Anjeza Shahini
Anjeza Shahini is an Albanian singer, born on the 4th 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 (Your Reflection).
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" (Your Reflection), 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 Celo 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, although some comments were made about her gypsy descendency, something which was queried almost daily in the country's media.
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-four (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 well received by the Turkish audience, indeed one critic remarked "a fine piece of songcraft, the vulnerable opening, the (slightly dodgy) bridge into the land of disco, the cheesy guitar solo and the show-stopping, shrieking finale, second only to Ruslana's. I wish it could have been longer - as it stands, excellent pop."
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. She was helped a little by extensive block-voting between the Balkan nations, as a star singer there, particularly a surprising twelve points from Macedonia (attributed to the large number of ethnic Albanians living there).
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) to present her latest single. 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 an big outcry in Albania, as well-known domestic Albanian singers, like Anjeza, failed to win, and even prompted accusations of jury bias.