, followed by the final held on 26 May 2012. The contest was won by singer Loreen from Sweden with the song Euphoria—written by Thomas G, son and Peter Boström, russia finished in second place, with Serbia finishing in third. They were followed by the host country, Azerbaijan, which reached the 4th place, albania finished 5th, achieving its first top 5 placing. Germany, Italy and Spain were the three members of the Big Five that managed to rank within the top 10, finishing in 8th, 9th and 10th places respectively. Azerbaijan got the right to host the 2012 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest after winning the previous 2011 edition with the song Running Scared performed by Ell & Nikki. Shortly after Azerbaijans victory at the 2011 edition, officials announced that a new 23,000 seat concert venue was to be built near National Flag Square in Baku, as a potential venue for the event. Three days later, other options were revealed by organisers, such as the 37, 000-seat Tofiq Bahramov Stadium. On 2 August 2011, Alpine Bau Deutschland AG was awarded the contract to construct the Baku Crystal Hall, preparations for construction began in the area shortly after the announcement. Even though the full cost of the contract was not named, on 8 September 2011, Azad Azerbaijan TV reported that Baku Crystal Hall would be the venue of the contest, but no formal confirmation was made at the time by the EBU. On 25 January 2012, it was confirmed that the Baku Crystal Hall would be the venue of the contest, even though the venue had an extended capacity of 23,000 people, only 16,000 people were able to attend each show. Tickets for the contest became available online for purchase on 28 February 2012, the results format of each show remained the same with each countrys votes being decided on a 50,50 split between televoting and a national jury. Each participating country had their own jury, which consisted of five professional members of the music industry. Under the official released on 24 November 2011, the number of participants in the final was raised to 26, including the host nation, the Big Five. This was the time in the Eurovision Song Contest that 26 countries were in the final. The draw that determined the semi-final running order was held on 25 January 2012 at the Buta Palace, the participating countries, excluding the automatic finalists, were split into six pots, based upon how those countries voted in past contests. From these pots, half competed in the first semi-final on 22 May 2012, the other half in that particular pot competed in the second semi-final on 24 May 2012. 1. ^ Armenia withdrew approximately a month and a half after the allocation draw
5.
Eurovision Song Contest 2007
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the 52nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It was won by first-time appearance as an independent country Serbia and was held at the Hartwall Areena in Helsinki, Finland earned the right to host the event after heavy metal band Lordis victory at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. It was the first time the Contest had been held in Finland, a budget of €13 million was presented for arranging the contest. Other bids to host the contest came from Espoo, Turku, the hosts were Finnish television personality Jaana Pelkonen and Finnish musician, stage performer and actor Mikko Leppilampi. Krisse Salminen acted as guest host in the room. A record number of 42 countries participated, the European Broadcasting Union put aside its limit of 40 countries, which would have meant excluding some countries using a ranking order scheme. This trend continued at the 2008 and 2009 Contests, on 12 March 2007, the draws for the running order for the semi-final, final and voting procedure took place. A new feature allowed five wild-card countries from the semi-final and three countries from the final to choose their starting position, the heads of delegation went on stage and chose the number they would take. In the semi-final, Austria, Andorra, Turkey, Slovenia and Latvia were able to choose their positions, in the final, Armenia, Ukraine and Germany were able to exercise this privilege. All countries opted for spots in the half of both evenings. Shortly after the draw, the entries were approved by the EBU, the United Kingdom chose their entry after the deadline because they were granted special dispensation from the EBU. The contest saw some changes to the voting time-frame. The compilation summary video of all entries including phone numbers was shown twice, the voting process was the same as 2006 except there was fifteen minutes to vote, an increase of five minutes on the 2006 Contest. In the final, the results from each country were once again shown from one to seven points automatically on screen and only eight, ten and twelve were read by the spokespeople. For the first time, the winner was awarded a promotion tour around Europe, visiting Denmark, Spain, Sweden, the tour was held between 16 May and 21 May. The event was sponsored by European communications group TeliaSonera, and — as with several previous contests — Nobel Biocare, apocalyptica were the interval act, and played a medley of songs, Worlds Collide, Faraway and finally Life Burns. The official logo of the contest remained the same as 2006, the stage was in the shape of a kantele, a traditional Finnish instrument. On 20 February 2007 a reworked official website for the contest was launched marking the first public exhibition of this years theme, an official CD and DVD were released
6.
Eurovision Song Contest
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The competition was based upon the existing Sanremo Music Festival held in Italy since 1951. The contest has been broadcast every year for sixty years, since its inauguration in 1956 and it is also one of the most watched non-sporting events in the world, with audience figures having been quoted in recent years as anything between 100 million and 600 million internationally. Eurovision has also been broadcast outside Europe to several countries that do not compete, such as the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and China. An exception was made in 2015, when Australia was allowed to compete as a guest entrant as part of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the event. In November 2015, the EBU announced that Australia was invited back as a participant in the 2016 contest after their success in 2015, following their success again in 2016, Australia will compete again in 2017. Since 2000, the contest has also been broadcast over the Internet via the Eurovision website, winning the Eurovision Song Contest provides a short-term boost to the winning artists career, but rarely results in long-term success. Notable exceptions are ABBA, Bucks Fizz and Céline Dion, all of whom launched successful careers after their wins. Ireland holds the record for the highest number of wins, having won the contest seven times—including four times in five years in 1992,1993,1994 and 1996. Under the current voting system, the highest scoring winner is Jamala of Ukraine who won the 2016 contest in Stockholm, under the previous system, in place from 1975 to 2015, the highest scoring winner is Alexander Rybak of Norway with 387 points in 2009. Satellite television did not exist, and the Eurovision Network comprised a terrestrial microwave network, the name Eurovision was first used in relation to the EBUs network by British journalist George Campey in the London Evening Standard in 1951. The first contest was held in the town of Lugano, Switzerland, seven countries participated—each submitting two songs, for a total of 14. This was the only contest in more than one song per country was performed, since 1957. The 1956 contest was won by the host nation, Switzerland, the programme was first known as the Eurovision Grand Prix. This Grand Prix name was adopted by Denmark, Norway and the Francophone countries, the Grand Prix has since been dropped and replaced with Concours in French, but not in Danish or Norwegian. The Eurovision network is used to carry news and sports programmes internationally. However, in the minds of the public, the name Eurovision is most closely associated with the Song Contest, a country as a participant is represented by one television broadcaster from that country, typically, but not always, that countrys national public broadcasting organisation. The programme is hosted by one of the participant countries, during this programme, after all the songs have been performed, the countries then proceed to cast votes for the other countries songs, nations are not allowed to vote for their own song. At the end of the programme, the song with the most points is declared as the winner, the programme is invariably opened by one or more presenters, welcoming viewers to the show
7.
