The nation on stage

In the Grand Final of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest, Jonida Maliqi of Albania executed a stunning rendition of Ktheju tokës and finished 17th in the entire song contest. The performance is full of passion, meaning, and national pride. The idea of national identity is prevalent in this performance from the colors, the language, the clothing and the imagery on the stage. Maliqi's performance stood out as she clearly did Albania proud. When I initially saw this performance, I was immediately drawn to the artist, the sound of her voice, the clothing she wore and the intense imagery in the background. There is so much in this performance that stood out to me. This performance is the reason I picked Albania as my country to focus on. The first thing I want to talk about is the choice of clothing and the colors present in the performance. Jonida Maliqi is dressed in an all black gown with different gold emblems going up and down the sides and in parts of her hair. The black to me, symbolizes strength, power and authority. Wearing a full black gown shows me how much strength and power Maliqi has and wanted to showcase. The combination of the gold emblems with the all black gown add onto this. Gold symbolizes wealth and luxury. With the gown being all black with the gold emblems, it seems like Maliqi is trying to show us how powerful and luxurious Albania could be if everyone saw it and loved the way she sees it and loves it. In terms of the colors seen on stage outside of the clothing, Maliqi definitely paid homage to Albania. The national colors of Albania are red and black. Throughout the entire performance, the color red was flashing in the back or the color red was part of solid stage lighting. The color red symbolizes a lot of things however, in the context of Albania and red being very prevalent in the countries flag, in this instance red can symbolize war and courage. Albania seems to be an ongoing war with itself. Maliqi briefly discussed this in her interview with wiwibloggs. She talked about how Albanians do not want to be there. People are fleeing the country to find a better life. They are going to neighboring countries where they feel safer and more free. Looking at the courage aspect, Maliqi showed the courage to go out and represent Albania at the song contest and perform a powerful song. Outside of clothing and colors, Maliqi showed us how proud she is of her national identity and her motherland. To highlight the clear showing of national identity, the song Ktheju tokës was performed in her home language, her mother tongue, Albanian. As shown in blog post 2, The national self (and the Other), The Albanian language is unique. Language is very important in terms of national identity. It is an identifier and allows for people who speak the same language to communicate and share stories and experiences. The Albanian Language is the only language in the Indo-European language branch. There is a small population of people who speak Albanian in the world with a tally of about 7 million. The language is spoken mostly in Albania with a few minority groups of Albanians in neighboring countries and the language is sacred to the people and the culture. With Maliqi singing the song in Albanian, instead of another language, such as English, shows the clear importance to her. The song is directly for Albanians. In an interview with wiwibloggs, before the song contest in 2019, Maliqi spoke about the mass immigration of Albanians to surrounding countries. In the song, Maliqi sings about the importance of being in your home country while watching those in Albania flee from the fire around them. Singing this song, with this message in Albanian, makes it clear that Maliqi was directly referring to and is essentially calling out Albanians. Language allows for those to speak to and relate to one another and singing the song in Albania allows for other Albanians to understand and take what she is taking into account. In terms of the actual performance, there were also many images and symbols as well as clothing that stood out in the performance. The images on the stage are especially powerful when listening to the lyrics. One of the first images shown on the stage was an image of a bird nest. An eagle nest to be more precise. In the nest, you can see hands coming in and out. Like some are trying to escape while others are embracing the nest. As this image of hands coming up and going down is shown, the words that Maliqi is singing are Ktheju tokës tënde O njeri që zemrën le peng Ktheju tokës tënde, which translate to return to your land, oh man that let the heart hostage, return to your land. The reason these lyrics are meaningful and relate to the Albanian people because many Albanians leave the country and are not embracing all of the things that come with the country. Maliqi shows this in a unique way as she is the center of the circle. She is representing Albania and has taken that onto her shoulders. The eagles nest is only part of the symbolism shown on stage. Another image shown directly under Maliqi is a ring of fire. The ring of fire symbolizes the chaos of those in Albania. She is the center and was Albania as she represented them at the song contest. As the song gets faster, and the notes get louder, the ring of fire appears under Maliqi. This shows her passion for her country and the pride she has in being an Albanian. As stated earlier, an issue prevalent in Albania was Albanians immigrating to other countries and Maliqi showed her passion and love for being an Albanian while standing in the middle of the fire and chaos. She showed no matter what, she will be there for Albania and will love the country no matter what happens. The symbolism of the fire circle shows that no matter how chaotic it may be, she will stand strong and firm in the middle. In addition to this there are multiple times where Maliqi throws her hand up and fire comes behind her. Fire is also seen in the back of the stage and there are trees burning down. This also adds to the chaos around her but she still remains strong and singing. At the end of the performance, an image of an eagle was outstretched across the background on the screen. Ending the performance like this was extremely powerful and spoke to the Albanian people. The eagle, to many Albanians represents freedom, strength and bravery. Showing this eagle as she closes out her powerful performance allows for the people the performance was directed at to think. It leaves them thinking about the chaos that is going on but persevering and coming out just, if not more strong and elegant. In addition to the things going on stage, Maliqi showcases incredible range with her voice. The vocal range is something I would also like to note. There are points in the song where Maliqi, the main singer and the background singers sing in a tone that sounds like a battle cry. This battle cry sound to me shows the passion and care she has for Albania. To me, this presents itself as a war between the people in Albania and Albania as a country. As this sound of battle cries go, it is clear that Maliqi is the leader, the commander for Albania. She has taken the responsibility of representing the good and bad in Albania and capturing it in a beautiful way. In addition to have an incredible vocal range, the fact that she is a woman representing Albania and singing of such political and personal things, is something to note. Maliqi is the main singer, and has two female presenting backup singers and one male presenting background singer. This shows the power in her and it shows progressiveness in the country as a woman is representing them. There are not many times or instances in the world where women are the forefront and the representer of a country. No matter what, this is a big and important thing to note. Throughout the entire performance of Ktheju tokës, Jonida Maliqi showcased the beauty and the turmoil in Albania. The symbolism throughout the performance was prevalent in the clothing, the language and the imagery. In this captivating performance, Maliqi showed me so much about Albania and her love for the country. She showed the importance of national identity and what that means in Albania. Being a woman and speaking on these issues in your country is important. She gracefully took that upon her shoulders. She beautifully expressed that no matter how hard things are where you are from, you should face it with strength. Overall, the performance was exceptional and shows how important Albania is to many Albanians including the performer, Jonida Maliqi. References Jonida Maliqi "Ktheju tokës" (Albania) Interview | Eurovision in Concert 2019. (2019). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A5okjur0BI.