Albania - World - Lindita

promo set

14 - 76 pts in semi 1
Albania's selection for Eurovision*, the 55th Festivali I Këngës, already held before Christmas 2016, was won by Lindita Halimi with the song Botë.
Botë (World) is written by Klodian Qafoku and Gerald Xhari.
Watch the live version from the final here.
A studio version had also escaped and can be heard here.
The song underwent a makeover with a full orchestra  and was performed in English in Kyiv as World.

Here's the final version video

A promo CD/DVD set is issued.
The cd includes 10 tracks, but there is no tracklist. It appears the same five versions are included twice, but with a soundlevel (mastering?) difference.

1. ESC version

2. ESC version (instrumental)

3. ESC version (karaoke)

4. Botë

5. ESC version (different mix) [instrumental]

6. ESC version (different mix) [karaoke]

7. ESC version (different mix)

8. Jazz version

9. Botë (different mix)

10. Jazz version (different mix)
The DVD has the video, NF video, lyrics, bio and pictures.


Now!
Lindita has also just released a new single called Now. It's available at iTunes and other digital sources

Lindita ended 3rd in the 53rd FiK with the song S'të Fal.

In December 2009 she participated (as Linda) in the 48th FiK with Erti Hizmo, their song Nuk Të Dorëzohem (Don't give up) ended 12th.

She also entered American Idol in early 2016. She finished in the last 51 but didn't proceed to the final 24.

Picture taken from Lindita's Facebook

Versions
World - Eurovision version in English
- digital release, Kyiv 2CD
Botë - Original Albanian version
- Various youtubes.
World - Eurovision karaoke
- digital release
World - Instrumental
World - Jazz version
- all on promo cds (see above)

Links and sources
Special thanks to Nigel!
Lindita: Facebook, Website
RTSH: FiK pages,  Youtube channel
Find out more about these Albanian entries: 2016 - 2015 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012 - 2011 - 2010 - 2009
Festivali i Këngës at Wikipedia



The old festivali's

* The Festivali I Këngës (FiK) has been used as the selection for the Eurovision Song Contest ever since Albania entered with Anjeza Shahini's The Image Of You in 2004. But the Festivali i Këngës already started in 1962 and is of course an acclaimed music festival in its own right.
Check your Wiki's and see the end of this post for some FiK history.
A few months ago RTSH released most old Festival i Këngës entries through digital shops (Amazon has them and so does iTunes) and Spotify.

I made a spotify playlist (below) with all the Albanian Festivali I Këngës winners  (so you don't have to). It starts in 1962.

The 1967 winner is missing and some songs are in versions by the second (non winning) singer. (up to 1984 most songs were performed twice by different singers).

It's a magnificent trip through Albania's amazing and sometimes grim Festival history. 

A special thanks to Thomas!

The most recent edition isn't available yet.

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note: I know Spotify can be a bit crappy. Sometimes it plays the playlist in a mixed order, or mixes it with other songs, don't blame me, I did my best.
I just think Spotify can be a handy tool to preview some music and do some vault-digging.
And in the end it's buying music that supports your artists (or in this case, RTSH), not streaming.