In his third exclusive report for MaltaMedia, Deo Grech comments about the winner of this year's Malta Song for Europe festival, and gives an outliine of the other participants in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000.

 

Claudette Pace has finally acquired the the long-awaited priviledge of lifting the Malta Song for Europe winner's throphy. She is now the thirteenth Maltese singer representing our country in the Eurovision Song Contest. Her song, Desire, is written by Gerard James Borg and composed by Philip Vella.

Claudette Pace, who runs her own Cable-TV station, Max Plus, is already engaged in various activities linked to the Eurovision adventure. Claudette Pace re-recorded Desire at the German music company's, CAP Sounds, studio facilities. This is so that the song can be re-arranged to make it sound even better then it did at the Malta festival. Hopefully, Desire will not only do well in the Eurovision Song Contest but also enter the European Music Charts.

CLICK HERE FOR A DOWNLOADABLE MP3 OF DESIRE

Meanwhile, here is the official running order of the Eurovision Song Contest 2000, which will be held on Saturday 13th May at the Globe Arena, Stockholm - Sweden:

                  1. Israel - Ping Pong: 'Shamech' 
                  2. Netherlands 
                  3. UK 
                  4. Estonia 
                  5. France 
                  6. Romania 
                  7. Malta - Claudette Pace: 'Desire' 
                  8. Norway 
                  9. Russia 
                 10. Belgium 
                 11. Cyprus 
                 12. Iceland 
                 13. Spain 
                 14. Denmark 
                 15. Germany 
                 16. Switzerland 
                 17. Croatia 
                 18. Sweden 
                 19. FYROM 
                 20. Finland 
                 21. Latvia 
                 22. Turkey 
                 23. Ireland 
                 24. Austria 

Romania, Switzerland, FYROM (Macedonia), Finland and Russia are back and Latvia is new in ESC. Slovakia, Greece and Hungary have decided not to compete for financial reasons. Due to low scores Bosnia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal and Slovenia will not compete either. And Italy has decided not to participate.

Israel has chosen their candidates in a 'closed' selection held on 6th January. Ping Pong will sing Shamech (Happy), which is rumoured to be a Eurovision parody.

Maltese Eurovision fans are in for yet another Eurovision National Final - The Spanish Song for Europe Festival, which will take place in Estudios Buñuel, in Madrid on Wednesday 9th February. 15 songs will take part in it, chosen by an experts' committee from TVE. Representants of the 17 Autonomous Comunities will give their votes, which will be weighed with televoting. The Spanish Song for Europe Festival will be televised on TVE-Europe (Melita Cable TV Channel 21) after the Evening News.

I shall be bringing you more updates on the Song Contest right here on the MaltaMedia Online News Service.

• Read the first report about the festival.
• Read the second report about the festival.

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