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  • Can You Feel the Love Tonight

    Now that Malta has made it to the 2012 Eurovison Song Contest final, it’s time to see how well the Maltese entry places during the pan-European voting this evening.

    Here are some comments I gave to Marlene Galea at SBS Radio [in Maltese] ahead of tonight’s final.

    The only prediction I’m willing to make at this point (ahead of the start of the TV show) is that Sweden’s Euphoria sung by Loreen will win the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest unless Russia’s Party For Everybody with Buranovskiye Babushki creeps in beyond Italy’s L’Amore è Femmina by Nina Zilli from second place to first place.

    Here are my top 10 picks, ahead of the official voting period, in approximate order of predicted success:

      1. Sweden
      2. Russia
      3. Italy
      4. Estonia
      5. Cyprus
      6. Bosnia & Herzegovina
      7. Serbia
      8. France
      9. Malta
      10. Albania

    This selection is for entertainment purposes only and should be taken with more than a pinch of sodium benzoate. This is to say, I know that I have picked at least 3 songs/countries that will not be in the final top 10 placings.

    Which ones did you pick? I managed to guess 7 out of the top 10 and was quite off with Albania and Serbia in terms of placing. My picking Malta, France, Bosnia & Herzogovina, and Cyprus was misguided and the voting public and judges picked Azerbaijan, Turkey, Spain and Germany.

  • Love To Love You Baby

    Kurt Calleja and his team have just given Malta’s best Eurovision stage performance since 2007. I’m comfortable saying that Malta deserves to the in the final this year. adding Amber to the act was a good move as was the synchronized dance steps.

    Judging from the rest of the songs on the second semifinal I think it would have been dumb luck if Malta was not in the semifinal.

    Here’s my pick for the 10 countries making it to the final from semifinal 2 (selected live as it happened):

    • Serbia
    • Malta
    • Portugal
    • Ukraine
    • Bulgaria
    • Sweden
    • Estonia
    • Slovakia
    • Bosnia & Herzegovina
    • Lithuania

    This selection is for entertainment purposes only and should be taken with more than a pinch of sodium benzoate.

    Well, Macedonia, Turkey and Norway made it through rather than my picks Portugal, Bulgaria and Slovakia.

    Oh, and Malta is in the final again for the first time since 2009! That’s obviously national headline news in Malta for the next couple of days.

    Let’s see how it goes at the final on Saturday.

  • How Deep Is Your Love?

    So it’s time for the Eurovision Song Contest again. I’m not in Baku to watch the contest unfolding as I’ve done in recent years, but I’ve given my comments about what’s ahead to SBS Radio [in Maltese] and I don’t really have much to add just yet. Enjoy the show:

    And for what it’s worth here are the 10 countries I think will make it to the final from the first semifinal, in order of appearance.

    • Iceland
    • Greece
    • Albania
    • Romania
    • Israel
    • San Marino
    • Cyprus
    • Russia
    • Austria
    • Ireland

    This selection is for entertainment purposes only and should be taken with more than a pinch of sodium benzoate.

    UPDATE: Moldova, Hungary, and Denmark made it though rather than Israel, San Marino, and Austria. So I got 7 out of 10. How well did you do with your own picks?

    Let’s see how it goes with semifinal 2 on Thursday.

  • I Feel Love


    Show notes for the 299th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast featuring music by performers from or in Malta:

    Norm Rejection – Encounter
    Taken from last year’s Belligerent EP, this song is officially billed as Norm Rejection’s single release for 2012. It’s not the sort of thing most radio stations in Malta will play, but it will certainly get some airtime on the various specialized rock shows. They remain one of my favourite Maltese heavy rock bands of all time, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I chose to open my podcast with their sound whenever I can.

    Baron Bubblebeef – Jennifer’s Dead
    Steve Hili is known for his comedy work by many in Malta, even though he is not exactly a household name. He has now recorded two songs in London as Baron Bubblebeef. The ska beat is enjoyable enough and the video gives a good insight into the lyrics of the song but I doubt that this will reach as wide an audience as Steve deserves. If he keeps at it, I suspect that he may strike gold within the next year or two.

    RiSE – Forever
    Following up on last year’s debut Stars, this young band returns with this new song called Forever. I’m not sure what to make of the video but it’s certainly better than no video. I’m also particularly impressed by the studio presentation for Black Light Studios, run by band member Conrad Dimech, which is also where the upcoming debut release by Criminal Kiss was recorded. More about this in an upcoming edition of the MMI podcast.

    Winter Moods feat. Joseph Calleja – Miss You
    It was only a matter of time before Malta’s most popular rock band teamed up with Malta’s high-profile opera export. It’s a good collaboration which will undoubtedly do wonders for Winter Mood’s popularity and gives new audiences a opportunity to listen to the mighty voice of the Maltese tenor. It’s a fitting way to end the first 299 podcast in the MMI series, wouldn’t you agree?

    The RSS feed for the Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast is available here or you can simply click here to subscribe directly with iTunes. You can also follow each new episode through the MMI Podcast: Facebook Fan Page or on MySpace. If you have no idea what any of this means, just enjoy listening to the podcast on the player right below this text.

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