Gjon Muharremaj, known by the stage name Gjon's Tears , was announced as the most voted artist by the jury at Eurovision 2021, although the calculation of 50% of the public votes ranked his song "Tout l'Univers" in third place. John has always been associated with Albania and it would not be a surprise to represent our country. What happened?
Following his success at Eurovision, an interview with John, which shows how he managed to represent Switzerland, went viral on social media. We recall that he was born in Switzerland, to two parents of Albanian origin, the father from Kosovo, and the mother from Tirana. 10 years ago, he participated in Albania's Got Talent and in February 2019 he was a participant in The Voice of France. In an interview for "Fol shqip show" in March of this year, he says:
"I applied in Switzerland with Swiss artists, but a week before the song was applied, Alketa Vejsiu called me and invited me to go there [Song Festival] and prepare a song. In fact, I had applied for Switzerland and I called [the organizers] and I said 'are you sure you will take me, because it is Albania ...' and they told me, 'go to Albania you want, we want you to you to go as far as possible, either with us or with Albania '. ”
Switzerland does not hold a festival to select the song at Eurovision, but sets up a board of directors. In March 2020, he was elected to represent Switzerland with the song "Répondez-moi". But in December, it could be at the Song Festival.
"The Albanian production told me that they no longer had a place to do the festival. They called me and told me prepare a song for Thursday, I only had four days to compose it. So I told Switzerland if they could take me and my song, because I can not go without a song. I asked if I could apply with this song ["Répondez-moi"] and they said "yes". "I was told on Thursday that 'we have 25 artists and we need the Song Festival with only 20'."
Gjoni refers to the time when the "Song Festival" was directed by the Grabocka-Vejsiu duo. Contacted by Anabel.al, Alketa Vejsiu said:
“Gjoni ka qenë jashtë date atëherë për pranimet, mesa mbaj mend. Unë doja shumë që Gjon të ishte pjesë. Mendoj që është një talent absolut. I kam propozuar të jetë i ftuar si “zërat e të ardhmes”. Ishin bërë zgjedhjet e artistëve dhe ishte jashtë kohe ardhja e këngës dhe për më tepër në frëngjisht. E kam kontaktuar personalisht sepse e konsideroj një talent me një zë dhe stil unik, por ishim jashtë kohe. Procedurat e RTSH-së janë pak rigoroze; kjo nuk vë në diskutim talentin e këtij artisti, të cilit uroj t’ja dëgjoj zërin sa më lart. Nëse do ta ribëja Festivalin, do ta ftoja me kënaqësi.”
Due to the cancellation of Eurovision 2020, where Albania would be represented by Arilena Ara with "Shaj", Gjon's Tears was re-elected as the representative of Switzerland in 2021, this time with another song because the rules of Eurovision forbade participation with the same songs.
