Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005

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Ledina Çelo represented Albania at Eurovision.
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Ledina Çelo represented Albania at Eurovision.

The Albanian Final was held on December 18th at the Palace of Congress in Tirana, hosted by Huejda El Sajed & Leon Menkshi. Before the final there were 2 semi-finals. The winner was chosen by televoting (50%) and an "expert" jury (50%), but only the top 3 were announced. Ledina Çelo was chosen to represent Albania at Eurovision with the song Nesër shkoj. The song a mixed modern World Music style with traditional Balkan influence. The song is written by Pandi Laco and composed by Adrian Hila.

Ledina Çelo was born on 9 February 1977 and is an Albanian singer who attended ‘Jordan Misja’ artistic school in 1996 and the Academy of Fine Arts, studying classic music, in 2004. In 2000 she won the final of the second series of ‘Star Academy’ in Paris. She competed in many festivals in Albania and has received a number of awards for her music.

At Eurovision, Ledina performed the English version of her song titled Tomorrow I Go. Ledina wore a white and red dress as did her dancers with the fake white violins. She was also accompanied on stage with a male dancer wearing a traditional Albanian costume and beating a drum throughout the song. The song presentation involved Ledina pulling off red sheets to expose her dancers that dance around her and pretend to play their violins. At the end, the drummer wraps Ledina and her dancers together with a red ribbon.

Final - December 18th - Only the top 3 were announced:

Song Singer Place
8 Hëna dhe yjet dashurojnë Luiz Ejlli 2nd
12 Nesër shkoj Ledina Çelo 1st
13 Frikem se më pëlqen Jonida Maliqi 3rd
Individual Entries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005
Albania - Andorra - Austria - Belarus - Belgium - Bosnia and Herzegovina - Bulgaria - Croatia - Cyprus - Denmark - Estonia - Finland - France - Germany - Greece - Hungary - Iceland - Ireland - Israel - Latvia - Lithuania - Republic of Macedonia - Malta - Moldova - Monaco - Netherlands - Norway - Poland - Portugal - Romania - Russia - Serbia and Montenegro - Slovenia - Spain - Sweden - Switzerland - Turkey - Ukraine - United Kingdom

Note: Countries in italics are semi-finalists who did not advance to the final.