An Aberystwyth-based band’s dream to represent San Marino at the Eurovision Song Contest has taken a step closer, thanks to the generosity of the public.

Misha and the Kings have embarked on the exciting journey to represent San Marino, and are well on their way through the selection process, but travelling there involves considerable costs.

Having reached the in-person stage of the competition, they turned to the public for help, and people have responded raising over £2,300 so far.

Speaking on behalf of the band, lead singer Misha said: “Thank you to the Cambrian News and to everyone in Aberystwyth and beyond, to everyone who has shared our crowd funder and donated. We are absolutely blown away. We just can’t thank you enough.”

The band will fly to San Marino this week to see if they can make it to the next round of the competition, but how did a band from Aberystwyth end up in this position?

“There’s no longer a clear route for UK artists to represent the UK at Eurovision,” they explained, “but some European countries open their selection process to overseas artists — and in 2026, San Marino is the only country doing exactly that.”

Believing they had just the song for them, the band recorded it, sent it off and “somehow they approved it as contest-worthy,” they added.

“Cue mild hysteria.

“Next thing we know, we’re through to an online casting. And then — and we still can’t quite believe this —

we got through to the next stage.”

This means an in-person performance evaluation in San Marino and, if they get through that, televised semi-finals in March.

To raise the money to fund their Eurovision dream, the band is crowdfunding.

“If you’re able to donate, amazing. If you can’t, sharing it means the world,” they said.

To support the band, visit https://ko-fi.com/mishaandthekings