In his second exclusive report for MaltaMedia, Deo Grech reports about the first evening of the finals for the festival, where the participants in the past editions of the Eurovision Song Contest revived memories of past success in this prestigious European festival.

 

On Friday the 14th of January 2000, the show at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, Valletta, was dedicated to the past Maltese Eurovision entry singers. The concert entitled, Marru L-Ewropa (They went to Europe), gathered for the first time ever all the singers who represented Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest throughout the past years since 1971.

Singers included Joe Grech (ESC71), Joe Cutajar & Helen Micallef (ESC72), Renato (ESC75), Paul Giordimaina & Georgina (ESC91), Mary Spiteri (ESC92), William Mangion (ESC93), Moira & Chris (ESC94), Mike Spiteri (ESC95), Miriam Christine (ESC96), Debbie Scerri (ESC97), Chiara (ESC98) and Times Three (ESC99). Almost all singers performed the song with which they represented Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest, with the exception of Mary Spiteri and one of the girls of Time Three who could not attend.

During the show special footage of the actual performance on the Eurovision Stage of each participant were show. Three groups of children choirs accompanied the singers on stage and later sang of meddley of the same songs. The Gozitan Mr. John Grima designed the set for the Malta Song for Europe Festival 2000.

Meanwhile, it seems that this year's Maltese National Final will be yet another battle between the Pop songs and the Ballads! The latest update from the "Malta 2000 Prediction-Survey", which is being carried out on Deo's site, reveals that 61% bet that a ballad will win this year's Festival while 22% bet that a pop song will.

Super ONE Radio has confirmed that it will transmit the Maltese National Final live on Internet. A maltese running commentary will be included in between songs. Radio Malta 2 may also webcast the event. The show starts 20:30 Central European Time (GMT+1).

Stay tuned for more reports on the Song Contest.

Read the first report about the festival.

More information about the Malta Song for Europe Festival from Deo's website at http://maltasong.cjb.net