Albania: A cheerful singer with a sad song
Rona Nishliu is singing Suus, a ballad in Albanian language, on the Eurovision Song Contest stage this year. She is already anticipating her performance in the Dress Rehearsals next week and looking forward to singing in front of a big audience, as she told Eurovision.tv before entering the stage for today's rehearsal.
"I hope I'll give my best today, as just like the first rehearsal, this one today is very important", Rona Nishliu said to Eurovision.tv when we met her in the dressing room of the Albanian delegation.
"Hopefully after today's rehearsal, I'll be ready for the Dress Rehearsal, with the audience, as this is the one I have been waiting for already for so long. The audience gives you back so much energy, and because of the magic it creates, this is very important to me, " she summed up her expectations for today's rehearsal.
In the rehearsal, Rona Nishliu proved her own statements - she is definitely ready for the dress rehearsals, as she seemed very secure both in terms of vocals, stage presence, and camerawork. She sang her dramatic ballad all alone on stage, without the support of special effects or backing vocalists.
The stage scenery was set in red colour, with a dark LED backdrop, on which black-and-white silhouettes appeared in the middle of the song. Rona was wearing a very special earring and necklace today, featuring disc-like shapes in lime green.
In the press conference, a British journalist asked Rona Nishliu why she had chosen to perform alone on stage in Baku. "I'm the lyricist, and the story of my song is based on a personal experience, and so we thought it was easier to express this when I'm alone on stage", she replied.
"Suus is supposed to mean Personal, as it just sounds like this to me. Music and especially lyrics goes beyond borders and races. I'm singing my song in Albanian, as I think it is more powerful and original like that", she explained to the question of the press conference host why she sang her song in Albanian and what the song title meant.
A F.Y.R. Macedonian journalist remarked that, unlike other artists from Kosovo, Rona followed a less commercial style of music. Rona Nishliu commented that she tried to do what she felt and what was her passion, and that it was important for any artist to grow and change during the artistic process.
"A performance that has a value behind is the best thing you can have. If people feel something while you are singing, this is the best compliment, and the applause of the audience after a performance is the greatest thing", Rona told the press audience.
