Spiteri Lucas Entertainment have been gaining quite a positive reputation in recent years for organising shows of high prestige and ones which people talk about in the best of manner. Following their successful productions of Musicals in 2011 and 2012 respectively, they are back with yet another one which will definitely be bigger and better than what the previous two have offered thus far. In fact, running under the title name Movies In Concert, the production will be staged on Saturday 24th November at 19:30 CET and Sunday 25th November at 18:30 CET at the Catholic Institute in Floriana. No need to fret with regards to the acclaim of the cast because this will be one of the most star studded in terms of events organised this year.

The younger demographic has several technological means to learn about key issues that make up society in present times but one has to note that effectiveness plays a pivotal role and that is why television is somewhat still extremely important. The means of watching such a platform has been taken through a number of elements because one can watch programmes through their smart phone or even their computer system.  This is the sixth week since the return of local music drama series; D.R.E.A.M.S and therefore, the story seems to be heating up and the pieces of the puzzle are now combining into one another with the hope of creating a picture, one which many could relate to through their personal lives. The focus of the past week has surely been purely on music due to the submission process of the 2013 Malta Eurovision Song Contest with the results set to be announced at the end of the month. Nevertheless, the attention diverts slightly on this Wednesday with the series returning for another week. The script of the series is written by Evelyn Saliba La Rosa and Michael Vella Haber whilst the music for the songs that are broadcasted each week is done by Maestro Ray Agius.

One of the key elements of the second series is surely the constant fighting between Robert Soler (Andre Penza) and Gloria Soler (Joanne Busuttil) over a supposed affair which many viewers will recall to being only true in a slight manner. Evidence unfortunately has not managed to portray the situation in the best possible manner and it has become more a case of words. At the sixth form, things are heating up even more with the election candidates including Philip Roger Triganza (Damian Buhagiar), Chloe Stafrace (Michela Dalli) and Jade Vella Petroni (Rachel Genovese) all seemingly garnering votes making it to be an extremely close race. Going back to the focus of the storyline at the moment it seems that during this episode, Robert Soler also goes back home but there seems to be a particular reasoning behind this, maybe the pregnancy. According to our intelligence, it seems that this episode will be quite intriguing and will leave everyone at the edge of their seats in order to learn the fate of several storylines and characters. All of the questions will be answered by watching the sixth episode of the second series of D.R.E.A.M.S which is airing on Television Malta at 20:40 CET every Wednesday.

Source: escflashmalta.com, press release, Rewind Productions, Evelyn Saliba La Rosa, Michael Vella Haber

Projects come into existence thanks to ideas which flow from one individual to another an in fact, the Gospel Choir which has today become known as Animae was originally the fruit of thought of Glen Vella, Pamela and Leontine who have somewhat gained fame in their own right through competing in the Malta Eurovision Song Contest with the male counterpart eventually finishing as the winner back in 2011 and thus representing Malta on an international scale. Nevertheless, the focus here is on the choir which is currently abroad in Assisi, Italy for the first time in order to participate in a music workshop. Gospel is the genre which is being covered during this particular event which brings about together several artists from Italy, who aim to learn from a set of tutors from the United States of America including Pastora Ronald Ixacc Hubbard, Pastor Keith Moncrief, The Fabolous Five, Rodney Hubbard and Dereque Withours. It is an honour to see our Maltese counterparts present as they continue to grow musically.

Music is important in spirituality and hence forth why Animae have taken this stance to learn more about what they could do not only within the area of music in which they have excelled throughout the past couple of years but even throughout other specific areas of religiosity. The workshop will include a number of performances, original works which will most likely only be exhibited at the Gospel Connection workshop. This is the tenth year of this project, and therefore, a prestigious goal was put in pace and reached, with top level in quality and artistic excelled at the proposal of the committee behind the workshop. Gospel Connection has been organized with leading artists in recent years including Richard Smallwood, Bob Singleton, Trini Massie and Kellie Turner. The successful workshops have been highly critically acclaimed, so much so that it has become renowned all of Europe for sheer dedication and success. Our very own Gospel Choir, Animae is currently preparing to host another show during Christmas time where festive tracks will obviously be taking precedence over others. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news as soon as it becomes available.