Anjeza Shahini
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Anjeza Shahini is an Albanian singer. She represented Albania at the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest with the song The Image of You in the debut year in the ESC. Anjeza Shahini was born in Tirana the capital of Albania, in 2003, by the age of 16-year-old, Anjeza Shahini, won the first edition of Friday Night Fever, the Albanian version of Pop Idol. In December of the year, along with 29 other singers, she competed at the three-day RTSH song festival at the Tirana Palace of Congress with the song Imazhi yt. After two preliminary rounds, Shahini reached the final on 20 December, at the end of which, hosts Adi Krasta and Ledina Çelo presented her as the winner of the combined jury and televote. That meant she would represent Albania in the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest in Istanbul, Turkey, for the ESC finals, a three-minute English version of the song entitled The Image of You was created. Anjeza sang in the semi-final of ESC on 12th of May 2004 and this top-ten finish, secured Anjeza a place in the final where on 15th of May she competed with contestants from twenty-four other countries and finished seventh with a total of 106 points. In 2004, Anjeza recorded a song with the Kosovo band Marigona, in 2005 she signed a contract with an artist management agency based in Vienna. Anjeza Shahini made it through the two semi-finals to the last twenty at the National Final and was one of the favourites to win. However, at the final, which aired on 18 December 2005, on 3 June 2006, Anjeza Shahini was a special guest performer at the Euro Video Grand Prix contest, which was held in Albania. She opened the contest with the song Welcome to Europe, which was produced as a single by same studio production in Vienna. After completing her studies in Austria in 2007, Anjeza returned to Albania and she performed at Këngët e Shekullit 2, a successful series on TV Klan consisting of remakes of the best Albanian songs from the past century. She took part in Kënga Magjike 2007 with the song Nxënësja më e mirë, where the other singers votes landed her in 4th place, in August 2008, Anjeza Shahini released her first album, Erdhi momenti, containing only new songs, all in Albanian. The songs Erdhi Momenti and Lot Pendimi were promoted with a video produced by Max Production. Shahini took part in the Albanian national Festival 2009 with the ballad Ne Pasqyre for Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, the song was well received by the public, but the jury placed her second. In 2010 Anjeza Shahini finished her contract with Eurostar and became an independent artist and their song Ti dhe une was awarded for Best Interpretation. A music video was released after the festival in partnership with PinkMoon production and this song was very successful in Albania and Kosovo. In 2012 Anjeza released the ballad Te desha shume, composed by Endrit Shani, Anjeza Shahini took part in the Albanian Eurovision Song Contest Selection for 2013 with the song LOVE, when she again finished in second place
8.
Rona Nishliu
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Rona Nishliu is an Albanian Kosovar singer and songwriter. She came to prominence after representing Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Rona Nishliu was raised in her birth town Mitrovica, but had to move with her family to Pristina at the age of thirteen due the political reasons in her hometown, in 2004 she entered Ethet e së premtës mbrëma - a similar show to Idols. She successfully passed the first rounds and entered the live shows, after the show, she worked on Radio Blue Sky in Prishtina as a presenter. In 2005, Rona teamed up with Vesa Luma and Teuta Kurti to enter the 43rd edition of Festivali i Këngës, the trio were qualified for the final night held on December 18,2005 but lost to Ledina Çelo who was declared the winner. The song was a Pop-Dance track, and even winning the contest. Nishliu represented Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku and she is the first singer from Kosovo to represent Albania in the contest. Because of the Qafa e Vishës bus tragedy, RTSH deferred the first semifinal by more than two hours on May 22, resulting in low ratings during Nishlius appearance. It did not affect Nishlius own participation in the contest, as she got second place in the semi-final, Albania used its jury votes to vote for the other 17 countries in the semifinal, and it used the jury votes again on May 26. RTK also did not air highlights from the first semifinal due to the bus crash and she ended up winning fifth place in the final with 146 points - Albanias best result to date. She became an Albanian citizen on 12 January 2012, Nishliu was committed to her humanitarian work immediately after Eurovision. She became a member of a project called Bonu cool, mos bjer shpullë and she released a song especially for this occasion called Se vetëm zemra flet saktë which speaks against adolescent gender violence, produced and penned by Rona herself. The song is part of a public awareness campaign led by the Kosovo Gender Studies Centre. It was supported and financed by the European Union, on 18 September 2014, Rona Nishliu held a concert in Belgrade, Serbia to promote the Kosovar culture, part of the Mirëdita, dobar dan festival. She received an ovation from the public. In Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Montenegro, she is known as a pop singer/musician, the audience in Pristina and Tirana know her also as an experimental jazz singer. Her interpretation is characterized with nuances of music influences as well. Her vocal range and interpretative power are her strongest points, Nishliu is depicted for her humanitarian spirit, taking part in numerous humanitarian concerts for the people in the need
9.
Eurovision Song Contest 2003
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2003 was the 48th annual Eurovision Song Contest. The contest took place in Riga, Latvia on 24 May 2003 and it was the first win and hosting of the competition for Latvia with only their third participation after debuting at the 2000 contest. Latvijas Televīzija chose the Skonto Hall as the venue after conducting a bidding process among several cities and venues in Latvia. The hosts for the contest were the years winner Marie N and former Latvian representative at the 2000 contest, Renārs Kaupers. The design of the contest was built around the theme Magical rendez-vous, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Macedonia and Switzerland were required to withdraw due to their poor results in the 2002 contest. This was the first win for Turkey at the Eurovision Song Contest, Norway and Sweden rounded out of the top five, placing fourth and fifth respectively. The United Kingdom achieved their worst result to date, coming in last place, the 2003 contest was the last contest to take place on one evening. This was also the last contest in which a system was used to determine which countries would participate in the following years contest. On 22 August 2002, Latvian public broadcaster Latvijas Televīzija announced that it had chosen the Skonto Hall in Riga as the host venue for the 2003 contest. Latvia won the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 on 25 May 2002 in Tallinn and this was Latvia’s first victory in the contest, which also carried the right for LTV to organise the 2003 contest. LTV initially had concerns with staging the contest. Rubenis elaborated that LTV was prepared to cover the side and broadcasting of the contest. The Government of Latvia allotted €5.3 million for the event with a further €1.1 million being provided by the Riga City Council – covering the anticipated organisational costs for the contest. Three cities were considered as host city of the contest, Riga, Ventspils, LTV requested proposals from the three cities concerning how they plan to organise the contest. Riga City Council offered the Mežaparks Open-air Stage, Skonto Hall, Jūrmala City Council offered the Dzintari Concert Hall with plans to expand and upgrade the facility and surrounding infrastructure. LTV’s organisational task force decided to proceed with the bids from Riga and Ventspils, eliminating Jūrmala. LTV ultimately chose the Skonto Hall as the venue to stage the contest, the rules also modified the eligibility criteria for entries, changing the date of release cut-off point for songs from 1 January 2003 to 1 October 2002. The draw for running order was held on 29 November 2002 in Riga, hosted by Marie N and Renārs Kaupers, the official sponsors for the contest were Latvian mobile telecom provider Latvijas Mobilais Telefons and Latvian bank company Parex Banka
10.
The Image of You
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The Image of You was the debut entry for Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest, being performed in English by Anjeza Shahini in the semi-final of the 2004 Contest. The song was performed 13th in the semi-final, following Lithuanias Linas & Simona with Whats Happened To Your Love. the song ended the night in fourth place with 167 points, enough to qualify for the final. Drawn seventh in the final, the song followed Germanys Max with Cant Wait Until Tonight, at the close of voting, the song had received 106 points to finish seventh, which guaranteed Albania a final berth at the 2005 Contest. The song itself begins with Shahini singing over a melody before it quickly builds to a moderately-paced dance number. The lyrics deal with the feelings in what appears to be a whirlwind romance. An Albanian version of the song was released, entitled Imazhi yt. The song was succeeded as Albanian representative in 2005 by Tomorrow I Go, performed by Ledina Çelo
11.
