News....

Morena in 14th place on 2nd semi!

The offical results have now been published and we maltese are more shocked than ever. Now there is no doubt that Vodka was not one of the best songs we ever managed to send to ESC. Malta obtained only 38 points and finished 14th on the semi-final out of 19 countries. This goes to show that we cannot keep on blaming neighbourly voting as there were other countries such as Portugal that achieved a good result. Only 9 countries voted for Malta, and the highest points were given to us by Albania (8points).

25/05/2008

No surprises as Russia wins ESC 2008

There were no surprises yesterday as regards the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest. Dima Bilan with his song 'Believe' triumphed and now Eurovision will be held in Moscow next year. This was Russia's first win on their 11th try. It was an amazing night yesterday in Serbia as the Eurovision came to an end. A spectacular show with an Arena filled to capacity coupled with a fair result and great songs were the highlights of the 53rd Eurovision Song Contest. Indeed Serbia has done a good job.

Hereunder is the list of the top 10 placings in yesterday's final:

1. Russia - 272
2. Ukraine - 230
3. Greece - 218
4. Armenia - 199
5. Norway - 182
6. Serbia - 160
7. Turkey - 138
8. Azerbaijan - 132
9. Israel - 124
10. Bosnia & Herzegovina - 110

Meanwhile Sweden's Charlotte Perrelli, one of the nights favoruites managed to disappoint ESC fans as it only gained 47 points to reach the 18th place! The United Kingdom on the other hand finished last with only 14 points!

And here is how we Maltese voted yesterday (the numbers are the points):

1.Serbia
2.Greece
3.Norway
4.Denmark
5.Georgia
6.Iceland
7.Latvia
8.Russia
10.Ukraine
12.Sweden

25/05/2008

Eurovision Song Contest 2008 Final tonight

The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 will come to an end this evening. Serbia is hosting the show for the first time in its history in its new built Belgrade Arena where the semi-finals were held. 23,000 people are expected to pack the Arena, making it one of the most succesful Eurovision Song Contests ever.

25 countries from all Europe will compete to win in order to host next year's event. Malta will not be amongst them as Morena failed to pass from last thursday's semi-final. There are a lot of possible winners but the most favourites are: Sweden, Russia, Ukraine, Greece, Armenia, Serbia and Finland. Other countries such as Portugal, Norway, Bosnia & Georgia can be the surprise of the night.

The bookmakers favourite are the following:

1.Russia, represented by Dima Bilan with 'Believe' a song composed by Timbaland (famous for the hit Apologize).

2. In second place there is Ukraine with 'Shady Lady' sung by Ani Lorak.

3. Kalomira that represents Greece with 'My Secret Combination'

4. Will it be Serbia again in 2009? It is a possibilty, 'Oro' is oen of the favourites of tonight. It will be sung by Jelena Tomasevic.

5. Charlotte Perelli, the ESC 99 winner with 'Take me to your Heaven' is this year's favourite with the eurovision fans. She topped first place in various polls amongst the eurovision websites. This year she will sing 'Hero' a typical Eurovision- Scandinavian entry.

24/05/2008

Malta out from final for the second time

An energetic performance, a good vocal rendition and an elaborate dance routine wasn't enough for Malta to reach the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Morena gave her best and she surely deserved to qualify, as the crowd confirmed by shouting 'Malta Malta' when the last envelope was opened.

This is the 3rd consecutive bad result for Malta in the ESC and the second time in history that Malta will not be in the final of this much viewed festival. Many are demanding for the resignation of the whole Maltasong board after failing to achieve a good result in these last 3 years.

Meanwhile the overall feeling is that this is one of the fairest Eurovision Song Contests to date. Many different parts of Europe will be represented in the final next saturday. The following is the list of the ten finalists that passed yesterday:Albania, Croatia, Denmark, Georgia, Iceland, Latvia, Sweden, Ukraine, Portugal and Turkey.

23/05/2008

Second semi-final this eve

This evening, we will all be glued to our tv's waiting for Morena to make us proud. The second semi-final will take place this evening at 21.00hrs. It is expected to be more well-attended than the first semi-final held 2 days ago. In total there will be 19 countries taking part, with 10 finalist to qualify and complete this year's final line up.

