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About Albania...
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2004 Result
Points in Semi Final: 167
Position in Semi Final: 4th
Points in Final: 106
Position in Final: 7th
2005 Contest: Directly qualified to Final
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History (1956 to 2003)
Albania's previous appearances: 0 year(s) out of 48
Years participated: None
Best result: N/A
Albania makes its first Eurovision appearance in 2004, and participates in the Semi Final among with all the other newcomers.
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This year's entry
Position in Semi Final draw: 13
Position in Final draw: 9
What I said prior to the Semi Final:
"Now this is interesting. Albania was the first country to select its song for 2004, managing to get the whole selection process wrapped up before Christmas. Unfortunately, the winning song - 'Imazhi yt' by Anjeza Shahini - weighed in at four and a half minutes, so drastic surgery was needed to cut it down to the three minutes stipulated by Eurovision rules. This has apparently been achieved by making Anjeza sing one and a half times as fast. Now rewritten in English as 'The image of you', the Albanian entry is completely mad. Anjeza does her best Cheeky Girls accent, trilling, whooping and shrieking over what sounds like four songs in one, complete with a cheesy guitar solo interlude. Having said all that, I think it's fantastic - Tirana 2005, anyone?"
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What I predicted...
My prediction for Semi Final: 4th to 9th
My prediction for Final: Definite qualifier; 4th to 9th, possible winner
What I predicted prior to the Semi Final:
"This is one of those songs that's very difficult to predict - it could win the contest, or it could score nothing at all. However, in the Semi Final, Albania will certainly make an impression coming after the dull Lithuanian song and before the gentle Cypriot entry, and I think it could easily find itself in the Final. Converting songs to English does not always work (see the Croatian entry), but Albania have made the right decision in this case - with its sweet lyrics and catchy chorus, the translation into English has really made this song come alive. The fans seem to rather like this song, and if Europe takes to its barmy charm, Albania has an outside chance of winning the entire contest. At the least, I think the Albanians are in contention for a good top ten finish at their first attempt."
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What you thought...
Final Poll Ranking: out of 36 ()
(Updated 15 May 2004; change refers to movement over final week)
In the run up to the Contest, over 5,000 visitors to this site voted for their favourite song in the Soult.com Eurovision Poll.
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What actually happened
Anjeza gave an energetic and professional performance in the Semi Final, hitting all the high notes, and sounding particularly good after Linas and Simona's tunelessness. The backing singers also stood still and behaved themselves, which was something of a relief - the preview video had them doing all manner of distracting things in the background.
The performance in the Final suffered a little from the prevailing sound problems, with Anjeza's vocal barely audible in parts, but once again she commanded the stage, managing to hit the notes and looking like she was really enjoying herself.
My prediction for Albania was one of the few I got spot on. I predicted Anjeza would finish 4th to 9th in the Semi Final (she came 4th), and again 4th to 9th in the Final (she finished 7th). So that's nice.
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What the bookies thought...
 | Albania to win: | 15/05/04 (prior to Final) | 14-1 |
| | 13/05/04 (after Semi Final) | 14-1 |
| | 11/05/04 | 33-1 |
| | 08/05/04 | 40-1 |
| | 06/05/04 | 40-1 |
| | 04/05/04 | 40-1 |
| | 31/04/04 | 40-1 |
| | 24/04/04 | 40-1 |
| | 17/04/04 | 50-1 |
| | 07/04/04 | 50-1 |
| | 24/03/04 | 50-1 |
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Albania opened at 50-1, but these odds were slashed to 14-1 following Anjeza's success in the Semi Final. With Albania finishing a creditable 7th, the optimism was justified.
(Odds quoted here were those offered by Coral.co.uk. 'F' indicates favourite, 'JF' joint favourite.)
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Links
 http://rtsh.sil.at/
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Notes (see 'History' above)
- The 1956 Contest (where each country had two songs) is counted as a single appearance;
- Countries eliminated in the 1993 preliminary heat (EE, HU, RO, SK) ARE NOT counted as making an appearance in that year's Contest;
- Countries eliminated in the 1996 preliminary heat (DE, DK, HU, IL, MK, RO, RU) ARE NOT counted as making an appearance in that year's Contest;
- Countries eliminated in the 2004, 2005 and 2006 Semi Finals ARE counted as making an appearance in that year's Contest.