Eurovision Song Contest 2005
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the 50th annual Eurovision Song Contest. The contest took place at the Palace of Sports in Kiev, Ukraine, the contest consisted of two shows, the semi-final and final, which took place on 19 and 21 May 2005, respectively. The shows were hosted by Maria Efrosinina and Pavlo Shylko, thirty-nine countries participated, including the débuts of Bulgaria and Moldova and the return of Hungary, which was last represented in 1998. The winner for 2005 was Greece with the song My Number One performed by Helena Paparizou, written by Christos Dantis and Natalia Germanou and it scored 230 points, beating Malta into second place by a margin of 38 points. This was the first victory for Greece at the Eurovision Song Contest, romania, Israel and Latvia rounded out the top five. The Big Four countries ended up as the Last Four, all placing in the four position of the scoreboard in the final. The official logo of the contest remained the same from the 2004 contest with the flag in the heart being changed. Following Istanbuls Under The Same Sky, the slogan for the 2005 show was Awakening, the postcards for the 2005 show illustrated Ukraine’s culture and heritage along with a more modern and industrial side to the country. The hosts of the Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev were television presenter Maria Masha Efrosinina, previous winner Ruslana returned to the stage in Kiev to perform in the interval act and to interview the contestants backstage in the green room. The famous Ukrainian boxers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko opened the televoting, while a special trophy was presented to the winner by Ukraines president, Viktor Yushchenko. An official CD and DVD was released and a new introduction was an official pin set, the EBU also commissioned a book The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History by British/American author John Kennedy OConnor to celebrate the contests fiftieth anniversary. The book was presented on screen during the break between songs 12 and 13, the book was published in English, German, French, Dutch, Swedish, Danish and Finnish. During the semi final, there were a few volume falls in the sound, most notably during the Norwegian song and these were not fixed for the DVD release. 2005 was no exception for scandals regarding the representatives from the countries participating, germanys entrant in the Eurovision Song Contest rejected calls to quit after her producer admitted manipulating the countrys pop charts with mass purchases of her single. Gracia Baur defended her producer David Brandes, also behind Swiss entry Vanilla Ninja, bulgarias debut was overshadowed by a scandal. The song Lorraine by Kaffe was accused of plagiarism, the song sounded too similar to another one released by Ruslan Mainov in 2001. There were also problems in Malta with the electricity supply during the contest, there was a controversy regarding the Turkish entry, TRT got a false jury which led to the victory of the song Gülseren, which the 2003 winner Sertab Erener said was not the best choice. There were similar controversies in Macedonia which led to a victory for Martin Vučić
12.
Eurovision Song Contest 2006
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was the 51st Eurovision Song Contest, held at the Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens, Greece on 18 May and 20 May 2006. The hosting national broadcaster of the contest was Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi, the Finnish band Lordi won the contest with the song Hard Rock Hallelujah, written by lead singer Mr. Lordi. Hard Rock Hallelujah was the first ever hard rock song to win the contest, since Eurovision is normally associated with pop music. This was Finlands first victory in Eurovision after waiting forty-five years and it is also noted that they scored the same amount of points in the semi-final and the grand final. In the semi-final, both the hosts sang Katrina and the Waves contest-winning Love Shine A Light, for one of the intervals, Sakis Rouvas sang an English version of his Greek hit Seho Erotefthi called Im in love with you. Helena Paparizou, who performed the song in Kiev, returned to the Eurovision stage in Athens. An official CD and DVD was released and a new introduction was a fan book released from this year. The 2006 contest also saw the 1, 000th song to be performed in the contest, Armenia also entered for the first time in the contest. The venue that was chosen as the host venue, was the Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens, the official logo of the contest remained the same from 2004 and 2005 with the countrys flag in the heart being changed. The 2006 sub-logo created by the design company Karamela for Greek television was based on the Phaistos Disc which is a popular symbol of ancient Greece. According to ERT, it was inspired by the wind and the sea, the golden sunlight, following Istanbuls Under The Same Sky and Kievs Awakening, the slogan for the 2006 show was Feel The Rhythm. This theme was also the basis for the postcards for the 2006 show, to save time in the final, the voting time lasted ten minutes and the voting process was changed, points 1-7 were shown immediately on-screen. The spokespersons only announced the countries scoring 8,10 and 12 points, constantinos Christoforou saluted from Nicosia, the last divided capital in Europe, during Cyprus reading, the telecast displayed Switzerland by mistake. This voting process has been criticized because suspense was lost by only reading three votes instead of ten, and for the first time, the display for the Macedonian entry had the title spelled out in its entirety instead of being abbreviated as it has been in previous years. Participating countries in a Eurovision Song Contest must be members of the EBU. The semi-final was held on 18 May 2006 at 21,00,23 countries performed and all 37 participants and Serbia & Montenegro voted. Shaded countries qualified for the Eurovision Final Notes 1. ^ The song also contained phrases in Spanish,2. ^ The song also contained phrases in French. The finalists were, the four automatic qualifiers France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom, the top 10 countries from the 2005 final, the final was held on 20 May 2006 at 21,00 and was won by Finland
13.
Frederik Ndoci
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Frederik Ndoci is an Albanian singer, songwriter, poet, writer, actor and international Recording artist. He also represented his country at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, before winning the Festivali i Këngës 45, he also won the 28th competition, along with M. Nallbani & his sister Julia Ndoci. He performed Balada e Gurit at the 45th festival, the song was re-titled Hear My Plea and translated into English for the Eurovision performance, which was only credited to Frederick. In Eurovision Song Contest semifinal he was placed 17th and didnt qualify to the final, Frederik grew up in a family of artists from the northern Albanian city of Shkodra. His sister, Rita Ndoci was a singer of folkloric music. Another sister, Julia Ndoci, started a career as a right after Frederik. Frederik studied in the Academy of Arts and got diploma for actor and he performed in 6 movies, starring in main and supporting roles. Frederik Ndoci was named Man Of Thousand Voices because he sings baritone, tenor, bass, despite his success, he has had his share of difficulties and several times mostly caused from the Albanian communist regime of the time. After his brief career in acting, Frederik’s recording debut came out of Italy where he played guitar, the album Canta Frederik was well received in Italy and the subsequent video was aired on several TV stations. Frederik made inroads with his second album Sono Gitano, when it became a best seller in Italy, the CD continues to be a best seller in Frederik’s home country and parts of Eastern Europe. S. It was here that he was courted by the Christian College Heritage and commissioned to record his third CD, Frederik, featuring American Christian sacred songs, Frederik recorded his first project in English. In 2011 he wrote a book called I Lindur dhe Plak i Divorcuar thus starting a potential career as a writer. Canta Frederik Sono Gitano Vitet Gri Frederik & Friends Romance Canterina Festivali i Këngës Video of song Hear my plea OGAE Albania
14.
