Anjeza Shahini
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Anjeza Shahini is an Albanian singer, born on the 4 May 1987, who in 2004 represented Albania in its first appearance in the Eurovision Song Contest, with the song The Image Of You, original title Imazhi Yt, (the image of you)
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[edit] Eurovision 2004
The then 17-year old schoolgirl was plucked from obscurity in 2003 when she competed at the three-day "RTSH" song festival (Festivali i Këngës) at the Tirana Palace of Congress in December. Along with 29 other singers, she vied to win the public vote to represent the Balkan state for the first time at the Eurovision Song Contest in Istanbul in 2004, singing the song "Imazhi Yt" (The Image of you)a synthesised pop tune. After two preliminary rounds, the singers faced a final vote by jury and Albanian television viewers' televote. The interval act at these national finals was actually the previous winner Sertab Erener.
At the end of the final on 20th December, hosts Adi Krasta and Ledina Çelo presented Anjeza with her special ticket for 12th May: a place in the Eurovision semi-final in Istanbul. The victory was well received by the Albanian public.
The song, originally four and a half minutes in length, was translated into English and re-named "The Image of You", and Anjeza Shahini was also forced to sing the song at one-and-a-half times it's original tempo to bring the song in at the time of three minutes, as stipulated by the EBU, controllers of the Eurovision. A verse was also cut from the Albanian version to bring it in at three minutes.
Anjeza sang in the semi-final first, using singers which had lost out at the original selection procedure for backup, and finished fourth out of twenty-two (a top ten finished would secure a place in the final). She was, therefore, qualified, and she sang live on the Final night in May, alongside twenty-four other countries. The performance was very well received by the Turkish audience.
Anjeza Shahini finished a respectable seventh on the night, with an excellent total of 106 points, behind Ukraine, Sweden, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, and newcomer Serbia and Montenegro, and just before Eurovision veterans like Germany, United Kingdom and Ireland.
"The Image of You" has since been adopted into Eurovision camp culture. On one Internet voting site after the contest, the song was voted second-best, with Sakis Rouvas' Greek offering at Number One. Surprisingly, Ruslana, the actual winner, only just broke the Top Ten.
[edit] 2005 - Present
In 2005 she signed a contract with an artists management based in Vienna for an international career and announced her intention to participate at the "National Song Festival" (Festivali i Këngës), the Albanian selction process for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006.
With the song "Pse Ndal" Shahini made it through the two semi-finals to the last twenty at the National Final and was one of the favorites to win. The final show evening aired on the 18th December 2005, where the winner was announced as the song "Fire and Cold", by Luiz Ejlli. This result provocated something of a big outcry in Albania, as well-known domestic Albanian singers, like Anjeza, failed to win, and even prompted accusations of jury bias. After taking a small break from the music industry to continue her studies in Austria, Anjeza returned to the Albanian stage with two important projects in 2007. She was one of the protagonist singers in "Këngët E Shekullit 2", a successful series on TV Klan consisting of remakes of the best Albanian songs from the past century. She was also a participant in Kënga Magjike 2007 with the song "Nxënësja Më E Mirë" which landed her in 4th place.
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| Preceded by - |
Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 |
Succeeded by Ledina Çelo |
