Albania’s national broadcaster, RTSH, has announced that the submission window for Festivali i Këngës 64 will officially open on September 1, 2025.
Rules for application
Artists and composers wishing to participate in Festivali i Këngës 64 can submit their songs directly to RTSH starting from September 1. Here are the rules for submitting a song:
- Submitted songs must be original and unpublished before the contest.
- Each entry must have a maximum duration of 4 minutes.
- Performers must be at least 16 years old.
- The full song and orchestral backing track with backing vocals (in MP3 format), the lyrics (in Word format) and details of the songwriter(s) and performer(s).
- Any entries created using artificial intelligence will be immediately disqualified.
- First‑time applicants to Festivali i Këngës are also required to attach a photo of the artist(s) to their submission.
The broadcaster has yet to confirm the exact submission deadline.
About Festivali i Këngës
Albania’s Festivali i Këngës long predates Albania’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. Since 1962, Albanian musicians have performed for the broadcast audience in December. At inception, Festivali i Këngës focused on “light music”, a populist kind of classical music. Following the end of a period of censorship in the 1970s and 80s, performers chose from a variety of genres, and love songs, political entries, and rock music became more common; starting in the 1990s, diaspora Albanian singers were also allowed to participate. The entries at FiK have since then often reflected political and social issues prevalent in Albania, such as the transition away from communism, the rash of pyramid schemes in the mid-1990s, and the fragmentation of family units. As of 2004, the winner of Festivali i Këngës gains first refusal to represent Albania at Eurovision; however, beginning in 2022, the jury winner is separate from the televote winner, the latter of whom gets to go to Eurovision.
Shkodra Elektronike won Festivali i Këngës 63 and represented Albania in the 2025 Contest in Basel with “Zjerm”. The duo made it to the Grand Final, where they ultimately finished in 8th place with 218 points. 173 of these came from the televote, while the remaining 45 points came from the jury.
Which artists would you like to see compete in Festivali i Këngës 64? As always, please let us know what you think by getting involved in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Threads, tumblr, and Bluesky for more information about Eurovision 2026!
News Source: eurovoix.com
Photo Credit: Sarah Louise Bennett / EBU
Rory Gannon