Our most recent podcast guests are the Albanian duo that form Shkodra Elektronike — a vibrant musical project that fuses traditional Albanian sounds with electronic beats, reimagining the rich cultural heritage of the city of Shkodër through a modern lens.

By blending ancient melodies, folk instruments, and contemporary production techniques, they create an inviting landscape that bridges past and present. With this innovative approach, Shkodra Elektronike not only preserves Albania’s musical traditions but also introduces them to global audiences, ensuring their evolution and relevance in today’s digital era.

In this exclusive podcast episode, we chat with Kolë and Beatriçe from their homes in Italy about their Festivali i Këngës winning song Zjerm and their road to Basel.

At the beginning of our chat, Kolë and Beatriçe took us back to December 2024, when they unexpectedly won Festivali i Këngës against Albanian pop star Elvana Gjata.

“It was such a confusion everywhere. Even with the vote, we didn’t understand how it actually works. So it was the vote from outside (diaspora) when Elvana won, then the jury vote where we won. And after these two, Elvana was first and then came the votes from the people in Albania and Kosovo and we surpassed and won. It was confusing what was happening and we asked what we had to do.”

— Kolë Laca

The duo revealed that they had never dared to think about making it to the Eurovision stage, when submitting their song to FiK.

“We decided to participate in Festivali i Këngës just to present our music. So we did not expect to reach Eurovision. And it’s pretty far away from what we usually do. We always play in clubs or make our music at home and maybe some artists have a big production behind them but we are alone. It is just us two and our manager.”

— Beatriçe Gjergji

Additionally, they talked about their budget for Eurovision, as well as their staging plans for Basel.

“The budget they gave us is especially from the Ministry of Culture. It is just because it’s just the three of us, so we need someone else doing the staging. Even to think about it, we have no experiences with television, with telecamera, how it works. Everything that has to do with television, we don’t know anything.

So, we have a creative agency from London. Actually, they are Italian, but they live in London and their name is Ombra. They’re making our staging and I think it will be beautiful to watch.

— Kolë Laca and Beatriçe Gjergji

Shkodra Elektronike recently released their music video for “Zjerm” which you can watch here.

Be sure to check out our full interview with Shkodra Elektronike in the latest episode of Building Bridges (link above)! You’ll hear more about what happened after they won FiK, the help they’ve enlisted to prepare their staging, and you’ll even hear what happened when Beatriçe’s cat Amos dropped by!

In a first for our podcast, you can now watch the entire podcast with Shkodra Elektronike on YouTube!

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We wish Kolë and Beatriçe the very best of luck, as we look forward to what’s sure to be a very artistic and powerful performance of Zjerm during Semi Final 1 on 13^th May! Let us know what you thought of the interview in the comments and on our social media profiles @buildingbridgespod !