Hear My Plea
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Hear My Plea was the Albanian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, performed in English and Albanian by Frederik Ndoci. The song is a ballad, with Ndoci pleading with an unnamed power to bring his love back to him. He uses increasingly dramatic imagery to underscore his feelings, since Albania failed to qualify for the final of the 2006 contest it was forced to sing in the semi-final of the 2007 contest. Here it performed 11th, following the Netherlands Edsilia Rombley with On Top of the World, at the close of voting, the song had received 49 points, placing 17th in a field of 28, failing to qualify for the final. An Albanian-only version of the song was recorded, entitled Balada e gurit, the song was succeeded as Albanian representative at the 2008 contest by Olta Boka with Zemrën e lamë peng
15.
Olta Boka
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Olta Boka is an Albanian singer who was chosen to represent Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with her song Zemrën e lamë peng. She is the youngest singer to represent a country in the Eurovision Song Contest since the year 2004 with Lisa Andreas representing Cyprus at 16, Olta Boka has participated in Ethet e së Premtes Mbrëma show in Albania. On top fest 11 edition Olta Boka was awarded with top Albania Radio price, with the same price was also awarded Erik Lloshi. Eurovision Song Contest 2008 Festivali i Këngës Gjeniu i Vogel Kënga Magjike Top Fest Dance With Me 1
16.
Eurovision Song Contest 2008
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the Contest. It was hosted in Belgrade, Serbia after Marija Šerifović won the 2007 Contest in Helsinki and this year was the first time there were three contests, two semi-finals which were held on 20 and 22 May, and the traditional grand final which was held on 24 May 2008. The shows were hosted by Jovana Janković and Željko Joksimović at the Belgrade Arena which had a capacity of 25,000 seats. After a total of 272 points, Dima Bilan representing Russia was declared the winner, with the song Believe written by American Jim Beanz, so far this has been the only time Russia has won the contest. Russia came third in the semi-final, making it the winner with the worst semi-final result, ukraine were runners up for the second year running, with 3rd place going to Greece, 4th to Armenia seeing their best result so far and 5th to Norway. 2008 also saw, for the first time ever, Eurovision. tv streaming national finals live on ESCTV with broadcasters permission. On 30 January 2008, Eurovision. tv revealed the theme of the Contest, The Confluence of Sound, Serbia gained the right to host the Contest after Marija Šerifović won the 2007 Contest in Helsinki, Finland. Since Serbia was the winner of the preceding contest, the 2008 contest was held there. The Belgrade Arena was chosen as the venue for the contest, on 14 September 2007, the Mayor of Helsinki handed over the Eurovision keys to the Deputy of Belgrade. This ceremony is meant to be a tradition from the 2008 contest and onward, ukraine was considered an option since they came second in Eurovision Song Contest 2007. YLE were another option, as hosted the previous years competition in Helsinki. Greeces Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi also offered the EBU to host the contest in Athens and it was later decided that the contest would stay in Belgrade, with the EBU giving support. RTS would gain a guarantee of safety and security from the government of Serbia for all visitors, the delegations of Albania, Croatia and Israel had special security. RTS ran a competition led to the creation of the 2008 Contests branding, logo. The theme of the Contest was based around the confluence of sound and this was symbolic as Belgrade lies on the confluence of two European rivers, the Sava and Danube. The logo chosen, a treble clef, formed the basis of the design created by Boris Miljković. The postcards in the first and second semi-final were based around the creation of the flag of the nation that was to perform next, each post card had a short story related to each country and its people. During each postcard a short letter was displayed, the postcards were brought to an end by a stamp with this years Eurovision logo
17.
Belgrade
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Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and its name translates to White city. The urban area of the City of Belgrade has a population of 1.34 million, one of the most important prehistoric cultures of Europe, the Vinča culture, evolved within the Belgrade area in the 6th millennium BC. In antiquity, Thraco-Dacians inhabited the region, and after 279 BC Celts conquered the city and it was conquered by the Romans during the reign of Augustus, and awarded city rights in the mid-2nd century. In 1521, Belgrade was conquered by the Ottoman Empire and became the seat of the Sanjak of Smederevo and it frequently passed from Ottoman to Habsburg rule, which saw the destruction of most of the city during the Austro-Ottoman wars. Belgrade was again named the capital of Serbia in 1841, northern Belgrade remained the southernmost Habsburg post until 1918, when the city was reunited. As a strategic location, the city was battled over in 115 wars, Belgrade was the capital of Yugoslavia from its creation in 1918, to its final dissolution in 2006. Belgrade has an administrative status within Serbia and it is one of five statistical regions of Serbia. Its metropolitan territory is divided into 17 municipalities, each with its own local council, City of Belgrade covers 3. 6% of Serbias territory, and 22. 5% of the countrys population lives within its administrative limits. It is classified as a Beta- global city, chipped stone tools found at Zemun show that the area around Belgrade was inhabited by nomadic foragers in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic eras. Some of these belong to the Mousterian industry, which are associated with Neanderthals rather than modern humans. Aurignacian and Gravettian tools have also discovered there, indicating occupation between 50,000 and 20,000 years ago. The first farming people to settle in the region are associated with the Neolithic Starčevo culture, there are several Starčevo sites in and around Belgrade, including the eponymous site of Starčevo. The Starčevo culture was succeeded by the Vinča culture, a more sophisticated farming culture that grew out of the earlier Starčevo settlements which is named for a site in the Belgrade region. Evidence of early knowledge about Belgrades geographical location comes from ancient myths, the rock overlooking the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers has been identified as one of the place in the story of Jason and the Argonauts. The Paleo-Balkan tribes of Thracians and Dacians ruled this area prior to the Roman conquest, Belgrade was inhabited by a Thraco-Dacian tribe Singi, after the Celtic invasion in 279 BC, the Scordisci took the city, naming it Singidūn. In 34–33 BC the Roman army led by Silanus reached Belgrade, jovian reestablished Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire, ending the brief revival of traditional Roman religions under his predecessor Julian the Apostate. In 395 AD, the passed to the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire
18.
