Natalie Gauci, the 26-year-old singer of Maltese descendant and winner of the Australian Idol contest last year, arrived in Malta on Friday afternoon. Ms Gauci is in Malta as the guest singer for the final night of the Malta Song for Europe contest to be held on Saturday evening. She will be performing a duet with Chiara.
Ms Gauci won the Australian Pop Idol on the 25 November 2007 and released her first single “Here I am” which made it to second place in the Australian singles chart after just three days. Her first album with Sony, Natalie Gauci: The Winner’s Journey was released on December 8.
On Saturday morning, Natalie Gauci met the Minister for Tourism and Culture Dr Francis Zammit Dimech at the MFCC in Ta’ Qali where the last preparations are being carried out for tonight’s show.
Minister Zammit Dimech commented that Natalie Gauci’s performance during Saturday’s show will increase the contest's cultural importance. He augured that the selected song chosen to represent Malta will be successful.
Minister Zammit Dimech added that this year’s edition of the Eurovision Song Contest will be taking a new format as all participants - except the host country Serbia, Spain, France, Germany and the United Kingdom – will be participating in the semi-final. This is an important development that will contribute to increase trust in the festival, the Minister said.
Saturday’s show starts at 20:30CET and will include a performance by guest singer Natalie Gauci who will be performing a duet with Chiara.
The semi-finalists in their order of appearance on Thursday are:
1. Caravaggio - Claudia Faniello, (music Ray Agius; lyrics Godwin Sant)
2. Give me a chance - Eleanor Cassar, (music Paul Giordimaina; lyrics Fleur Balzan)
3. Casanova – Morena, (music Philip Vella; lyrics Gerard James Borg)
4. Love is just the way - Rosman Pace, (music and lyrcs Rosman Pace)
5. Go - Klinsmann Coleiro, (music Dominic Galea; lyrics Claudette Pace)
6. Vodka – Morena, (music Philip Vella; lyrics Gerard James Borg)
7. Street car of desire - Petra Zammit, (music Elton Zarb; lyrics Rita Pace)
8. Sunrise - Claudia Faniello, (music and lyrics Ray Agius)
At the finals on Saturday, the winning song will be decided by televoting (80 percent) and local judges (20 percent).
The results and placing of the 17 songs that competed in the semi-finals will be released on Sunday.
MaltaMedia creative director Toni Sant will be releasing a special edition of his weekly podcast Mużika Mod Ieħor for the 2008 Malta Song for Europe on Saturday.
For all the latest developments on Malta's entry to the Eurovision Song contest see EurovisionMalta.com
