The twenty artists and songs competing in Festival da Canção 2023 have been revealed today by RTP.
At a press conference in Lisbon RTP revealed the twenty participants in Festival da Canção 2023. The press conference revealed the participants and songs competing in the nation’s selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom.
RTP had previously revealed the twenty composers that were competing in the selection. Of the 20 composers, 15 were invited directly by RTP. There were originally supposed to be 16 composers invited by RTP but one of the composers had to withdraw due to personal reasons. Because of this, five entries were chosen via the public submission window, for which 667 songs were submitted, instead of four.
The line-up of the Semi-Finals is:
Semi-Final One
- April Ivy – “Modo Voo” (Flight Mode)
- Churky – “Encruzilhada” (Crossroads)
- Cláudia Pascoal – “Nasci Maria” (I was born Maria)
- Bolha – “Sonhos de Liberdade” (Dreams of freedom)
- Mimicat (public submission) – “Ai Coração” (Oh heart)
- MOYAH (public submission) – “Too Much Sauce”
- NEON SOHO – “Endless World”
- Esse Povo – “Sapatos de Cimento” (Cement shoes)
- SAL – “Viver” (To Live)
- You Can’t Win Charlie Brown – “Contraste Mudo” (Mute contrast)
Semi-Final Two
- Bandua – “Bandeiras” (Flags)
- Bárbara Tinoco – “Goodnight”
- Dapunksportif – “World Needs Therapy”
- Edmundo Inácio (public submission) – “A Festa” (The party)
- Inês Apenas (public submission) – “Fim do Mundo” (The end of the world)
- Ivandro – “Povo” (People)
- Teresinha Landeiro – “Enquanto é tempo” (While it’s time)
- The Happy Mess – “O Impossível” (The impossible)
- Voodoo Marmalade (public submission) – “Tormento” (Torture)
You can listen to all of the songs here.
Festival da Canção 2023 will consist of two semi-finals and a final, which will take place in RTP studios in Lisbon. The hosts for the shows are as follows:
- Semi-Final 1 – February 25 – Tânia Ribas de Oliveira and José Carlos Malato
- Semi-Final 2 – March 4– Sónia Araújo and Jorge Gabriel
- Final – March 11 – Filomena Cautela and Vasco Palmeirim
Inês Lopes Gonçalves will host the Green Room for all three shows.
In each semi-final, five songs will be chosen by an in-studio jury and public voting to advance to the final. After these five songs are chosen, the voting lines will open again, during which the public can save one song that did not originally qualify. Therefore, 12 songs will compete in the final.
MARO represented Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy with the song “Saudade, saudade”. She received 207 points, finishing in 9th position.
Image Source: RTP | Source: EUROVOIX