Serbia
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Serbia, officially the Republic of Serbia, is a sovereign state situated at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central Balkans. Relative to its territory, it is a diverse country distinguished by a transitional character, situated along cultural, geographic, climatic. Serbia numbers around 7 million residents, and its capital, Belgrade, following the Slavic migrations to the Balkans from the 6th century onwards, Serbs established several states in the early Middle Ages. The Serbian Kingdom obtained recognition by Rome and the Byzantine Empire in 1217, in the early 19th century, the Serbian Revolution established the nation-state as the regions first constitutional monarchy, which subsequently expanded its territory. During the breakup of Yugoslavia, Serbia formed a union with Montenegro which dissolved peacefully in 2006, in 2008 the parliament of the province of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence, with mixed responses from the international community. Serbia is a member of organizations such as the UN, CoE, OSCE, PfP, BSEC. An EU membership candidate since 2012, Serbia has been negotiating its EU accession since January 2014, the country is acceding to the WTO and is a militarily neutral state. Serbia is an income economy with dominant service sector, followed by the industrial sector. The country ranks high on the Social Progress Index as well as the Global Peace Index, relatively high on the Human Development Index, located at the crossroads between Central and Southern Europe, Serbia is found in the Balkan peninsula and the Pannonian Plain. Serbia lies between latitudes 41° and 47° N, and longitudes 18° and 23° E. The country covers a total of 88,361 km2, which places it at 113th place in the world, with Kosovo excluded, the area is 77,474 km2. Its total border length amounts to 2,027 km, all of Kosovos border with Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro are under control of the Kosovo border police. The Pannonian Plain covers the third of the country while the easternmost tip of Serbia extends into the Wallachian Plain. The terrain of the part of the country, with the region of Šumadija at its heart. Mountains dominate the third of Serbia. Dinaric Alps stretch in the west and the southwest, following the flow of the rivers Drina, the Carpathian Mountains and Balkan Mountains stretch in a north–south direction in eastern Serbia. Ancient mountains in the southeast corner of the country belong to the Rilo-Rhodope Mountain system, elevation ranges from the Midžor peak of the Balkan Mountains at 2,169 metres to the lowest point of just 17 metres near the Danube river at Prahovo. The largest lake is Đerdap Lake and the longest river passing through Serbia is the Danube, the climate of Serbia is under the influences of the landmass of Eurasia and the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea
19.
Kejsi Tola
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Kejsi Tola is an Albanian singer. She was the winner of Ethet, in May 2009 she represented Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia with Carry Me In Your Dreams. Her career started when she was 11 years old in the talent show Young Voices of Albania, winning the first prize, in the first competition of Gjeniu i Vogël she was one of the ten finalists. After a short break, at the age of 16, she entered Ethet, Albanian version of Idol where after more than 2 months of competition, she was awarded as the winner. Later in 2008 winner of the Albanian Radio Television Song Contest with the song Më merr në ëndërr and she is currently studying in the artistic lyceum of Jordan Misja in Tirana. Tola represented Albania at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Russia after winning the final on December 21. She finished 17th with 48 points and her song for the competition was called Carry Me in Your Dreams. Kejsis entry has been submitted by Edmond Zhulali who was responsible for the very first Eurovision entry The Image of You in Eurovision Song Contest 2004 performed by Anjeza Shahini. “I love singing and this is important for me. Music gives me an inner strength, which I sometimes don’t show up in my daily life, Tola attempted to enter the Eurovision Song Contest again in 2010, for the second consecutive time, by participating in Festivali i Këngës 2009 on 27 December 2009. But she placed just 15th with her ballad Ndonjëherë, Kejsi tried once more to represent Albania for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf, Germany. However, her mid-tempo song Pranë did not go through the second semi-final during the selection process, in 2012, Tola attempted to enter the Eurovision Song Contest for third time in 2013. Her song is called Sjemi më atje and she finished 4th with 42 points
20.
Carry Me in Your Dreams
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Carry Me in Your Dreams was the Albanian entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, held in Moscow, Russia. The song was composed by Edmond Zhulali and Agim Doçi, composers of Albanias first entry to Eurovision, The Image of You by Anjeza Shahini and it finished 17th with 48 points. The song was the winner of Festivali I Këngës 47, the used to select Albanias Eurovision entry. Albania was the first country to select and publicly present its song, the song was chosen as the winner of the festival on 21 December 2008—five months before Eurovision, to be held on 16 May 2009. The song was performed during Festivali I Këngës in Albanian as Më merr në ëndërr, and she received 73 points, placing 7th of the 19 competing songs, and qualifying to the final. At the final on 16 May Tola performed 19th in the order, following Turkeys Hadise with Düm Tek Tek. The song received 48 points, placing 17th of the 25 competing songs, the staging featured two b-boys dressed as mimes and a sequined green man. If only tele-voting had been used, Albania would have come in 11th
21.
Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010
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Albania selected its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 through the Festivali i Këngës competition, organised by Albanian national broadcaster Radio Televizioni Shqiptar. The 2009 Festivali i Këngës was held over four nights, from 24 to 27 December 2009, RTSH will change the format of the Festivali i Këngës contest. From the 78 songs submitted to RTSH for the contest 38 have been selected to participate in the Contest. On 12 December it was announced that a number of changes had made to the line-up. After her withdrawal 18 songs remain in the line-up, besa Kokëdhima and Eliza Hoxha were to compete in the Big Group, however will also withdraw. Kokëdhimas song, Kalorësi i dashurisë, was originally to be sung by Rona Nishliu and Pirro Çako, however was not performed, with Çako performing another song, Një tjetër jetë, hoxhas position remained vacant, leaving 18 songs in the Big Group. The hosts of the shows will be rock singer Alban Skënderaj and German TV host, on 24 December the 18 songs in the big group will perform for the first time. On 25 December the 18 songs from the Youth group will perform, on 26 December the big group will perform again, this time in an alternative version. On 24 December the Big Group songs performed for the first time, the show began with a choir performing modern versions of Christmas songs. Interval acts were performed throughout the show, including flamenco and performances by host Miriam Cani, the Youth Group semi-final was held on 25 December. Two songs from the 18-strong line-up were chosen by a jury to progress to the final. The show began with a medley of recent Eurovision winning songs, including Believe, Fairytale, My Number One, during the interval act a jazz ensemble and host Alban Skënderaj performed. The two performers who qualified to the final were Goldi Halili and Iris Hoxha, on 26 December the 20 finalists performed their songs once again, this time in a different version and in duets with another artist. The show began with a duet between the contests hosts Alban Skënderaj and Miriam Cani, the title of Mariza Ikonomis song Vazhdoj këndoj was changed to La, la, la for the remainder of the contest. The final of Festivali i Këngës 48 was held on 27 December, the 18 Big Group songs and the two Youth Group qualifiers performed once again, with a seven-member professional jury selecting the winner. The winner was Juliana Pasha with the song Nuk mundem pa ty, Albania competed in the first semi-final of the contest on 25 May, with Pasha performing 12th on stage, following the Maltese entry and preceding the Greek entry. Juliana Pasha performed her song Nuk mundem pa ty in English at the contest, as Its All About You and won got enough points to go to the finals, the final, revamped version of the song was released on 16 March. At the final, Pasha performed 15th on stage, following Turkey, at the end of the voting Albania finished in 16th position, receiving 62 points
22.
Juliana Pasha
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Juliana Pasha is an Albanian singer. In 2010 she won Honorary Citizen Award of Burrel from the mayor of the city, after she went into Eurovision in 2010 she won the first prize in the festival Kenga Magjike with the song called Sa e shite zemren. She was a mentor and judge on the first series of Albania, on 27 December 2009, Pasha won the national final to represent Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. She had previously taken part in the 2007 and 2008 festivals, placing 3rd and 2nd respectively with Qielli i ri and Një jetë, Pasha announced she will release a Christian CD in Albanian and English soon. When the media asked her how important religion is for her – she said it is important because she believes in God. She has also involved in a project called Hanna, who are fighting to remove the blood vengeance tradition in Albania. Eurovision Song Contest 2010 Festivali i Këngës Kënga Magjike Kult Award
23.
