Until the first night of the "Song Festival", the public knew that the jury would only have three foreign Eurovision representatives. In an interview with Aperitv Fest, Alketa Vejsiu, the festival's artistic director, said she "knows nothing about the winner." But on the first night (December 19), Mikaela Minga and Rita Petro were also introduced to the jury. What initially aroused suspicion about the fact that it had not been announced that there would be Albanian representatives on the jury, as long as the fact that a foreign jury had decided on the winner, made sense a few moments ago.
Jury votes were posted on Instagram. Points are organized from 1 to 10, while the first three places on 10, 13 and 18 points.
As you can see, Christer Bjorkman, singer and television producer, Dimitris Kontopoulos, a renowned Greek composer for 20 years, and Felix Bergsson with advanced degrees in advanced theater practices, have voted "With Tana" with 18 points, that is, maximum points . ?Shaj? is voted with 10, 13 and 13 points respectively. The only one who has given Arilena maximum points is Rita Petro, while Minga has ranked as second, with 13 points.
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We're trying to understand as much as we can about the fact that Mikaela Minga, an experienced musicologist, gave Elvana Gjata, one of the top contenders for the award, only 2 points. According to her, Elvana stands one point farther than Gena and 1 point below Robert Berisha. But the fact that Minga, like Rita Petro who scored Elvana with 8 points, came from nothing and presented themselves the first night, proves what we don't want to believe - they were invited to create safe ground for Arilene, her song which stands out by a marked margin from "Me Tana", ranked first by the public with clicks, but also jury votes already made public. This is confirmed by internal sources for Anabel.al, who say that the Albanian jury was added at the last minute for this purpose.
Another dubious detail, confirmed by online comments and sources for Anabel.al, is the addition of 400 additional chairs to the public. According to sources, director Vera Grabocka added chairs to bring in young Arilene fans. It is out of the question that hundreds of young men, who have grown up in trio listening to Elvana's hits, spoil her magical moment on stage by shouting Arilena's name. Granted, the crowd is uncontrollable, but the fact that someone was calling Arilena at a time when the price was not being discussed - as in the case of Fif and Eneda Tariff - is also questionable. So why didn't anyone shout Arilene's name when she was singing Era Russia, Olta Boka, Valon Shehu or Albery Hadergjonaj?
Reliable sources tell Anabel.al that there has been a heated debate between Alketa Vejsiu and Vera Grabocka about a strategy to lead Eurovision to a song that was not the public's favorite and was recently revealed to be no jury either. . According to sources, Weissu did not agree with the whole scheme created for Arilene. After the final, Alketa did not mention Arilene at all and did not congratulate her publicly.
Elvana was the subject of this edition, with or without interpretation problems, which happened to everyone: It happened to Elhaida Dan, who won The Voice of Italy and starred in Eurovision, to Arilena in "Magic Song", and which stunned "November" as much as the video is no longer available on YouTube, but excelled at the "Song Festival". So, things are happening. But what was not supposed to happen was the denial of a singer's victory that was highly praised by Albanian audiences and artists as well as foreign juries and audiences (Wiwiblogs). Whether we like it or not, it was used by the production because it turned the spotlight on a festival that people sadly had no interest in.
It would be fairer if Vera Grabocka had not accepted Elvana at the Festival saying "better not participate, I have already determined the winner".