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Your comments (528)
From KarKar, Ireland
Added 00:01:59 2006-06-03
My 2nd favourite song of 2004!! Its really mad but really, really good! How about that shrieking finale? Def. one you'd remember.
From ledjon, United States
Added 00:32:25 2006-03-27
hey anjeza you are good singer. i know you my father tell me you are my cousin write me back when you ride this mesage .bye.
From marsida, Canada
Added 01:13:19 2006-03-10
she has a great voice
From Xhon, ALBANIA
Added 18:45:18 2004-5-16
Nick the Greek I agree....we should do this more often! The others are doing it so why cant we? Doing it means winning and that is what happened to ukraine last night!
From Nick The Greek, GREECE
Added 18:24:44 2004-5-16
Excellent partnership between us.It was really nice your song.You gave us 12 points and we gave you 10 ;>
From Jonny -to- GRAHAM !, ALBANIA
Added 18:14:40 2004-5-16
GRAHAM
will you do a similar forum for the European Beauty Pageantry, Universe and World too (i.e. Miss EU, Universe etc)! I must say (and I think I speak for everyone wherever they are from) thank you for giving us the oportunity to interact and express our opinions and support to our contestants!
Cheers to Graham!
From Besnik, SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO
Added 18:1:55 2004-5-16
Pershendetje per te gjithe.
Te lumte Anjeza, me ty eshte krenar i gjithe populli shqipetar.te keni parasysh se Anjeza ka pase vota edhe nga Presheva respektivisht nga une dhe shoqeria ime.
i deshirojme suxese Anjezes dhe perfaqesuesit-es ne 2005-tėn.
eshte krenar i gjith populli shqipetar qe te kemi ty, Anjeza.
From Nida, UNITED KINGDOM
Added 17:58:56 2004-5-16
I do agree that Anjeza's performance was better in the semi, however, she deserved the pointes she got.
Savvina I think you have come to the wrong forum. Here you either write in english or albanian, not greek. And I don't think that the greek song was the best at all even though we gave you 12 points and you 10 to us.
From Mark, GERMANY
Added 16:40:24 2004-5-16
oh lord, greeks could go on someones nerves here.
Fix it, ithe greek entry was obviously the 3rd best song this year!
Anjeza was probably better in semi, i think. And the dress was really dull. Anyway, a great premiere for Albania.
From SAVVINA, GREECE
Added 15:34:10 2004-5-16
WELL...OUR SONG WAS THE BEST OF ALL!!!!!SAKIS THE BEST.MAS EXETE PRIKSI ESEIS OI ALBANOI EDO STHN ELLADA.MONO ALBANOYS EXOYME,ANYWAY WELL DONE!!!!
From cool_gjylije@hotmail.com, ALBANIA
Added 15:16:18 2004-5-16
si je a je mirė.....
Jė kanė shumė e mrekullushme nė festival......
From Kreshniku, ALBANIA
Added 14:53:45 2004-5-16
Albo, yeah Agnesa Vuthaj is really pretty. To be honets with you Anjeza Shahini got a veyr nice voide but she is not that pretty, now Agnesa Vuthaj is. They don't look a like at all (apart from having dark hair).
From Kreshniku, ALBANIA
Added 14:51:13 2004-5-16
Hi Nida. Yeah UK did "cook" their vote for Albania. I expected somewhere between 5 to 8 points from UK, judging by the voting of me, friends and relatives (who by the way count to really a lot, haha).
From Albo-best, ALBANIA
Added 14:42:25 2004-5-16
By the way if anyone wants to see her, (Miss Albania 2004) click on the link below!
http://www.fokusi.com/index.php?album=82
(or cut and paste in on the web bar!). Scroll down the bottom and click on the Agnesa or Agnesa Vuthaj!
Ps: She kinda looks similar to Anjeza! Best of luck to both!