Christina Aguilera
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Christina María Aguilera is an American singer, songwriter, actress and television personality. Born in Staten Island, New York and raised in Rochester and Wexford, Pennsylvania, she appeared on the television series Star Search, after recording Reflection, the theme for Disneys 1998 film Mulan, Aguilera signed with RCA Records. She rose to prominence with her 1999 self-titled debut album spawned the Billboard Hot 100 number one singles, Genie in a Bottle, What a Girl Wants. The following year, Aguilera released two albums, the Spanish-language album Mi Reflejo and the holiday album My Kind of Christmas. She assumed creative control for her studio album, Stripped, which produced Dirrty, Beautiful. Aguileras fifth studio album, Back to Basics, debuted at one on the album charts of ten countries and spawned the tracks Aint No Other Man. In 2010, Aguilera released her studio album Bionic and starred in the film Burlesque. The following year, she debuted as a coach on the reality television series The Voice. Her seventh studio album, Lotus, was released in 2012, Aguilera has also been featured on several successful collaborations during her career, including Lady Marmalade, Moves like Jagger, and Say Something. Aguilera has been recognized as a pop icon and earned the title Pop Princess in her early years and her work has earned her five Grammy Awards, one Latin Grammy Award, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She has sold over 17.9 million albums in the United States as of 2014 and 50 million albums worldwide as of 2015. In 2009, she ranked at number 58 on Rolling Stones list of 100 Greatest Singers of All Time, thereby becoming the youngest and the only artist under 30 to be named. Billboard recognized her as the 20th most successful artist of the 2000s, aside from her work in the entertainment industry, Aguilera is involved in charitable activities through human rights, world issues, and her work as a UN ambassador for the World Food Programme. Christina María Aguilera was born in Staten Island, New York, on December 18,1980, to Shelly Loraine, a musician, and Fausto Xavier Aguilera and her father is Ecuadorian, while her mother has German, Irish, Welsh, and Dutch ancestry. Her family moved frequently because of her fathers service, and lived in places including New Jersey, Texas, New York. Aguilera and her mother alleged that her father was physically and emotionally abusive, claims which he denied, Aguilera used music as a form of escape from her turbulent household. Following her parents divorce when she was six years old, Aguilera, her younger sister Rachel, after several years of being estranged, Aguilera expressed interest in reconciling with her father in 2012. Growing up, Aguilera, known locally as the girl with the big voice, aspired to be a singer, singing in local talent shows
24.
Keeps Gettin' Better
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Keeps Gettin Better is a song by American singer Christina Aguilera, taken from her first greatest hits album, Keeps Gettin Better, A Decade of Hits. It was released on September 9,2008, by RCA Records as the single from the album. The song was written and produced by Linda Perry, with additional songwriting from Aguilera, after giving birth to her son Max, she looked to come up with something new and fresh, developing a futuristic era of her career. Keeps Gettin Better is an electroclash and electropop song, and was inspired by the likes of Andy Warhol and its lyrics portray Aguilera as a superhero. Upon its release, Keeps Gettin Better received generally mixed reviews from music critics and it became Aguileras highest debut on the US Billboard Hot 100 at number seven. The song additionally topped the US Hot Dance Club Play chart, elsewhere, it peaked at number four in Canada, while charting inside the top twenty in Austria, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. The accompanying music video, directed by Peter Berg, features Aguilera in an editing room, using the equipment there, she creates several characters, including a blonde 1960s inspired hippie character, another based on Catwoman and a futuristic blue-haired version of herself. Aguilera debuted the song during a performance at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards. Wearing a catsuit, she sang a version of her debut single Genie in a Bottle. Aguilera also performed the song during a tour for the album. Keeps Gettin Better was released almost a year after Aguilera gave birth to her first son and she told MSN that Growing into being a woman, a mother, its a very different time in my life, and also where Im at musically. Throughout her career, Aguilera has been noted for her reinventions and she stated that with Keeps Gettin Better, she wished to come up with something new and fresh, calling the new redefined era of her music futuristic. Aguilera said that the development of new songs featured on Keeps Gettin Better, A Decade of Hits was influenced by such as Blondie, Velvet Underground. Visually, artists Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein were credited as influences for the album, after stating the theme of the record was futuristic, she said to MTV News that the era has a very pop-art feel visually. Aguilera also stated that she had been diving deep into electro in particular at the time, noting that she had started connections to collaborate with prominent dance artists Goldfrapp and Ladytron. While talking to MTV News, Aguilera discussed the influence behind the track and the album, the vein of the new material is a futuristic take on what is inspiring me at the moment. And its got a very pop-art feel, visually, throwback to Andy Warhol and all the colors and vividness and bright boldness that was in that artwork. Im a big collector of pop art and graffiti art at this point, too — D*Face and Banksy, also Roy Lichtenstein. Keeps Gettin Better was written by Aguilera and Linda Perry, while production was done by the latter
25.
Britney Spears
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Britney Jean Spears is an American singer, dancer, and actress. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, she performed acting roles in stage productions, Spearss first and second studio albums. Baby One More Time and Oops. I Did It Again, became international successes, with the former becoming the album by a teenage solo artist. Title tracks. Baby One More Time and Oops, I Did It Again broke international sales records. In 2001, Spears released her third studio album, Britney. She assumed creative control of her studio album, In the Zone. In 2007, Spearss much-publicized personal issues sent her career into hiatus and her fifth studio album, Blackout, was released later that year, and spawned singles such as Gimme More and Piece of Me. Her erratic behavior and hospitalizations continued through the year, at which point she was placed under a still ongoing conservatorship. Spearss sixth studio album, Circus, included the international chart-topping single Womanizer and her seventh studio album, Femme Fatale, became her first to yield three top-ten singles in the United States. She released her studio album Britney Jean in 2013. Later that year, Spears began the four-year residency show, Britney, Piece of Me, in 2016, Spears released her ninth studio album, Glory. Spears is regarded as a pop icon and credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and she became the best-selling teenage artist of all time and garnered honorific titles including the Princess of Pop. In 2009, Billboard ranked her as the 8th overall Artist of the Decade, the Recording Industry Association of America lists Spears as the eighth top-selling female artist in the United States, with 34 million certified albums. She has sold 100 million albums and over 100 million singles worldwide making her one of the music artists of all time. According to Billboard Spears has sold about 22.38 million singles in digital downloads in US and is the fourth best-selling female artist since Nielsen SoundScan began. Forbes reported that Spears was the highest paid musician of 2012, with earnings of $58 million. Spears was born in McComb, Mississippi, the child of Lynne Irene Bridges and James Parnell Spears. Her maternal grandmother, Lillian Portell, was English, and one of Spearss maternal great-great-grandfathers was Maltese and her siblings are Bryan James and Jamie Lynn
26.
