The qualifying artists were presented one by one last evening at the tv show Xarabank where each of them performed a snippet of their songs. Among the twenty acts are several familiar faces including former Eurovision representatives Ludwig Galea, Glen Vella and Gianluca Bezzina.
The Maltese broadcaster, PBS, has received 134 submissions for the upcoming Malta Eurovision Song Contest. These potential entries were narrowed down to 48 and now the names of the twenty acts that will perform at the semi-final have been announced.
The full list of semi-finalists is as follows:
1. Glen Vella – Breakaway
2. Trilogy (Eleanor Spiteri, Roger Tirazona & Ludwig Galea) – Chasing A Dream
3. Karen Debattista – 12, Baker Street
4. Franklin Calleja – Still Here
5. Deborah C. – It’s Ok
6. Ekklesia – Love & Let Go
7. Lawrence Gray – The One That You Love
8. Jessica Muscat – Fandango
9. Daniel Testa – Something In The Way
10. Amber – Warrior
11. Christabelle – Rush
12. Chris Grech – Closed Doors
13. L-Ahwa (Dorothy, Samaria, Gianluca, Paul, Vincienne & Francesca Bezzina) – Beautiful To Me
14. Raquel Galdes – Stop Haunting Me
15. Danica Muscat – Close Your Eyes
16. Lyndsay Pace – Home
17. Corazon Mizzi – Secretly
18. Iona Dalli – Could Have Been Me
19. Domenique Azzopardi – Take Me As I Am
20. Minik – Once In A While
Among the twenty semi-finalists, most of them have previous experience in the contest. Gianluca Bezzina, who represented Malta in 2013, is entering the national selection once again this time with five of his siblings as a group called L-Ahwa. Glen Vella (2011) and Ludwig Galea (2004), who is one of the members of the group Trilogy, are also in the run to represent Malta one more time at the Eurovision Song Contest. There are other familiar faces from previous national finals such as Lawrence Gray who has participated eight times in the Maltese national selection; Amber, who has participated in the last three editions; or Domenique Azzopardi, Danica Muscat and Franklin Calleja who are entering the competition for the third time.
Daniel Testa, who was last year’s runner-up, or Jessica Muscat, who received the top marks from the televoting in the last Maltese final, are also among the qualifiers.
Among the newcomers, probably the most striking act is the group of nuns forming the ensemble Ekklesia.
There are also some known names among the composers such as the author of Franklin Calleja’s ballad who is the winner of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, Alexander Rybak.
On the 21st of November, all twenty acts will compete in the national
semi-final, where fourteen of them will get a ticket for the national
final to be held the following evening, on November 22nd. Both shows
will be held in a former shipyard in Marsa, at the same stage which
shall also host the 2014 Junior Eurovision Song Contest on the 15th of
November.
The winner, who will represent Malta in Vienna, will be
chosen by the votes from six judges along with televoting which will be
acting as the seventh judge.
Last evening, all the qualified artists sang a snippet of their songs. You can watch some of them in the videos below.
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