The press conference of RTSH, the Albanian National Broadcaster, for Festivali i Këngës 62 started with the drama. It has been announced that two fan favourites with massive reputations — Kejsi Tola and Samanta Karavella — have withdrawn from Festivali i Këngës 62.
In October, RTSH announced that these two names were among the 31 participants of the 62nd edition of Festivali i Këngës. But things have clearly been moving behind the scenes.
The singers will be replaced by Peter Pan Quartet and Irma Lepuri, both of whom are newcomers at Festivali i Këngës. They were, respectively, the 32nd and 33rd songs in the selection process.
Kejsi Tola and Samanta Karavella have not made a public statement yet to explain why they have decided to pull out.
Kejsi Tola represented Albania at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow with “Carry me in your dreams” and was one of the fan favourites to make a comeback at the festival. Meanwhile Samanta Karavella is a big hitmaker who Albanian Eurovision fans have been dreaming of at Eurovision for a while.
