Mystical Song Contest 26

The Mystical Song Contest #26 (also known as MSC 26) was the twenty-sixth edition of the Mystical Song Contest. It took place in Skopje, 🇲🇰 North Macedonia after Wayfloe ft. Aleesia won in Busan, 🇰🇷 South Korea.

It was confirmed that 48 countries participated in the 26th edition. 🇦🇩 Andorra and 🇸🇬 Singapore returned while 🇧🇬 Bulgaria and 🇱🇻 Latvia withdrew.

The top 6 of last edition 🇲🇰 North Macedonia, 🇮🇹 Italy, 🇲🇩 Moldova, 🇨🇭 Switzerland, Bosnia & Herzegovina and 🇩🇰 Denmark were automatically pre qualified for the Grand Final of this edition. The 42 other countries that participated were split into 2 semi finals.

The running orders were made by the supervisor of the contest ESC Thømås.

Skopje
Skopje (/ˈskɒpji, -jeɪ/, US also /ˈskoʊp-/; Macedonian: Скопје [ˈskɔpjɛ] (listen), Albanian: Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre.

The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; remains of Neolithic settlements have been found within the old Kale Fortress that overlooks the modern city centre. Originally a Paeonian city, Scupi became the capital of Dardania in the second century BC. On the eve of the 1st century AD, the settlement was seized by the Romans and became a military camp. When the Roman Empire was divided into eastern and western halves in 395 AD, Scupi came under Byzantine rule from Constantinople. During much of the early medieval period, the town was contested between the Byzantines and the Bulgarian Empire, whose capital it was between 972 and 992.

From 1282, the town was part of the Serbian Empire and acted as its capital city from 1346 to 1371. In 1392, Skopje was conquered by the Ottoman Turks who called it Üsküb, with this name also being in use in English for a time. The town stayed under Ottoman control for over 500 years, serving as the capital of pashasanjak of Üsküp and later the Vilayet of Kosovo. At that time the city was famous for its oriental architecture.[citation needed] In 1912, it was annexed by the Kingdom of Serbia during the Balkan Wars. During the First World War the city was seized by the Kingdom of Bulgaria, and after this war, it became part of the newly formed Kingdom of Yugoslavia becoming the capital of the Vardarska banovina. In the Second World War the city was again captured by Bulgaria and in 1944 became the capital of SR Macedonia, then a federated state of Yugoslavia. The city developed rapidly, but this trend was interrupted in 1963 when it was hit by a disastrous earthquake.

Skopje is located on the upper course of the Vardar River, and is located on a major north-south Balkan route between Belgrade and Athens. It is a center for metal-processing, chemical, timber, textile, leather, and printing industries. Industrial development of the city has been accompanied by development of the trade, logistics, and banking sectors, as well as an emphasis on the fields of transportation, culture and sport. According to the last official count from 2002, Skopje had a population of 506,926 inhabitants; according to official estimates, the city had a population of 544,086 inhabitants, as of 30 June 2015, meaning slightly more than a quarter of all North Macedonia's population lives in the city and its immediate surrounding area.

Hosts of the show
On October 11, 2019 it was announced that Bobby Andonov was the host of the Mystical Song Contest 26.

Bobby Andonov (Macedonian: Боби Андонов; born 28 August 1994), known by his stage name BOBI, is a Macedonian Australian singer, songwriter and producer.

Andonov was born on 28 August 1994 in Melbourne, Australia, from Macedonian parents originating from Strumica, North Macedonia. He has performed since the age of six, when he started dancing and singing in his hometown of Melbourne. At the age of nine, he starred as Danny Zuko in a junior production of Grease the musical. He lived in Macedonia from the age of 13 to 15. He was then selected to be one of four young Simbas in a production of The Lion King in Melbourne and Shanghai, China. Bobby started dating Reema Hafiz in 2017.

At the age of 13, Andonov represented North Macedonia at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Cyprus. Out of 15 countries, he came in fifth with his song Prati Mi SMS, which led to a European tour around the Balkans. In 2010, at the age of 15, Andonov entered for Australia's Got Talent. His audition reached over 15 million views. He was a grand finalist on the show, performing covers of songs including Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah and Kanye West's Heartless.. In 2010, record producer and music critic Molly Meldrum flew Andonov to Sydney to meet R&B singer Usher.

In early 2014, Andonov wrote two songs for the Australian feature film The Dream Children, directed by Robert Chuter. He also worked on Afrojack’s 2014 debut album Forget the World, co-writing the track Born to Run, which features Tyler Glenn of Neon Trees on vocals. Andonov co-wrote and co-produced the 2015 single Stone, recorded by The X Factor Australia winner Cyrus Villanueva.

In November 2015, Andonov was signed to a deal with Hollywood Records. On 20 October 2017, he released his debut single Apartment, along with a music video for the song.

Andonov has cited Terence Trent D'Arby, Prince and George Michael as music influences.

Debuting/Withdrawing
On October 11, 2019 it was announced that 2 countries withdrew in the 26th edition.


 * 🇧🇬 Bulgaria : BNT decided to withdraw due to financial problems. The last participation of the country was in the 25th edition.


 * 🇱🇻 Latvia : Latvia decided to withdraw due to lack of interest from Latvians. The last participation of the country was in the 25th edition.

Returning Artists
Here is the list of the returning artists for the 26th edition.

Semi Finals
On October 18, 2019 the supervisor of the contest ESC Thømås revealed the running order of both semi finals.

The big 6 members were assigned to a semi final where they had to vote.

A total of 21 countries competed in each semi final and 10 countries qualified in both.

Semi Final 1
In this semi final 🇲🇰 North Macedonia, 🇲🇩 Moldova and 🇨🇭 Switzerland had to vote.

Semi Final 2
In this semi final 🇮🇹 Italy, Bosnia & Herzegovina and 🇩🇰 Denmark had to vote.

Grand Final
On October 26, 2019 the supervisor of the contest ESC Thømås revealed the running order of the grand final.