Womanizer (song)
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Womanizer is a song recorded by American singer Britney Spears for her sixth studio album, Circus. It was released on October 3,2008 by Jive Records as the single of the album. Produced and co-written by Nikesha Briscoe and Rafael Akinyemi of The Outsyders, Womanizer is an up-tempo electropop and dance-pop song. Described by Spears as an anthem, the songs lyrics recall a womanizing man. Music critics mostly praised its hook, melody and empowering lyrics, critics also observed it was a stand-out track from its album and also deemed it as a comeback single for Spears. Womanizer was a success worldwide, peaking atop of the charts in Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Norway, Sweden. It also reached the top ten in every country it charted in also receiving several certifications from several countries, in the United States, Womanizer was her first single to reach number-one since. Baby One More Time in 1999. The song broke the record for the highest jump to one at a time which was later broken by Kelly Clarksons My Life Would Suck Without You in 2009. It is also her best-selling digital song in the country, having sold over 3.5 million copies, the music video, directed by Joseph Kahn, was created by Spears as a sequel to the music video of Toxic. It portrays Spears as a woman who disguises herself in different costumes, the video also contains interspersed scenes of Spears naked in a steam room, as a response to the attacks she had received over the years about her weight. The video was nominated for two categories at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, and went on to win Best Pop Video. The song has been covered by a number of artists from different genres, including Lily Allen, Franz Ferdinand, Spears performed Womanizer on several television shows including The X Factor and Good Morning America, as well as award shows such as the 2008 Bambi Awards. She has also performed the song at The Circus Starring Britney Spears, Womanizer received a Grammy nomination in 2010 in the Best Dance Recording category, but lost to Lady Gagas Poker Face. The song was written and co-produced by Nikesha Briscoe and Rafael Akinyemi of the production team, Spears recorded main vocals with Brendan Dakora at Glenwood Place Studios in Burbank, California and Bojan Genius Dugic at Legacy Studios in New York City. Pro Tools engineering was done by John Hanes, assisted by Tim Roberts, on September 19,2008, a low quality 37 second snippet of the song was posted on the official website of 107.5 The River, a radio station in Lebanon, Tennessee. According to Jive Records, a representative of the played a rough mix of the song for people at the station. The snippet was later removed from the website, the song was scheduled to premiere on September 23,2008, but the release was delayed when Spears went into the studio to re-record some vocals. The new recordings were done with Jim Beanz and Marcella Ms. Lago Araica, the song was finally mixed by Serban Ghenea at MixStar Studios in Virginia
27.
Eurovision Song Contest 2011
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the 56th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Düsseldorf, Germany, following Lenas win at the 2010 contest in Oslo and this was the first contest to take place outside of the host nations capital city since the 2004 contest in Istanbul. The event was held at the Esprit Arena, with semi-finals held on 10 and 12 May, Italy also returned to the Contest, marking its first participation since 1997. No country withdrew from the contest, the winner was Azerbaijan with the song Running Scared performed by Ell & Nikki. The runner up was Italy, and Sweden finished in third place,2010 Hosts Norway was eliminated in the first semi final. Azerbaijan obtained its first ever victory in any Eurovision since its debut in 2008, Azerbaijan won the viewers voting with Sweden in second place, and Greece in third place. Italy won the voting, with Azerbaijan in second place. This is the first time since the juries were reintroduced alongside the televoting in 2009 that the winner didnt place first in the juryvoting, the broadcast of the final won the Rose dOr award for Best Live Event. Following Lenas win at the 2010 contest with the song Satellite, twenty-three cities submit official bids to the German broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk, in order to be the host city for the 2011 contest. Eight of these continued to show interest in hosting the event including Berlin, Hamburg, Hanover, Gelsenkirchen, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Frankfurt. NDR announced on 21 August 2010 that four of those cities had officially applied to host the 2011 Contest, Berlin, Hamburg, Hanover, decision makers at NDR reportedly doubted the venues ability to provide advantageous acoustic conditions. Berlins speaker Richard Meng neither confirmed nor denied that because, he stated and this message indicated that talks with Düsseldorf to host the song contest in the Esprit Arena were already at an advanced stage. The club later announced on 6 October 2010 that it had obtained permission to move its games if necessary, the Neue Ruhr Zeitung newspaper reported on 12 December 2010 that Fortuna Düsseldorf were to be moved to the Paul-Janes-Stadion due to the contest. Fortuna Düsseldorfs training venue next to the Esprit Arena would be equipped with mobile stands from a Swiss event construction specialist, Nussli Group and this decision was made because the Arena Sportpark Düsseldorf holds better logistic qualifications. The Esprit Arena in Düsseldorf was announced by German broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk as the venue for the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest on 12 October 2010. This was the first Eurovision Song Contest held in Germany since German reunification and that the stadium acquired a rental period of six weeks, in order to allow construction and dismantling work within the Esprit Arena to be carried out. The stadium accommodated a capacity of 38,000 for spectators during the Eurovision Song Contest, Düsseldorf offered 23,000 hotel beds and 2,000 additional beds in the Düsseldorf surroundings and on ships on the River Rhine. The four countries that were part of the Big Four, along with the host of the contest, since Germany was both a Big Four country and the host for the 2011 contest, there was a vacant spot in the final
28.
Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011
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Albania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf, Germany, selecting their entry through Festivali i Këngës 2010, organised by Albanian broadcaster Radio Televizioni Shqiptar. The semi-finals will be held on 23 and 24 December and the final will be the 25 December. There is still a possibility to add the duet night on 25 December, in that case, the grand final will be replaced on Sunday 26 December. This year, a jury will select 28 from the total of songs submitted to the broadcasters open call. In each semi final,14 songs will compete and from each semi final 5 songs will be eliminated, also the voting system will be different this year. In the grand final, the songs will be judged by two juries, the jury and the alternative jury with the representatives of local Radio Televisions. For the first time the votes were given in Eurovision style,12,10, as customary, the singers will sing live. Because of some problems, the orchestra won’t be fully live though. The basic music will be playback, bojken Lako, Albanian singer and songwriter, is the new producer of this event. The deadline for the submission of the songs was 20 October, with this extension, RTSH gave the singers who are participating in the other popular music festival, Kënga Magjike, more time to work on their songs. The whole show will be hosted by singer and songwriter Jonida Maliqi, juliana Pasha, Albanian representative in 2010, and maNga, Turkish representative in 2010, were guest performers. Albania competed third on the first semi-final of the contest, on 10 May, aurela placed fourteenth with 47 points and didnt qualify to the final. RTSH this year published two Festivali i Këngës 49 magazines with informations of the participants, lyrics, composers, the first one was published in Albanian before Festivali i Këngës. The second magazine was published in Albanian and in English after the Albanian entry was decided and this magazine was used as a promotion of the Albanian representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest Eurovision Song Contest 2011 Festivali i Këngës official website
29.
Adrian Lulgjuraj
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Adrian Lulgjuraj is an Albanian singer from Montenegro. Together with Bledar Sejko, he represented Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö with the song Identitet, the song failed to qualify for the final. Lulgjuraj was born in the city of Ulcinj, the southern-most city of Montenegro. Although raised in an Albanian-majority city, Lulgjuraj was always involved in projects and he is known for his charity work and the original genre in music. Lulgjuraj entered the Albanian music industry in early 2010, participating in various TV shows and he entered the competition twice, both times entering the finals, and receiving numerous awards. Lulgjuraj was also a helping-coach in The Voice of Albania, the Albanian version of The Voice of Holland, adrian is married to Ana Pejović Lulgjuraj, former Miss Montenegro in 2000. 2012, Identitet 2012, Evoloj 2011, Të mori një det Festivali i Këngës Top Fest
30.
