I had forgotten that tonight was the final of the 2007 Malta Song For Europe competition, the selection of the song that will represent Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest. (I refuse to link to the Eurovision website because its objectionable code crashed my browser and obliterated the previous version of this post).
I was reminded about the final when Wired Temples popped up in my aggregator just now, which sent me to World of Chig's blow-by-blow account of Thursday's dismal semi-final.
So, I trundled over to ogħdos.com to get the results and was pleased to see that Olivia Lewis has finally, deservedly, won the MSFE on her 11th try. Toni will be thrilled!
I haven't heard Olivia's song for this year, but in previous editions she's had better songs than most, and in any case she deserves points for sheer perseverance. And when I saw by what margin she won by - slightly more than four times the second place - and I laughed out loud.
Go Olivia!
How can you say that Olivia deservedly won the festival when you haven't heard the song yet?
In my opinion people voted for the singer and not for the song. If Vertigo was sung by some other singer, it wouldn't have made it with the final 6.
Posted by: mackimm | February 05, 2007 at 08:12
As an outsider's perspective, not knowing Olivia or the fact that she had tried eleven times before (eleven?!?! gasp!), I took a critical and objective look at all the entries before making my selection. Frankly, I don't think much of her voice in this case, and the overall performance is not something I think could win the Eurovision. That is my opinion, but then, my top choice didn't win the semi-final nor the final...
Posted by: Grego | February 05, 2007 at 09:37
hi i think that she deserves to be the winner after 11 yrs since it was clear that she would have been the winer .. i think she has the potentials and the talent.. experience and courage and determination... after all history of msfe has showed worse results ...anyway i think that we should give olivia support and dats all... with no pressure at the end of the day she will go and try to win the semi final in finland due to last year disastrous predictable result .... go olivia u rock....
Posted by: rody | February 05, 2007 at 13:56
What does the 11 years have to do if she deserves to be a winner or not? I have nothing against Olivia and I agree that in the past she deserved to win. However, this time she did not deserve to win simply becuase the song was not good enough and there were other songs that were much better (in my opinion at least).
Posted by: mackimm | February 05, 2007 at 16:22
Trilogy's was better.
Posted by: Kenneth | February 05, 2007 at 19:49
All those with sour grapes...get over it! Olivia's song was the best one, and her voice was excellent for the song. I never voted for Olivia before, but this time, her song was a cut above the rest.
Anyone who says Vertigo is not a wonderful song has no idea about music.
By the way, did the international judges also vote for the singer and not the song? They all voted for Vertigo as their first selection.
Posted by: Kenneth Cassar | February 06, 2007 at 14:04
Get over what? I did not compete, so there is nothing to get over and there are no sour grapes involved. I am sure that people voted for the singer and not the song. Proof of that is maltagirl's comment that Olivia deserved it even though she did not listen to the song.
Posted by: mackimm | February 06, 2007 at 17:03
"Anyone who says Vertigo is not a wonderful song has no idea about music."
I could point out that 'Anyone who even watches the ESC has no idea about music' but I'm not a musician (let alone a professional one) so I'm not qualified enough to say.
Posted by: Kenneth | February 06, 2007 at 22:14
Mackimm, if you say there were no sour grapes involved, then I was not referring to you. I did not mention names. I can only speak for myself, and I did not vote for the singer. I voted for the song. I never voted for Olivia before.
If Maltagirl said Olivia deserved it even though she did not hear the song, then, that's a silly thing to say...so here I agree.
As for the other Kenneth's comment that "I could point out that 'Anyone who even watches the ESC has no idea about music' but I'm not a musician (let alone a professional one) so I'm not qualified enough to say.", well, usually I only watch Eurovision for a laugh, since most songs are usually crap to my taste, but Vertigo was one of the few exceptions. As for comments by professionals, is it a coincidence that all the professional musician/composer judges all voted unanimously for Vertigo? So let's take your advice, and leave the judging on the quality of a song to professionals.
As for me, I have a vast musical taste, spanning through hardcore punk to classical music. All I can say is that I appreciate good quality music when I hear some. So my comment does not come from one whose musical taste comes from watching Eurovision...usually I listen to far better music. Luckily for me, this time, there was a song (actually two if you count Trilogy's) which is a cut above the rest.
Posted by: Kenneth Cassar | February 07, 2007 at 08:32
Kenneth: the judges only took part on the night of the semi-final. The night of the final was done entirely by televoting, so there were no "professional musician/composer judges" voting unanimously for Vertigo. All of those thousands of votes came from anyone with access to a Maltese mobile or land line.
So as far as opinions, the professional level of the viewers doesn't really matter, either at the MSFE or at the Eurovision, as it is regular everyday people who vote. And in my opinion (I didn't even know who Olivia was, so there can be no sour grapes) she did not have a good voice.
Posted by: Grego | February 07, 2007 at 08:41
Grego, like you say, the judges only took part on the night of the semi-final. The night of the final was done entirely by televoting. This proves my point entirely. Since in the semi-final, all songs were heard by the judges, this proves that there were professional musician/composer judges voting unanimously for Vertigo, and they actually did. This was reported in yesterday's The Times complete with the names of the judges.
As for the actual Eurovision song contest itself, everyone knows it's a farce, with people voting for neighbouring countries. But I was only commenting on the quality of Vertigo. If the majority of the Maltese public voted for Olivia out of sympathy with the singer, well...lucky they did, for according to me and the international professional judges already mentioned, hers was the best song.
As for Olivia's voice, I understand that this is a matter of opinion.