Source: Christian Borg, Animae Gospel Choir

One of the artists who surely does not need any introduction is surely Chiara, who has been at the helm of the stage at the Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Malta on three respective occasions; first in 1998 with the track The One That I Love composed by Jason Paul Cassar to the lyrics of Sunny Aquilina; then in 2005 with the self-penned entry Angel and last but not least in 2009 with the song What If We composed by Marc Paelinck with lyrics of Gregory Bilsen. Since returning from her final endeavour abroad, Chiara has been busy reinventing herself by coming out with a stunning new slender look and performing tracks which many might not have been expecting her to do so having spent most of her career earning herself the title of a balladeer. At the moment, she is planning the release of her brand new single entitled Forget Forgetting Me written and produced by Orlygur Smari who has worked with lyricist Gerard James Borg on a number of previous occasions. 

Image is important in the business but Chiara has truly shown her colours over the years by virtue of giving strong performances with that stunning vocal range she has and that has also won her many fans. This will be her first original single in about two years and one which many people are looking forward to hearing. The debut will be taking place on the programme Ħadd Għalik this Sunday afternoon where Chiara is one of the resident singers alongside former Malta Eurovision Song Contest finalists; Eleanor Cassar and Deborah C as well as newcomer and recent Don't Stop Me Now winner; Franklin Calleja who has exclusively confirmed to escflashmalta.com his intentions to submit into the Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2013. In an exclusive interview given to our web portal earlier this year, Chiara insisted that she would 'go back to Eurovision tomorrow' due to the fact that 'loves the festival and would be a great honour to be entrusted with the important task to represent' the country once more. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news as soon as it becomes available.

Source: Chiara's Facebook Page

Homegrown talent is achieving all kinds of success on an international scale especially in various areas of music; whether it is pop, classical or even progressive trance. Diversity is key to achieve positive acclaim and it seems that Tenishia are the latest group to bring about acclaim to the Maltese Islands after being ranked at number #50 in the worlds' DJ Mag, which is one of the leading online music tabloids for Dance Music respectively. It has been quite the year for Joven Grech and Cyprian Cassar because apart from the numerous events they have headlined, they have had the chance to get into the studio to finalize their debut album entitled Memory Of A Dream which has been doing well on the iTunes charts and currently standing at number #16 on the Dance charts.

Progressive trance might not be the most popular form of music in Malta but nevertheless, the concerts that are being put forward by Tenishia are being well attended by the local population and that gives them great courage to continue what they are doing especially after noting that their efforts have been recognised internationally ahead of some of the most notable names in the business including those of Eric Prydz, Benny Benassi, John Digweed and Bob Sinclair who have years of experience between them. The opportunity to perform alongside Armin van Buuren has been one of the elements which have led to their successful exposure and therefore, can officially cite it as being one of the main elements that they have endured within their career. The editorial board of escflashmalta.com is committed to bringing you the latest news from the local music scene in whatever particular element it might be and when such an honour is bestowed, it deserves an even more honourable mention.

Source: DJ Mag

Across the European continent and even further outside of the borders, it seems that the Maltese Islands have earned a respectable reputation for the sheer amount of vocal talent that tends to feature either annually or every now and then. There has been a progression with regards to the production of the songs that are being written for local artists and therefore, releases are now even earning rave reviews in foreign waters which have led to a number of performances abroad. Nevertheless, there is a lot of hype over the next edition of the Malta Eurovision Song Contest and whilst we have absolutely no clue on whether such young talent is submitting, a feature would definitely do the artist justice nevertheless especially after being a focal point earlier this year. In fact, the quiet girl with the big voice that I have deemed is none other than Ylenia Vella, whom many will remember as to having backed Kurt Calleja up vocally.