The following is the order in which every country will perform:

1.Iceland
2.Sweden
3.Turkey
4.Ukraine
5.Lithuania
6.Albania
7.Switzerland
8.Czech Rep.
9.Belarus
10.Latvia
11.Croatia
12.Bulgaria
13.Denmark
14.Georgia
15.Hungary
16.MALTA
17.Cyprus
18.Macedonia
19.Portugal

The bookies' 10 favourites are:Ukraine, Sweden, Turkey, Bulgaria, Iceland, Croatia, Latvia, Portugal, Hungary and Albania.

22/05/2008

Disappointment for Malta's dress rehearsal

Altghough there were mixed feelings as regards Morena's first dress rehearsal of today, it wasn't one of the best so far. The major set back of our performance was that Morena is singing for the audience rather than for TV viewers. She was reported by esctoday.com that she failed to look in the cameras, thus not connecting with televiewers. Besides Morena's voice was not so great compared to the previous 2 rehearsals.

But there is still another rehearsals that will taka place in the evening, where Morena, saving teh best for last will be expected to improve her overall performance. As regards how the package will look on TV, the Maltasong board is concerned that some setback were noted in the camera shots. Hopefully this will be dealt with.

In the meantime Malta is still lower in the bets, in fact its not even deemed fit to qualify.

21/05/2008

First ten finalist chosen

Yesterdays' semi final was deemed as a step forward for the Eurovision Song Contest, as the result was a breath of fresh air with good songs making it to the final. In fact it was the defeat for almost all joke songs that participated.

It seems that the best format so far was finally found for ESC to work in a smooth and fair way. The ten finalists reflect different music tastes from each part of Europe, a far better results than last year's controversial result.

The 10 countries that made it to the final where :

Armenia
Azerbaijan (a newcomer to ESC)
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Finland
Greece
Israel
Norway
Poland
Romania
Russia

The show was not one of the best, with major defects as regards camera-work, a half empty hall and lack of enthusiasm from the present crowd. The presenters did not connect with each other and they did not even make an effort to cheer an almost dead crowd.

As regards the songs' performances, Greece, Israel and Armenia took the limelight. On the other hand favourite Dima Bilan was booed by the crowd before his performance.

21/05/2008

First Semi Final Tonight

The Eurovision Song Contest will commence this evening with the first semi-final. 19 countries will compete for tha 10 available tickets for the final night.

The Serbian Capital, Belgrade will host this event for the first time. It will be the biggest Eurovision ever, with 3 whole nights of entertaing and 43 participating countries.

Today will welcome to the Eurovision stage for the first time, the little country of San Marino, that will offer that long awaited italian taste to ESC, and Azerbaijan.

This is the list in performance order for tonight:

1.Montenegro
2.Isreal
3Estonia
4.Moldova
5.San Marino
6.Belgium
7.Azerbaijan
8.Slovenia
9.Norway
10.Poland
11.Ireland
12.Andorra
13.Bosnia & Herzegovina
14.Armenia
15.Netherlands
16.Finland
17.Romania
18.Russia
19.Greece

The 10 most favourite countries to reach the final, according to the latest betting odds are the following : Russia, Armenia, Greece, Bosnia, Romania, Ireland, Norway, Slovenia, Azerbaijan and Poland.

Morena rocks the stage in 2nd rehearsal

As you can see from the video above, Morena, together with the Spies has rocked the Eurovision stage! Tghough the first rehearsal was a good one, this second rehearsal is almost perfect. The dance routine makes much more sense now, and even Morena is more energetic than ever!

The special effect of Malta's performance will be the dance routine in itself coupled with black and silvery outfits which help in creating that dark spy image of Vodka!

Well done for the Maltese group, everything seems to be running in a smooth and professional way. Malta altghough it's not fairing well in the latest odds, is doing great in the fan's chart. In fact many ESC fans count on its qualification!

Malta slips in the bets!!

After all the rehearsals that have taken place so far, Malta slipped 12 places in the betting companies' favourite list! Malta last week started at place 20 out of 43 countries but now it has slipped to position number 32, just 11th from last.

Meanwhile the first 3 countries of last year, are occupying the first 3 places again this year, tghough in a different position. Russia is still the winner according to the latest betting odds, in second place there is Serbia and Ukraine is 3rd.