Posted by: Kenneth Cassar | February 07, 2007 at 11:15
"The foreign jury and the public were in agreement on who should be the Malta Song for Europe Festival winner, and the final result also reflected the verdict of Thursday's semi-final."..."Many had feared that by allowing the public 100 per cent of the voting on the final night, the result could be warped because people would vote for the singer and not the song. This didn't happen because the foreign jury was unanimous on who should win the festival. The international jury panel for the semi-final was made up of: Helle Henning, singer and songwriter from Denmark; Trine Dansgaard, singer and music teacher from Denmark; John Themis, producer and composer from the UK; Jan Van Dijck, director EMI publishing and composer from Holland; Lia Vissi, singer and songwriter from Cyprus; Savvas Savva, pianist and composer from Cyprus; and Victor Escudero, DJ Radio Rivas from Madrid, Spain."
http://www.timesofmalta.com/core/article.php?id=251291
Posted by: Kenneth Cassar | February 07, 2007 at 11:18
Many TV presenters were attributing Faniello's dismal performance to the fact that "he was chosen for his charisma, not his song." Only three days later, they somehow forgot their own words and went on to express their happiness because the public voted for Olivia, if anything for her perseverance.
Do you see the trend here?
I rest my case.
Posted by: Kenneth | February 07, 2007 at 18:08
Kenneth... I hope you realise that whenever you imply that Olivia didn't deserve to win, you are unwittingly driving a poisoned dart into my heart. Ever since I first saw Olivia (eleven years ago - on her first attempt as a matter of fact) I have been madly enamoured by her. However do not make the error of mistaking my feelings for love - I am not that shallow.
I actually wish I WAS her and I have no shame in admitting that sometimes I dress up like her when nobody's home. I have the wig and everything.
However Olivia isn't the only woman for me. I have a vast taste for women, spanning through hardcore punks to classical ladies. "Cross-dressing is a perfectly healthy habit and is enjoyed by an ever-increasing number of men. If more people participated in this activity, the world would doubtlessly be a better and more harmonious place. Dr L. Finkelstein."
http://www.timesofmalta.com/cross-dressers/article.php?id=235895
Posted by: Kenneth Cassar | February 07, 2007 at 22:04
Kenneth wrote: "Many TV presenters were attributing Faniello's dismal performance to the fact that "he was chosen for his charisma, not his song." Only three days later, they somehow forgot their own words and went on to express their happiness because the public voted for Olivia, if anything for her perseverance.
Do you see the trend here?
I rest my case."
What you are conveniently ignoring is that unlike Fabrizio's case, the foreing judges unanimously voted for Olivia.
I don't see a trend here.
I rest my case.
Posted by: Kenneth Cassar | February 08, 2007 at 07:58
Also please note that the idiot who posted on February 07, 2007 at 22:04 is not me. It is someone who does not have a life, so he tries to pretend he's someone else.
Get a life, idiot, whoever you are.
Posted by: Kenneth Cassar | February 08, 2007 at 08:00
"I can only speak for myself, and I did not vote for the singer. I voted for the song. I never voted for Olivia before." - Kenneth Cassar
"Kenneth... I hope you realise that whenever you imply that Olivia didn't deserve to win, you are unwittingly driving a poisoned dart into my heart. Ever since I first saw Olivia (eleven years ago - on her first attempt as a matter of fact) I have been madly enamoured by her." - Kenneth Cassar
Are these two posts by two different people with the same name or there is some kind of contradiction here?
Posted by: mackimm | February 08, 2007 at 08:01
mackimm, the second quote is from an idiot pretending to be me.
Posted by: Kenneth Cassar | February 08, 2007 at 08:03
Thought so. Apologies to Kenneth Cassar.
Posted by: mackimm | February 08, 2007 at 08:05
No problem, mackimm. This is nothing personal, only discussing opinions. I only regret using the phrase "sour grapes". Maybe it was a little over the top. As for the rest, we are all entitled to our opinions. Who knows...maybe she will come first, or she will come last. In any case, I think we all agree that the voting in the actual Eurovision contest is mostly done for "political" reasons, and not for the best song. So there goes...we might be arguing for nothing ;)
Posted by: Kenneth Cassar | February 08, 2007 at 08:10
So what can we do to overcome Malta's "political" isolation during the Eurovision? Start a campaign to get as many Maltese as possible to get foreign SIM cards from all the other countries participating, and then, on the night in question, prepare an SMS-attack!
Except even if all 400,000 did it, the votes would get diluted in the large populations of the bigger countries. Rats, it was such a good idea...
Posted by: Grego | February 08, 2007 at 08:15
What to do? Nothing. Watch the show, have a good laugh (last year's song "we are the winners..." was hilarious) and forget all about it.
Posted by: Kenneth Cassar | February 08, 2007 at 08:34
How can you say that Olivia deservedly won the festival when you haven't heard the song yet? <-- this guy is damn right..
my comments abt the song - http://www.jamesattard.com/2007/02/vertigo.html
Posted by: James | February 09, 2007 at 09:44
James, I read your comment about Vertigo. The similarity with Ruslana's Wild Dances is very slight. Wild Dances is very drum/electronic based, while Vertigo is more based on the violin sound. But while Wild Dances is very much more "commercial", there is similarity, though I would place Vertigo more in the genre of "World Music", which is usually of a "Traditional" or Tribal style (in this case Traditional - Greek/Arabic/Spanish), with a hint of darkwave.
Posted by: Kenneth Cassar | February 09, 2007 at 12:52
Olivia`s song was the best and the most original song. Olivia is a determinated person and i`m sure she has all the potentials needed. Ivoted for the song not for the singer as many individuals out there are saying that everybody voted for the singer. Olivia deserved and won the festival because she had the best song and performance.
Posted by: Liz | February 10, 2007 at 13:35