Albanian singer Ermal Meta, after winning the Sanremo Festival in 2018 in a duet with Fabrizio Moro with their song "Non mi avete fatto niente", and placing fifth in Eurovision, has returned to the festival again this year.
With "Stella stellina," Meta sings to a little girl killed in Gaza during an Israeli attack. It's not the intimate ballad we might expect, but a fast-paced song, where Latin colors are intertwined with Balkan sounds, bringing back the artist's roots and a folk, almost choral dimension.
Beneath this sonic energy lies one of the most painful pages of the Festival, the story of an unnamed Palestinian girl, a victim of war, evoked through the eyes of a man who is found with her doll in his hands.
Meta took to the stage with the name of a Palestinian girl, Amal, written on the collar of his shirt. He said that every night he will have the name of a Palestinian child written on his shirt.
"The protagonist of 'Stella stellina' is a child without a name, but maybe she has all the names. Aysha, Amal, Layla, Nour, Hind... what does it matter? Maybe everything, maybe nothing. Nobody's child, everyone's child," Meta wrote on social media after his performance, emphasizing the song's message.
Lyrics of the song "Stella stellina" translated into Albanian:
Stella Stella
The night is approaching.
One prayer is not enough.
To forget everything
Spring is expected from the hill
But it's not what it was
You are no more.
I found your doll.
It felt like I saw you again.
You were so small.
Hold it tight until evening.
An eternity has passed.
Or just an hour
Since a cloud in the sky
Climb out of your house.
from my house
Stella Stella
The night is approaching.
One prayer is not enough.
To forget everything
Spring is expected from the hill
But it's not what it was
You are no more.
I tried to tear out my own heart.
Because without it you can't die.
But I was afraid at the same time.
To not feel anything anymore
I was also thinking of leaving.
From a land that doesn't love me
But I don't know where to go.
I can't stay between the walls and the sea
Stella Stella
The night is approaching.
One prayer is not enough.
To forget everything
Spring is expected from the hill
But it's not what it was
You are no more.
Flowers in a courtyard with stones all around
Like butterflies, you only lived for one day.
Nobody's daughter, melody of a song
Of people who loved you very much
Oh, my daughter, the night is black and black.
Dates and prayer will no longer be enough
Spring will come from the hills
In the evening breeze you will be too
Stella Stella
The night is approaching.
One prayer is not enough.
To forget everything
Spring will come from the hills
In the evening breeze you will be too
I haven't forgotten you.
I await your return.
Like butterflies
You only lived one day.