RTP has announced that Tatanka, the lead singer of the group The Black Mamba, will perform as a guest act at Festival da Canção 2026.
Tatanka has been announced by RTP as the latest guest act performing at Festival da Canção 2026. He will be joining Júlio Resende, Paulo Lapa, Luca Argel, Nani Medeiros, Karla da Silva, and Edmundo Inácio.
Singer, guitarist and composer, Tatanka (stage name of Pedro Taborda Caldeira) is one of the most unique figures in contemporary Portuguese music. He has built his own identity at the intersection of soul, blues and pop-rock, achieving international recognition as the lead singer and frontman of The Black Mamba, a band he founded in 2010 and with whom he won Festival da Canção in 2021. The song “Love Is On My Side” represented Portugal in 2021. In parallel, he has been developing a solo career singing in Portuguese since 2016.
Tatanka will be playing a tribute to “Ele e Ela” by Madalena Iglésias, winner of Festival da Canção 1966 (at the time, the third edition of Grande Prémio TV da Canção). Madalena Iglésias would go on to represent Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest 1966 in Luxembourg, finishing 13th place with 6 points.
Festival da Canção 2026 will consist of two semi-finals on February 21 and February 28 and a final on March 7. All three nights will take place for the sixth consecutive year at the Valentim de Carvalho studios in Lisbon. The line-up for the semi-finals is as follows:
Semi-Final One – February 21
- AGRIDOCE – “Onde quero estar” (Where I want to be)
- André Amaro – “Dá-me a tua mão” (Give me your hand)
- Bateu Matou – “Nos teus olhos” (In your eyes)
- Dinis Mota – “Jurei” (I swore)
- Evaya – “Sprint”
- Marquise – “Chuva” (Rain)
- Mario Marta – “Pertencer” (Belong)
- Nunca Mates o Mandarim – “Fumo” (Smoke)
Semi-Final Two – February 28
- Bandidos do Cante – “Rosa” (Rose)
- Francisco Fontes – “Copiloto” (Co-pilot)
- Gonçalo Gomes – “Doce ilusão” (Sweet illusion)
- Inês Sousa – “O filme ao contrário” (The movie in reverse)
- Jacaréu & Ana Margarida – “O-pi-ni-ão” (Opinion)
- João Ribeiro – “Canção do querer” (Song of desire)
- Sandrino – “Disposto a tudo” (Willing to do anything)
- Silvana Peres – “Não tem fim” (There’s no end)
RTP also revealed that Vasco Palmeirim will host the 1st semi-final, while Filomena Cautela will host the 2nd semi-final. Catarina Maia and Alexandre Guimarães will report from the Green Room for all the three shows. Vasco Palmeirim and Filomena Cautela will also present the Grand Final, marking their eighth consecutive year hosting the final night of Festival da Canção.
NAPA represented Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 with the song “Deslocado”. They finished in 21st place with 50 points.
Source: RTP
Portugal debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1964 represented by António Calvário. The country finished last, scoring nul points. Before 2017, Portugal’s best result was 6th place, which came in 1996 when Lúcia Moniz performed “O meu coração não tem cor” in Oslo. In 2017, Salvador Sobral took home the crystal microphone with his song “Amar pelos dois”, ending a 53-year wait for a Portuguese win. The 2018 contest was held in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon for the first time.