Ylenia Vella burst out onto the music scene at a relatively tender age submitting entries for the Malta Junior Eurosong competition and coming extremely close to being the Maltese representative in 2009 actually with her track My One True Passion finishing in second place behind Francesca & Mikaela with their entry Double Trouble which also reached a respectable top ten finish abroad. Despite the fact that Ylenia never managed to triumph and finished in second, third and fourth place, she decided to not let the experience mar her career and therefore, submitted an application to be part of the showcase Don't Stop Me Now which was set to air on Television Malta and hosted by none other than Eileen Montesin and Christine Haber. Following a number of weeks of performances, Ylenia was crowned the winner of the competition, a stepping stone for the young performer and a chance to be recognized by not only the masses but even a host of songwriters on the Maltese Islands. She got the chance to perform with Kurt Calleja in the Malta Eurovision Song Contest as a female backing vocalist but unfortunately, it seems that she was replaced by another voice as Ylenia had described with Amber later on stating that the decision was taken up by the Public Broadcasting Services and that Ylenia had a fantastic voice which will represent Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest in the future. It will be quite interesting to see whether this will happen anytime soon but whatever the decision of Ylenia Vella will be, she will always have the stupendous voice of an angel.

Source: escflashmalta.com

Mikaela is surely one of the finest vocal artists that the country has produced in the past couple of years and despite her young age, it has been severely noted through time that she is blossoming quite rapidly with her music being played on all of the major radio stations and with performances all over the Maltese Islands from minor gigs to showstopping major events including the likes of the Rockestra and the Malta Music Awards amongst others. She has become no stranger to leaving the local waters to perform abroad though noting that she had been studying at the Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts, United States of America and now finds herself in the United Kingdom for a mini-tour after garnering the opportunity through a specific jury which thought best to award her the honour during the Malta Music Awards last year.

In fact, the award, being the title; Malta's Export Artist was the second of the evening for her having also amassed the Best Female Artist earlier during the evening. Mikaela started performing at a relatively young age but she amassed a reputation for having that fiery red hair which gives her an image of distinction amongst the rest of the artists putting themselves forward in the local music industry. Mikaela describes her music as a mixture of blues, hard rock and metal although there is certainly an extremely slight element of pop into most of her tracks. In the United Kingdom, she is currently joined by Noel Magri, a former Malta Eurovision Song Contest committee member and now organiser of the Malta Music Awards, the leading awards ceremony in the country when it comes to representing music. Mikaela gave her debut performance in the country last night actually but this is a list of the remaining dates.

• 16th October: Bar Vinyl, Camden Town, London (20:30 CET)
• 17th October: The Regal Room, Hammersmith, London (20:30 CET)
• 18th October: Greenman Pub, 208 Edgeware Road, London (20:30 CET)

All of the performances are listed down in the local time here in Malta meaning that in the United Kingdom, they will be one hour behind of course. In the meantime, it is also worth mentioning that Mikaela is performing this sets of songs in an acoustic manner and therefore making the feeling of the performances even more intimate. For those of you who are currently abroad or rather, would like some of your friends to watch what Maltese talent has come to in these past couple of years, make sure to see her perform and surely, you will not be disappointed. Many artists in the country are making this leap of success and with people like Noel Magri, and his respective sponsors on behalf of the Malta Music Awards, such opportunities can be organised. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news about a number local artists as well as the annual Eurovision Song Contest, taking place in Malmo, Sweden within 2013.

Source: Official Facebook

In recent weeks, escflashmalta.com was one of the first online portals to report that former Junior Eurovision Song Contest representative; Nicole Azzopardi was set to represent the country once more in an international competition to be held in Armenia and whilst the young artist, now of sixteen years of age is yet to return from the Eastern country, she has picked up notable accolades which continue to add to a budding resume which will surely be garnering even more outstanding achievements in the years to come. In her visit to Armenia, Nicole Azzopardi was joined by none other than Daniel D'Anastasi who was also the Head of Press for Malta in the 2012 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in which Kurt Calleja performed his entry This Is The Night.

The experience in Armenia has surely been one which cannot be forgotten for the young performer being awarded a total of three diplomas from the city of Yerevan as well as a super trophy from the director of the competition, Nadya Sargysyan for a stunning rendition of the Armenian song before being given another award from the Mayor of Yerevan for giving the best show during the showcase which was being held for the first time under the title Yerevan Is Calling. There are a number of companies who backed up the performer before heading to the country including Vigourous Hairstyling, Mangano Malta, Zara, Miss Selfridge and individuals in the vein of Gayle Zerafa Cutajar for his styling and Charles & Ron for their exclusive designs. In terms of vocals, a huge thanks goes to former Eurovision Song Contest representative; Glen Vella who is the vocal coach of Nicole, Elton Zarb of Freetime Studios for the prior records and Vera Boyanyan for her support to the performer to ensure perfect diction. Last but not least, thanks goes for all the members of the dance troup in Yerevan and of the judges and the respective committee. It is important to note that Nicole Azzopardi had performed the song Knock Knock ... Boom Boom! during the 2010 Junior Eurovision Song Contest, that being our last ever entry in the respective event. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com in the coming days and weeks for more of such news.