Bledar Sejko
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Bledar Sejko is an Albanian guitarist, composer, and singer who represented Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö with his song Identitet, which he performed with Adrian Lulgjuraj. According to Sejko, the song includes combined motives from Northern Albania and Chameria and he also appeared in the 2011 edition of the contest, performing alongside Aurela Gaçe in her song Feel the Passion. Sejkos nickname has always been Qepa and he taught guitar to Makashi and has always been known as a great performer of the instrument in Albania. He created Megahertz, the first rock band in Albania, sejkos last participation to the Festivali i Këngës before Identitet had been in 1992 with his group Thunder Way. Their song, Legjenda e Heroit, had come last in that festival
31.
Hersi Matmuja
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Hersjana Matmuja, also known as Hersi Matmuja or simply Hersi is an Albanian singer, best known for winning the 52nd edition of Festivali i Këngës. In 2014 she represented Albania in Eurovision Song Contest held in Copenhagen, Denmark, Hersi Matmuja was born on February 1,1990 in Kukës. She started singing when she was 8 years old and as a child participated in many festivals, during that time, she also studied Canto at Liceu Jordan Misja in Tirana, where she received the highest possible grade of 10/10 upon completion. In 2003, she provided the voice of Melody in the Albanian dub of The Little Mermaid II. She returned to participate in the Festivali i Këngës three more times, Hersi also participated twice in Kënga Magjike. In October 2014, she graduated from the Santa Cecilia Conservatory with the score of 30/30. She speaks Albanian, English and Italian, despite her classical music training, Hersi says her musical influences include Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Lady Gaga, Celine Dion, Rihanna, Björk and ABBA. She studies at Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Matmuja was among the 16 participants taking part at the 52nd edition of Festivali i Këngës. Her song Zemërimi i një nate was written by Jorgo Papingji and she performed on the first presentation night and shortly became a favourite to win the show. She opened the night and received 69 points from the jury, thus getting the rights to represent Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen. She left Klodian Kaçani and Me ty behind with 24 points, the Eurovision version of Zemërimi i një nate and official video was released on 20 March. Matmuja performed in the first semi final, on 6 May and she didnt qualify for the final on 10 May
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Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014
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Albania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Albanian entry was selected through Festivali i Këngës 52, a final format that consisted of two semi-finals and a final, organised by the Albanian broadcaster Radio Televizioni Shqiptar. Albania was represented by the song One Nights Anger written by Gentian Lako and Jorgo Papingji, the entry failed to qualify from the first semi-final placing 15th and scoring 22 points. The competition consisted of two semi-finals on 26 and 27 December 2013 and a final on 28 December 2013, held at the Palace of Congresses in Tirana. Enkel Demi hosted all three shows with Xhesika Berberi and Marinela Meta co-hosting the first two shows and Klea Huta co-hosting the final, RTSH invited interested artists and composers to submit their entries until the deadline on 22 October 2013. Orges Toçe was originally selected to compete with the song Jeta në orën 4, however the entry was withdrawn, the first semi-final took place on 26 December 2013 and the second semi-final took place on 27 December 2013. Each semi-final featured the showcasing of eight of the competing songs, both evenings were non-competitive and the eight songs from each semi-final all proceeded to the final. In addition to the performance of the songs, each of the artists performed a duet of a past competing entry from the history of Festivali i Këngës with another Albanian artist. The final took place on 28 December 2013 where all sixteen songs were performed, each jury member awarded points from 1 to 8,10 and 12 to their top ten songs and the song which had the most points at the conclusion of the voting won the competition. During the semi-final allocation draw on 20 January 2014 at the Copenhagen City Hall, in the first semi-final, the producers of the show decided that Albania would perform 6th, following Iceland and preceding Russia. Albania failed to qualify from the first semi-final, placing 15th, at the contest, Hersi performed the Albanian entry in English under the title One Nights Anger. The final contest version of the song and the video were released on 16 March 2014. On stage, Hersi was joined by two backing vocalists, a guitarist and a drum player, the Albanian performance featured Hersi performing on a platform with dark blue LED projections of cloudy skies. In Albania, both the semi-finals and the final were broadcast on TVSH, RTSH Muzikë and Radio Tirana with commentary by Andri Xhahu, the Albanian spokesperson revealing the result of the Albanian vote in the final was Andri Xhahu. The Albanian votes in the final were based on 100% jury voting due to technical issues with the televoting or an insufficient amount of votes cast during the televote period. Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest Eurovision Song Contest 2014 Festivali i Këngës official website
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Eurovision Song Contest 2014
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 was the 59th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following Emmelie de Forests win at the 2013 contest in Malmö and this was the third time that Denmark hosted the contest, the most recent previous occasion being in 2001. The two semi-finals took place on 6 May and 8 May 2014, and the final on 10 May 2014, the shows were presented by Lise Rønne, Nikolaj Koppel and Pilou Asbæk. The host broadcaster, DR, chose the B&W Hallerne as the host venue after considering several bids from cities and venues across Denmark, thirty-seven countries participated, this includes the return of Poland after a two-year absence and Portugal after a one-year absence. Overall, there were two countries competing compared to the previous year, making thirty-seven participants, the smallest number since 2006. Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Serbia announced their withdrawal from the 2014 Contest, San Marino and Montenegro both qualified for the final for the first time. The winner was Conchita Wurst with the song Rise Like a Phoenix, written by Charley Mason, Joey Patulka, Ali Zuckowski and this was Austrias first win in the competition since 1966. Jokes made about Wurst had sparked controversy, whilst Russia were booed several times during the contest, the Netherlands and Sweden finished second and third respectively with the former achieving their best result since their victory in the 1975 Contest. Armenia finished fourth, which equals their best result to date, while Hungary finished fifth, of the Big Five, only Ruth Lorenzo of Spain achieved a place in the top ten. A new record of 195 million viewers for the Eurovision Song Contest was reported, the host broadcaster, DR, and the EBU won the International TV Award at the Ondas Awards for their production of the contest. On 2 September 2013, Danish public broadcaster DR announced that it had chosen Copenhagen as the host city for the 2014 contest, the contest was held at the former shipyard Refshaleøen, in the B&W Hallerne, with the social networking hashtag #JoinUs as the motto. The mayor of Copenhagen, Frank Jensen, declared in late August that the city would contribute to the budget with 40 million. He also announced that the aim was to make the Eurovision 2014 into the greenest contest to date since Copenhagen had been elected European Green Capital for 2014. Five cities had been considered as host city of the contest, including Herning and Copenhagen, later, Fredericia and Aalborg entered the phase with the Messe C and Gigantium venues, respectively. The fifth city to join the phase was Horsens, with the venue being the courtyard of the former Horsens State Prison, in the event that Horsens had been chosen to host the contest, the courtyard would have been covered by a permanent glass roof. The contest was set to take place on 13,15 and 17 May 2014, however. On 17 June 2013, the municipality executive of Aalborg decided not to bid for hosting the contest due to the lack of sufficient hotel capacity. On 25 June 2013, the Municipality of Fredericia announced that the Triangle Region had withdrawn its bid on hosting the contest, DR required the hosting venue to have no pillars blocking any views and an interior height of at least 16 metres
For the most recent participation see
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