Portugal: 26 composers for Festival da Canção 2018 announced
Here are the 26 composers in charge of songs and artists for the Portuguese selection Festival da Canção 2018
26 songs will compete in the Portuguese selection for Eurovision 2018: Festival da Canção. The Portuguese broadcaster RTP has announced the 26 composers who will write the songs.
- 22 composers are invited by RTP
- 2 composers are selected in a competition open to all Portuguese
- 1 composer is selected via the radio program "Master Class" on Antena 1
- 1 composer selected by this year's winner Salvador Sobral
The 26 composers
Selected by RTP:
- Aline Frazão
- Armando Teixeira
- Benjamim
- Bruno Cardoso
- Capicua
- Diogo Clemente
- Diogo Piçarra
- Francisco Rebelo
- Fernando Tordo
- Isaura
- João Afonso
- Jorge Palma
- José Cid
- JP Simões
- Júlio Resende
- Mallu Magalhães
- Miguel Ângelo
- Minta
- Nuno Rafael
- Paulo Flores
- Paulo Praça
- Tito Paris
Selected in public competition:
- Peter Serrado
- Rita Dias
Selected via "Master Class":
- Daniela Onis
Selected by Salvador Sobral:
- Janeiro
Each of the 26 composers will either sing their own song, or pick an artist for their song.
Festival da Canção 2018
There will be 26 songs in Festival da Canção 2018, competing for the honor of representing Portugal at Eurovision Song Contest 2018 on home soil. The songs will be divided into two semi-finals with 13 songs each:
- Semi-final 1: 18 February 2018
- Semi-final 2: 25 February 2018
- Final: 4 March 2018
There will be 14 songs in the final – seven songs from each of the two semi-finals. The winner of Festival da Canção 2018 will be decided by 50/50 jury/televoting.
Portugal in Eurovision Song Contest
Portugal has participated 49 times since 1964. It was a very bad start, as they managed to get Zero Points in the debuting year. Before Eurovision 2017 they have never won the contest, and never made the top-5. In fact Portugal held the record for most appearances in the contest without a win! But that changed in 2017, where Salvador Sobral won with "Amar Pelos Dois".
Since the introduction of Semi-finals in 2004 Portugal only qualified for the Grand Final 4 out of 12 times.
