"Zemrën e lamë peng" (; ) is a song by Albanian singer

Olta Boka Olta Boka (born 13 September 1991) is an Albanian singer. She represented Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song " Zemrën e lamë peng", after winning Festivali i Këngës 46. Career Olta Boka was born in Tirana. She started ...

, written by

Pandi Laço Pandi Laço (born 21 March 1964) is an Albanian journalist, songwriter, presenter and scenarist. He is mostly known for his work on Albanian Eurovision songs, of which he wrote several. Pandi has worked with notable Albanian artists, including Fr ...

and composed by Adrian Hila. It was released as a

CD single A CD single is a single (music), music single in the form of a compact disc (CD). Originally the ''CD single'' standard (as defined in the Rainbow Books, Red Book) was an 8 cm (3-inch) "mini CD" (''CD3''); later on the term referred to any si ...

in 2008 through

Radio Televizioni Shqiptar Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (; ; formerly TVSH , now mostly referred to as RTSH ) is the national public broadcasting company of Albania. Founded in 1938, it operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as we ...

(RTSH). Musically, it is an

Albanian-language Albanian (Endonym and exonym, endonym: , , or ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language and the only surviving representative of the Albanoid, Albanoid branch, which belongs to the Paleo-Balkan languages, Paleo-Balkan group. It ...

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

, lyrically revolving around lovesickness and the pain of separation from a loved one. The song represented in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2008 The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Belgrade, Serbia, following the country's victory at the with the song "" by Marija Šerifović. Organised by the European Broadcasting Unio ...

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, Serbia, after winning the country's pre-selection competition

Festivali i Këngës 46 Albania was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song "", composed by Adrian Hila, with lyrics by Pandi Laço, and performed by Olta Boka. The Albanian participating broadcaster, (RTSH), selected its entry through the natio ...

. The country reached the 17th place in a field of 25, gathering a total of 55 points. During her dark-themed show, Boka was on stage accompanied by three

instrumentalist A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person who pl ...

s, while the LED screens displayed various violet and yellow-coloured hearts.

Background and composition

In 2007, Olta Boka was announced as one of the contestants selected to compete in the 46th edition of

Festivali i Këngës (; ), commonly known as and also referred to as simply FiK or Fest, is an annual music competition in Albania organised by the national broadcaster (RTSH). Broadcast every year since its inauguration in 1962, the festival has determined th ...

, a competition to determine Albania's entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. Following the competition's rules, the lyrics of the participating entries had to be in the Albanian language. Boka took part with the song "Zemrën e lamë peng", composed by Adrian Hila and written by Pandi Laço. For the purpose of the singer's Eurovision Song Contest participation, the song was remastered and reworked in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

with few modifications leading to a more "rhythmic version". Musically, it was described as a

, which lyrically revolves around lovesickness and the pain of separation.

Release and promotion

The song was released as a CD single in 2008 through Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH), while approximately 1000 promotional CD's were distributed to radio stations. An accompanying

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for the song premiered prior to the start of the

. For promotional purposes, Boka made diverse live appearances on multiple occasions in April that year to perform the song, including in

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. In the same month, she also appeared to perform on the Turkish television shows ''Aynadan yansıyanlar'' and ''Michael show''. Israel's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008,

Boaz Ma'uda Boaz Ma'uda (; born April 23, 1987) is an Israeli singer and songwriter. He won the fifth season of '' Kokhav Nolad'', the Israeli version of ''Pop Idol'', and represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, finishing in 9th place. His v ...

, released in 2009 a

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

version of the song titled "Sha'ar Libach" ().

At Eurovision

Festivali i Këngës

The national broadcaster of Albania, Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH), organised the 46th edition of Festivali i Këngës to determine the country's participant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. The former consisted of two semi-finals on 14 and 15 December, and the grand final on 16 December 2007, which included Boka being chosen to represent the country in the contest, after the votes of an expert jury were combined, resulting in 67 points. Boka's victory was surrounded by controversy after several observers accused the Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH) of

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...

and manipulation.

Belgrade

The 53rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest took place in

, Serbia, and consisted of two semi-finals on 20 and 22 May, and the grand final on 24 May 2008. According to the Eurovision rules at the time, each participating country, apart from the host country and the " Big Four", consisting of , , , and the , were required to qualify from one of the two semi-finals to compete for the grand final. However, the top ten countries from the respective semi-final progressed to the grand final. On 28 January 2008, it was announced that "Zemrën e lamë peng" would be performed in the second semi-final of the contest. Albania performed sixth in the second semi-final, following and preceding , and qualified for the grand final in ninth place with 67 points. At the grand final, it performed third, following and preceding . Albania reached the 17th place in a field of 25 with 55 points. During her dark-themed show of the song, Boka was accompanied on stage by two

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

ists and a

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

mer. The LED screens in the background displayed various violet and yellow-toned hearts throughout the performance.

Track listing

*CD *#"Zemrën e lamë peng"2:57 *Digital download *#"Zemrën e lamë peng (Festivali i Këngës)"3:28

Release history

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 2008, state=collapsed 2007 songs 2008 songs 2007 singles 2008 singles Eurovision songs of 2008 Eurovision songs of Albania 2000s ballads Festivali i Këngës songs Songs in Albanian Songs written by Pandi Laço