The full list may be found on www.oddschecker.com

Energetic Morena gives great Vodka rendition

Described as a crowd-puller and an energetic performance, Vodka went down well with all major Eurovision Websites. It was one of teh best performances of Day4 and Morena gave a strong vocal rendition. Grey, black and silver will be the dominant colours in the Maltese act.

Altghough no props were used on this first rehearsal it does not mean that Vodka will not have its special effects! In fact as one looks carefully at today's rehearsal one notices that at some points the swedish dancers seem to wait for something to happen. This can actually mean that our Vodka will get even better!!!

A great performance therefore for our country which will definitely go help bring some hey hey hey to Eurovision!

Watch the vedio below:

14/05/2008

Rehearsal Day 4

Today was the 4th day of rehearsals. Almost all song had a great vocal performance. The favourites of the day were Bulgaria, Georgia and Malta! So far 38 countries has done their technical rehearsals, the big 4 plus Serbia are the ones taht remain. This means that both semi-final songs has been perfor

14/05/2008

Morena on her way!

Malta's representative for the Eurovision 2008, Morena left for Serbia today. She is accompanied by a whole entourage which includes the swedish dancers, the Maltasong board, family and friends. She will take to the stage tomorrow to rehearse her song Vodka. All the surprises will therefore be revealed tomorrow as her performance will be online soon afterwards.

13/05/2008

28 songs already rehearsed

Today was the third day of rehearsals at the Belgrad Arena, host to the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. So far 28 song has already takento the stage, the other 10 will do so tomorrow, including our Morena.

As happens always in ESC, soon after rehearsals some favourites start to emerge, let's take them day by day. Rehearsal Day1 was clearly 'won' by Norway and Isreal which were the 2 best performances out of the first 9 rehearsals.

Rehearsal Day2 confirmed Russia as one of teh favourites to win this year's ESC. The Russian performance included an ice skate-boarding platform and a silver ladder. Altghough Dima Bilan's diction isn't perfect, he gave a strong performance. Armenia, another favourite this year, had a good performance also. The surprise of today was the Greek singer, Kalomira, who is now deemed as another favourite!

Rehearsal Day 3 was the much spectacular rehearsal so far, with 4 of the best songs being performed. Sweden, Iceland, Switzerland and Ukraine all had a great performance, saving some technical problems.

So after the first 3 days of reharsals the crown goes to Ukraine which in my opinion had the best coreography so far.

13/05/2008

Rehearsals Today!

The kick-off for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 starts today with the first rehearsals. The following are the 9 countries that will reahearse today:

1.Montenegro
2.Israel
3.Estonia
4.Moldova
5.San Marino
6.Belgium
7.Azerbaijan
8.Slovenia
9.Norway

11/05/2008

Russia Favourite to Win

According to the latest betting odds listed on www.oddschecker.com Russia is the favourite country to win the next Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Belgrade on the 24th May.

Russia will be represented by Dima Bilan, who is no newcomer to ESC, in fact he placed 2nd just 2 years ago with "Never Let You Go". This year he will sing "Believe".

Malta is not fairing well in the bets, according to the latest list Malta's Vodka won't make it to the final night. However on the global list of the finalists Vodka is listed at place number 20. This is a contradictory affair, the question is how Malta will get the 20th place on the final night without passing the semi-final?

The top 5 favourite countries countries so far are:

1.Russia
2.Serbia
3.Armenia
4.Ukraine
5.Sweden

Morena turns down Vodka sponsorships

The 'Sunday Times of Malta' today reported that Morena has turned down generous sponsorship offers from international vodka companies. Morena told the newspaper that she had been contacted by 2 companies who wanted her to pose in advertisements.

She was reported as saying that the offering were 'substantial' but she turned them down immediately because although her song is called Vodka, does not mean it promotes drinking.

Morena said "my message throughout the song is that you can still enjoy yourself and have a good time without alcahol and drugs".

Source: Sunday Times
03/05/2008

What an update!

www.renaldmicallef.com turns Eurovision ones again. This is the second year that this website is covering the Eurovision Song Contest and as from today until the final night this website will be updated almost everyday.

This year there are a lot of novelties, for instance I have created a new page dedicated solely for Eurovision. You may now watch all the preview videos of all the 43 participants. There are links to Morena's official website and blog. Moreover you can now hear Vodka in the background while visiting my website.

So this month keep visiting as more updates are imminent!

1/05/2008