The song represented Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö, Sweden, after winning the country's pre-selection competition Festivali i Këngës. But, it failed to qualify for the grand final, as it was ranked in fifteenth place, thus marking the country's fourth non-qualification in the contest. During their rock and roll-themed show, the duo was accompanied by four instrumentalists and a variety of flashing red and orange colours displayed on the LED screens in the background.
Background and composition
In 2012, Adrian Lulgjuraj and Bledar Sejko were among the contestants selected to compete in the 51st edition of Festivali i Këngës, a competition to determine Albania's participant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. As part of the competition's rules, the lyrics of the participating entries had to be in the Albanian language. They took part in the contest with the song "Identitet" written by Eda Sejko and composed by Bledar Sejko himself.[1] For the purpose of their Eurovision Song Contest participation, the song was remastered and shortened at the Kingside Studios in Gnesta, Sweden.[2]
After winning Festivali i Këngës, the song received mixed reviews from music critics. In a Wiwibloggs review containing several reviews from individual critics, it was given a score of 2.86 out of 10 points.[5] The reviewers negatively noted that the song was "old-fashioned" and anticipated that it could not qualify for the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Although, various reviewers expressed praise towards the song's instrumental and folklore-inspired sound.[5] "Identitet" was accused of plagiarising the Bajaga's "Plavi safir" from 1988 by different medias and websites throughout the Balkans,[6][7] although music experts have reported that both "Identitet" and "Plavi Safir" are influenced by Balkan folk music, which is similar in many countries in the region.[8] According to Bledar Sejko, the starting notes of "Plavi safir" were plagiarised from the lyrics of "Kur bie fyelli e çiftelia" by Albanian singer and songwriter Vaçe Zela from the middle of the 20th century.[4]
The national broadcaster of Albania, Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH), organised the 51st edition of Festivali i Këngës to determine the country's participants for the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö, Sweden.[14] It opened a submission period for artists and composers to submit their entries between 8 and 9 October 2012 to the competition.[15] Following the grand final, Adrian Lulgjuraj & Bledar Sejko were chosen to represent the country in the contest after the votes of an expert jury were combined, resulting in 74 total points.[16]
The 58th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest took place in Malmö, Sweden, and consisted of two semi-finals held on 14 and 16 May, and the grand final on 18 May 2013.[17] According to the Eurovision rules, each participating country (except the host country and the "Big Five", consisting of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) were required to qualify from one of the two semi-finals to compete for the grand final, although the top ten countries from the respective semi-finals progress to the grand final.[18] On 17 January 2013, it was announced that "Identitet" would be performed in the second half of the second semi-final of the contest.[19] During the live show, Albania performed fourteenth, following Norway and was preceding Georgia, and failed to qualify for the grand final in fifteenth place with 31 points, ranking twelfth by the jury's 11.78 points and fifteenth by the televote of 9.10 points.[20][21]
