Editor's note: The following article, published on Facebook, contains the personal views and assessments of the author Kozeta Kurti. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent the views or editorial line of Anabel.
Although I have an open conflict with the new "management" of RTSH (virtual, since I was not given the opportunity for verbal communication), the tradition of my marking the day after the Song Festival is now a truth that is not only mine, but also many of my friends, known and unknown, who write to me that they are waiting for me... By this I mean that it is not "revenge" because the "management" has not made the days (and will never make them, neither the current one, nor what may come later) to be used as a lever of revenge for an institution within an institution such as the Song Festival at Albanian Radio Television.
And here I am! I just don't know where to start.
I'm starting with what needs no comment: the set design. I've been part of the Song Festival teams several times and I'm jealous of this set design. We've often had arguments with Albi Çifligu, the Festival's set designer, and we've disagreed, including on festival sets that I've been involved in myself, but this one was truly "hats off to him". At least for my personal tastes, as a journalist or producer of events with music as the main theme, because technically I can't say if it was comfortable for the musicians who performed on stage.
Secondly, I don't think I've ever been more curious than this year to know which songs were left out of the competition (if the ones we heard were the best). To be honest, I've heard some of them that were left out, but I'm not going to comment because they will be labeled as personal taste and as I agree myself: "personal tastes are not judged, they are respected". Now that I remember, in the concert archive I have a "Napolon", Latin style, and since I allowed that songs without an author can be given a "bulzë", if anyone wants it for next year, I have it ready, even orchestrated.
Often, during the nights, this Festival seemed to me like a "Dancing with the Stars", where apart from the performances with dancers, I don't remember seeing anything else, or if you wanted, I'm also counting those two songs with flames and the two songs with fog, since they certainly constitute innovations as well.
I don't think there is an Albanian who hasn't heard of the studios of Radio Tirana, since for about 10 years now those introductory clips of singers have been made there; sometimes they are shot from the left, sometimes from the right, sometimes in the middle. But this is definitely a "beautiful innovation". And since we are here on the clips, I didn't understand why the "voice over" dubbed the moderators. You had no chance of missing anything because in five seconds Evi Reçi, etc., Arilena, Salsano, and the insert had said it. If it was done with the intention of instilling it in our heads, bravo, this beautiful innovation achieved its goal, of course, as the moderator said: "with what happened to us...".
Someone asked me: why, if it were you, who would you have trusted the Festival to? Without a doubt, anyone, including this team that made it, (I would have trusted Andri Xhahu with indisputable merit as well) but with one small difference: everyone should take the time they need, not the time they want. Redi Treni I am sure that there was not enough time for directorial rehearsals, so we read mistakes on the screen that cannot even be perceived after so many years of experience; I am convinced that the screenwriter Koloreto Cukali did not have enough time to write, not to like, to delete and rewrite until he found the right one. I am convinced that the moderators Arilena Ara and Salsano Rrapi did not meet in time, they did not have enough time to get to know each other properly on stage to reflect the chemistry that we need as spectators and viewers.
If the tickets had been advertised in time, not three or four days before the event, perhaps social networks and RTSH news would not have lied so irresponsibly about the enthusiastic audience that had filled the Palace of Congresses, because it is not true. Nor was it enthusiastic (except for some group that arrived by van (not bus) for the fans and the orange armchairs of the Palace of Congresses to reveal the overflow. But who is to deal with these "little things". The Festival Director? And who was he?
