Maltasong Contest 2009, Part 1

Last night, the finalists for this year's edition of the Maltasong were announced. That's right, after a year's hiatus - I'm back with my Maltasong analysis. There's no election this year which means my full blogging focus is on the contest. The 20 finalists will be narrowed down to three songs by jury vote which will take part in a Super Final on the same day - the winner being decided by televoting. Sounds silly to me to have a 'Super' final...it's either a final or it isn't.

This year, I'll be reviewing five songs at a time every Sunday for the next four weeks. Or at least, I'll try to. Without further ado, let's kick off 2009's blogging experience with our first five songs!

1) Ha Hi Hu (The Elements. Written and Composed by Carm Fenech):- Overall, a below average song. The tune is great! However, the lyrics could be better and the singing is mediocre in the beginning but warms up slightly towards the end. The biggest problem with this song (apart from the title) is that the four singers' voices just don't match up. Clearly, they attempted to a Bucks Fizz performance but any harmony was only really evident for small intervals towards the end. They were clearly one of the five songs who got through on televoting as they may have known a lot of people (the other 15 songs were selected by jury vote). I am almost positive that the song will not make it to the Super Final as they will have to rely solely on the jury. Possible placing : Bottom 5.

2) Kamikaze Lover (Baklava. Written by Gerard J. Borg and Composed by Philip Vella):- An interesting, innovative and unexpected entry. Great tune, great lyrics and great interpretation. As has come to be expected by the Borg and Vella duo. The singer was the most unexpected part for me. I knew he was a very good violinist but didn't know he was a singer. Here's where it gets interesting however, the major part of the song is just instrumental (violin and other string instruments played by the three people on stage). There is very little singing. It's hard to tell whether this song got through via jury or popular vote (due to the singer's popularity), but it deserved to be in the top 20. I doubt it will make it to the Super Final however as the jury may look for something with more vocal contribution. Possible placing : 6th - 10th.

3) Choose Your Number (J. Anvil. Written by Giovann Attard and Composed by Augusto Cardinali):- I love it! Fantastic melody and lyrics with a style similar to 'You' and 'You Too' formerly presented by the Attard-Cardinali-Anvil crew. The latter being the theme I picked for my rather successful (if I do say so myself) Dance Mock. But that's beside the point. All round this is a very good song and I'm quite sure that it was selected by the jury. I fear, however, that just like 2005 this team will lose out to Chiara. Let's hope not, especially after Daniel Testa's success at the Junior Eurovision with Junior Swing. Possible placing : 6th - 10th.

I cannot find a video of Wayne Micallef's 'Where You Belong' so I will skip it for now and return to it in a future edition.

5) Tonight at the Opera (Classic Rebels. Written by John O' Flynn and Composed by Ralph Siegel):- What a fun song! And it would make a great anthem opposing the government's ridiculous decision to turn the site of the Royal Opera House into houses of parliament. Anyway...the vocals are superb and the melody/lyrics are good too. I didn't think much of this song at first, but listening to it again I think it's great. I don't think it will qualify for the Super Final but I'm sure (or at least, I hope) it will go far. Possible placing : Top 5.

6) Promises (Vittorio and Dorothy. Written by Alexia Schembri and Composed by Chan Vella):- The song deserves it's place in the final and it was probably selected by the jury. The song is well delivered by the performers and well produced by Schembri and Vella. For my tastes, the song is somewhat on the boring side, however I cannot deny that it is a very good song. I believe that it could make it to the Super Final. However, as far as actually winning the contest goes, I don't think the song will succeed when put to the test against the general public. Possible Placing : Top 5.

This brings this week's analysis to a close with two songs in the Top 5 section, two in the 6-10 section and one in the Bottom 5. Join us next time for Maltasong Contest 2009, Part 2 *wink* Goodbye!

Darryl, from Malta - Online.