Source: Press Release

Glen Vella, one of the nations' most notable names in the local music industry both before and after representing Malta in the 2011 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest with the song One Life composed by Paul Giordimaina and penned by Fleur Balzan which had only failed to make it through to the finals by a mere one point. It has just come to the attention of the editorial board that in recent days, Glen was actually on the road promoting his music once more, this time in Sweden which will be playing host to the continental event in a couple of months time. In fact, the showcase organised by the OGAE Branch in Sweden took place in Harrys Katrineholm which is known to be quite a popular nightclub. Various local and foreign media outlets were covering the event and therefore, there was quite good exposure attributed to the event.

Glen Vella was one of the six acts which received the invite to appear in the event amongst; Lys Assia (Switzerland 1956, 1957, 1958), Joan Franka (Netherlands 2012), Sinplus (Switzerland 2012), Esther Hart (Netherlands 2003) and Birgitta Haudkal (Iceland 2003). During the evening, Glen took to the evening to perform a number of tracks starting with his Eurovision entry One Life before performing an acoustic version of Knockin' on a Heaven's Door in a duet with Joan Franka, which was very well enjoyed by the people present, so much so that the two are in contact to work together on a track in the very near future. Nevertheless, he followed with a cover of the track This Is My Life which represented Iceland back in 2008 and then ended the show by singing a medley of Swedish hits from the Eurovision Song Contest. Glen would like to wish all of the readers of this portal, a huge thanks for all the support shown throughout the years.

Glen has been on a high following his appearance at the continental event though being awarded the Best Male Artist at the ONE Tribute Awards before garnering a nomination for the same accolade at the Malta Music Awards last year. This year in the meantime, he has been busy with brand new single releases of Lie and Louder whilst also getting the opportunity to perform with longtime friend; Eleanor Cassar during her show, a Tribute to the great Whitney Houston. He is currently very busy preparing to leave for a performance in Italy with his Gospel Group Animae which also includes performers such as Annabelle Debono, Janice Mangion, Pamela, Nadine Axisa and Anna Azzopardi amongst others. We would like you to stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news about former representatives at the Eurovision Song Contest.

Source: Press Release

It has been well noted that in the past couple of years, the Maltese Islands have been infiltrated with a number of musicians who join forces to create a band holding together all of the possible elements needed to create a specific sound. The next group to release a brand new single is known to the public as Cruz which features; Marilyn Mifsud on Vocals, Rob on guitars, Chris on the bass and Melchior on the drums. They are now gaining recognition quite quickly in the scene and therefore, it comes to no surprise that a new track surfaces every couple of months. Their latest work comes in the form of Good On You. It is important to note that dabbling in a little bit of sound outside of their comfort zone such as funk and disco has done them the world of good because it makes them stand out from the rest of the pop/rock groups which have taken over the scene including the likes of Red Electrick and Airport Impressions amongst others.

Coming into the local music scene back in 2009, they have worked hard to come at the point they are today noting that they started by performing in a number of bars before making it into the Malta Music Week organised by MTV, the Farsons Great Beer Festival and finally, the big break of getting to perform as the opening act for a concert done by Wintermoods having been selected through an online competition. This all happened between 2009 and 2010 and the year did end on a high by virtue of achieving the viewers choice award at the Bay Music Awards. They went onto achieve their best year last year though as a host of brand new singles were starting to be written and with some releases in two, they ended up winning the Best New Artist award at the Malta Music Awards. They are currently working on a host of new things including a music video amongst others. For more information about the band, please visit their official Facebook Page. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com as we continue following their progress in the coming days, weeks and months. 

Source: Facebook