Nëse do flasim për tejmbushje, ka patur vetëm një Festival vitet e fundit: Festivali i 61-të i drejtuar nga Arbana Osmani. Tani me të drejtë secili pyet: po mirë, nëse duhet kaq pak, pse kemi këtë pamje? Po e kemi këtë pamje pra, sepse Drejtoresha Artistike e Festivalit, këngëtarja Elhaida Dani zgjodhi të ishte titër në këtë edicion dhe jo prezente. Bëri vetëm “ta” natën e parë, duke e hapur ngjarjen më të madhe muzikore LIVE, me këngë të kënduar “playback”; me një këngë që nuk është e saj. Kujtojmë që Elhaida është fituese e Festivalit të 53-të të Këngës. Pse nuk këndoi këngën e saj, ashtu siç bëri Arilena? Apo nuk dinte cilën këngë të këndonte: atë që fitoi Festivalin, apo atë me të cilën prezantoi Shqipërinë. (Hera e parë që në Shqipëri atë vit u trajtua si Festivali i Këngëtares dhe jo i Këngës, por nejse të shkuara, të (pa)harruara). Më vjen shumë keq që Elhaida jo vetëm që nuk e tejkaloi Festivalin e vitit të kaluar, por as nuk diti ta ruajë atë që ndërtoi apo u ndërtua aksidentalisht. Por me siguri do e rregullojë vitin që vjen, meqë me sa kam dëgjuar, e ka marrë drejtimin artistik për tre vjet rresht. Epo mot më mirë uroj.
Të ndalojmë pak te thembra e Akilit: nata e nostalgjisë. Nuk dua të ndalem shumë gjatë, sepse do kisha përsëritur veten duke thënë se nata e nostalgjisë u përket edicioneve jubiliare, ka nevojë për temë që të mos bëhen gabime autoriale, ndryshe do përsëritet gjithçka vit pas viti dhe po shndërrohet kjo nata e nostalgjisë në patericën që po mban në këmbë vetë Festivalin. Megjithatë faleminderit që na sollët në këtë risi të bukur për herë të parë këngë si “JON”, “Vajzat e fshatit tim”, “Ti nuk më meriton”, “Jehon” etj etj. Dhe mbi të gjitha, faleminderit skuadrës krijuese që na bënë pjesë të natës së nostalgjisë këngën e artistit më kontribute të shquara në skenën e Festivalit, Yll Limani, së cilit ende nuk i është bërë dekada e parë nga prezantimi premierë, imagjinoni vetë sa nostalgjike është.
Prej muajsh kam dëgjuar për Alisin si fitues të paracaktuar dhe që të jem e sinqertë, kam thënë: nëse paracaktohet një i ri/ e re le të jetë kush të jetë, mjafton të krijohet një brez i ri që ta dojë këtë skenë e t’i kthehet besimi. Kësaj tymnaje thashethemesh nuk i jap zë, por ama formulës së votimit, po. Pak kohë më parë (20 tetor 2025) Drejtoresha Artistike e Festivalit foli në një prej programeve të RTSH-së (“Çasti i duhur”, minuta e 75-të, ose një orë e pesëmbëdhjetë minuta ) ku shpjegoi se kënga fituese do të shpallej me votim sipas ndarjes 25% televotim me sms, 25% nga aplikacioni FIK (që do të ishte gati shumë shpejt, por s’u bë kurrë) dhe 50% nga juria, me emrat e së cilës jam shumë dakord, por i mungonin emra të rinj. Siç ka Festivali Sara Kapo, duhet të ketë edhe juria e Festivalit një apo dy Sara Kapo, ndryshe është lojë pa rregulla. Ku i dihet, me këtë aplikacionin FIK që votohej nga e gjithë bota medemek, mund të kishim një tjetër këngë fituese.
And finally, like the cherry on the cake, what closes this note every year: the RTSH Symphony Orchestra and the Festival band. This time I will not only say that you are wonderful, but I would ask you to insist (for the good of music, not for rebellion) that after the selection phase of the songs, every singer must undergo a piano test, before you: "THE HONOR OF THE NATION" are forced to open the scores to accompany the performers of songs that most do not even know where they came from and where they are.
PS Eni Vasili...did you swallow this note thinking where are you here? You can't be here, because none of those who know the Festival need me to learn that you will be shamelessly remembered as the ONLY Dr. General (since that's how the established standard for offices requires it in the masculine) in history who took off the Director's costume, put on that of the spectacle stage, stole artistic, stage, and television time just because, apparently, you discovered the Festival and the Orchestra for the first time.
