Show notes for the 238th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast featuring music by performers from or in Malta. This edition features songs from L-Għanja tal-Poplu 2010:
Danjeli & Justin Galea – L-Għanja tal-Għażżien
I’ve always been a great fan of Danjeli. He dan do no wrong by me. I’ve met Justin in person a number of times during my recent visits to Malta and he struck me as one of the most decent people I’ve ever encountered: someone I know I could call a true friend in different circumstances than the ones we live in that separate our lives by a few thousand miles. So you can imagine how delighted I was to see that the two have collaborated for this year’s Għanja tal-Poplu. Must you ask why I’ve opened this week’s podcast with their song?
Justin Galea & Antonio Olivari – Bażar
Antonio Olivari is one of the oldest friends (and listeners) that this podcast has. I’ve included his music on the series whenever I could. He collaborated with Justin at last year’s L-Għanja tal-Poplu, doing better in the final vote count than they did this year. Still, this is a decent song from them, so I see absolutely no reason not to include it as my second pick from this year’s Għanja tal-Poplu.
Rita Pace – Indunajt
It’s no secret to any of my regular podcast listeners that Rita Pace is one of my favourite Maltese singer-songwriters. It was such a thrill having her perform live at the launch of the M3P last September. She did well in the Indifest this year, and it’s no suprise that her song has placed among the top three at this year’s Għanja tal-Poplu. This particular song has some very interesting moments, and as solid as the unplugged version proved to be in the contest, I really live the production on the studio version of this song.
Petra Zammit – Rakkont ta’ Omm
Slowly but surely Petra Zammit is proving to be the Maltese blues singer. Now that I’ve heard her sing blues in Maltese, she reigns supreme as the queen of Maltese blues in my mind. She’s quite young and gives me no reason to believe that she has the blues in her heart, but she certainly has the vocal chords and the feeling for it. I’d love to hear her sing more blues in Maltese…and something tells me that this is inevitable in the coming years. She has made an impact at other contests, so she certainly deserves second place at this year’s L-Għanja tal-Poplu.
Corazon & l-Ħbieb tal-Qalb – Mill-Għajnejn ta’ Tifla
Joining other Għanja tal-Poplu notables like Manwel Mifsud (a judge on this year’s contest) and Walter Micallef (the special guest at the 2010 show), Corazon has managed to win 3 out of the last 4 edition of L-Għanja tal-Poplu. She is well-known to One TV daytime viewers of course, but she’s made little impact on the local music and/or entertainment scene outside this festival. There’s nothing wrong with that, or rather it’s a shame that this song contest seems to be relegated to anything less than year round media attention. Unlike Malta’s annual attempts to send entries to the Eurovision Song Contest, this contest yields a substantial number of songs that I (and others) certainly wouldn’t mind hearing again and again for years to come.
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