Out & About
Xarabank Eurovision Special from Athens
By MaltaMedia News
May 18, 2006, 23:13

About 200 Maltese Eurovision fans in Athens attended the recording of a special edition of Xarabank on Thursday afternoon. This edition of Malta's most popular television programme will be broadcast on TVM on Friday evening, 24 hours before the final show of the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest.

The guest panel consisted of The Times journalist Ariadne Massa, broadcaster and entrepreneur Norman Hamilton, Maltasong board chairman Robert Abela, and MaltaMedia's founding director Toni Sant. Fabrizio Faniello, singer of Malta's 2006 Eurovision entry I Do was also on the panel as a special guest for this Eurovision Xarabank from the Divani Caravel Hotel in the centre of the Greek capital.

Faniello looked fabulously fresh after a two day break from on stage rehearsals, even if he has been kept busy with other preparations for Saturday's show and the non-stop promotion of his song.

Eurovision veterans Claudette Pace and Mike Spiteri were also present in the audience. Mike Spiteri sang his song from 1995 Keep Me in Mind and Claudette Pace followed suit with Desire from 2000. The audience was also thrilled to hear 76-year old Frans Fenech, a member of the Maltasong board, sing a few verses from Il-Bajja tal-Mellieħa, which was originally written for him to sing about 30 years ago.

The Xarabank audience was as vocal as ever with their opinions and interventions from the floor. Zurrieq mayor Ignatius Farrugia revealed that this was the ninth time that he's attending the Eurovision final. He explained that he now organizes groups of Maltese Eurovision fans to travel with him to promote the Maltese song unofficially in whichever European city the Eurovision Song Contest is taking place.

Other ardent Eurovision fans include Maltese MEP David Casa's mother, Rita, who said she was thrilled to travel to Athens to support Malta at the annual song contest from the European Broadcasting Union. Her comments were greeted with cheers and applause by the rest of the audience who waved maltese flags and banners at regular intervals throughout this edition of Xarabank.

It is no wonder that there are about 450 Maltese Eurovision fans in Athens this week. Besides Hamilton Travel, which has become synonymous with Eurovision tours, there are also groups travelling with Eurotours, Fantasy Tours, and Britania Tours. There is even a group of Maltese Australians in Athens this week. They are on a tour of Europe with Charles "Babyface" Curmi, which was specifically designed to include a visit to Greece to coincide with the Eurovision Song Contest.

One topic that is raised for debate by Xarabank host Peppi Azzopardi in this week's programme is the presence of Maltese singer Keith Camilleri in the group singing the Swiss entry at this year's Eurovision. Asked whether people in Malta should vote for Switzerland on Saturday evening, Norman Hamilton said that "if the Maltese people want to vote with their heart they'll vote for the Swiss song, but if they vote with their brains they should not vote for a song that can potentially compete with Malta for precious points."

Robert Abela revealed that the EBU has revised its Eurovision rules so that the top ten and the big four - France, UK, Spain, and Germany - rather than the top six are excluded from the semi-final round in next year's contest.

Toni Sant declared that he still believes that Finland's Lordi will win the Eurovision Song Contest final on Saturday, as he claimed in his blog on Tuesday last week. Ariadne Massa concured with him, pointing out that no other Eurovision act is attracting the kind of attention from the internation press as this year's Finnish entry.

On Thursday evening the semi-final round of the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest was held and ten countries out of 23 will pass on to the final round of the contest, which takes place on Saturday evening. Finland was one of the successful semi-finalists.

For more detailed information about Malta's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest see EurovisionMalta.com.

Toni Sant contributed to this report from Athens.


See also:
Eurovision Odds Against Malta
by Toni Sant - May 16, 2006

More on Finland's 2006 Eurovision entry
from Toni Sant's Blog - May 16, 2006

Toni Sant is in Athens through the generous support of Hamilton Travel and Vodafone Malta.

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