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Zjerm by Shkodra Elektronike
Albania, always first out of the blocks alphabetically for my Countdown and usually first chronologically too, with the magnificent Festivali I Kenges clocking in before Christmas the year before, although this time pipped at the post by an especially early showing from Montenegro. Being first up can make it tricky to know where to rank a song when doing such a large-scale comparison as a Eurovision review, and initially I wasn’t very fussed about this. That put me at odds with plenty of The Kids on that there interweb who seemed to lap this up whilst I was rather surprised by its popularity. Is this another sign of my growing divergence with popular culture as I get older? (It’s a fair assessment – there are many examples, and I am.)
Now we have our full set of songs, and I find I’m rather enjoying this. It blends folk with a number of contemporary electronic genres, with vocalist Beatriçe oozing attitude as she sings a song ostensibly of hope (no war, no orphaned children) but still managing to sound menacingly post-apocalyptic. Her band mate Kolë plays the role of Chris Lowe in the Pet Shop Boys, adding occasional percussion then delivering a deadpan vocal section which adds to the overall portentousness of the piece.
The early support for this among the most committed fans who endure the most challenging extremes of the national final season (don’t weep for me, I love it really) may have bolstered Albanian TV’s hopes as they seem to think they’re onto a winner. They’ve reportedly committed a record €150,000 to the staging and promotion. Even though I’ve swung round to it that might be a little premature. However they present it, it’s still a song with a harsh edge with a largely impenetrable language barrier for most of the audience in May that presents a challenge to connect with. We’ll see if the online buzz among a small number of uber-fans translates to wider success.
My score: 8 points
Photo: Luca Rossi/EBU