From Nida, UNITED KINGDOM
Added 14:27:23 2004-5-16
We should be very pleased with the results, since we don't have particularly "amicable" neighbours and since it is well known that cousins always vote for cousins. I thought there were a couple of problems with the sound yesterday, but I am still happy because Anjeza got those votes because she deserved them and nothing else. I also think that the UK cooked up its voting -I am sure that Anjeza should have received more than 1 point from the UK as only from my family of 4 she got more then 10 votes. Anyways, we should do better in Kiev.
P.s: per fat te keq ata qe une shpresoja te mos dilnin mire dolen pikerisht ne vend te dyte. Damn.
From Albo-best, ALBANIA
Added 14:24:26 2004-5-16
Anjeza did us proud. Lets hope Miss Albania 2004 does us proud too on miss Europe, Universe and World! She is absolutely stuning and so sexy! Incidently they both have similar names (Anjeza -eurovision and AGNESA Miss Albania)
AGNESA WILL YOU MARRY ME?!
From Justin Mala, ALBANIA
Added 13:48:48 2004-5-16
Leo I think so! It should be there on the CD because as well as Albania now automatically quailified for the finals next year, It came on the top 10 countries this year! A CD (depending on its size) would normally contain more than 10 songs so Albania being 7th means that it must be there!
I agree the CD is worth buying! Her song was amzing and I think she has a great voice for a 17 year old! Best of luck to her!
From Leo Boyle, UNITED KINGDOM
Added 13:37:28 2004-5-16
I thought this pop song, "Image of You" by Anjeza Shalini was great! It was was sung well and with confidence. It should've done better in the final results and I gave it a 10 out of 10. Is it going to be released on C.D. ? I'd buy it!
From Albo-best, ALBANIA
Added 13:6:16 2004-5-16
In case any one missed it (which I doubt) here are the top 7!
1) UKRAINE
2) SERBIA & Montenegro
3) GREECE
4) TURKEY
5) SWEEDEN
6) CYPROS
7) ALBANIA
Congratualtions to Anjeza for making it into the top 10! 7th is a very good place for a new comer! Next year we will hopefully make it 3rd which is reachable and A realistic target although I dont mind winning! lol
GOOD LUUUUUUUCCCCCCKKKKKK
From Jonny, AUSTRALIA
Added 12:51:19 2004-5-16
Hey well done Anjeza!
Albania coming 7th for the first time competing isnt that bad you know!! There are more well experienced countries out there who you left behind that would kill for that place! Her song was so cheesy and sexy!
Graham was right into his predictions about Albania.
I love Anjas eyes! Best of Luck next year!
From Arta, MACEDONIA, FYR
Added 12:25:24 2004-5-16
Hi everybody!!!
Anjeza... congratulation... You deserved more... but anyway... it's OK... I wish u all the best... LONG LIVE Albania!
From Albanian_girl , SWITZERLAND
Added 11:29:2 2004-5-16
congratulations from me to anjeza shahini.. i think she was the best.. but it was injuste because albania hasn't got a good relationship to an other country to receive much points....
hajt shqiptar.. ne me mire te kendojm per shtetin tone... se per ndryshe.. duhet te lidhena me tjeter shtet per me fitu ne eurovision. ne per vete edim se jena me te mirit.. !! a eshte ashtu? ;-)
From Denisi, ALBANIA
Added 19:38:16 2004-5-15
Hey people the big moment is arriving...I am so so excited!
Just under half of an hour and hopefully the stage will begin to shine with Anjeza (yeah baby yeah...oh and the rest but I have to think about that)...so em anyway beeeeest of luck Albania...I will be voting and I hope I dont get my numbers mixed up because of over excitememtn!
GOOOOD LUCK AND C U ALL @
"EUROVISION-TIRANA 2005"
OH MY GOOOD ITS REALLY HAPENING!
From Vlora, NETHERLANDS
Added 19:37:53 2004-5-15
YOU ARE THE BESTTTTTTTTTTT OF THE BESTTTTT!!!!!!! GO GIRL,
No. 1 edhe pik.
MPUQQQQQQQQ SHUM SHUM SE KE QEN FANTASTIKE. :):):):)
From ARKAN&CETNICI, SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO
Added 19:32:20 2004-5-15
E siptasi steram vam ga majci nabijem vi pevacicu na CETNICKI KURAC uz put QIVSHA MOTRE I NONE
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