Hungary: ByeAlex Blogs Favourable 2014 Choices
Written by Marc Calleja BaylissIn this years' edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, Hungary managed to finish in the top ten for the very first time in six years with their entry Kedvesem performed by ByeAlex. This was the third most successful result for nation having finished in ninth place with Unsubstantial Blues performed by Magi Rúzsa in 2007 as well as in fourth place with the track Kinek mondjam el vétkeimet? sung by Friderika Bayer back in 1994. MTV, the national broadcaster in Hungary received positive ratings for this years' edition noting that both the semi-finals and the final did exceedingly well. A Dal, the selection process has also been met with good criticism and will be returning for a third edition next year. Hungary is one of the countries which has managed to qualify in the last three international competitions.
ByeAlex has started a blog in which he is commenting about possible choices for next years' edition of the Eurovision Song Contest with his prime pick somewhat encompassing the first runner-up of this years' national selection. 'If we would like to succeed with a well singing pretty boy, I'd send him', in reference to Kallay Saunders whose singing entry My Baby was very reminiscent of the swinging days of the seventies and the eighties, a genre that is becoming relatively popular once more. Whilst he does point out a number of unrealistic options including Supernem, he also says that Magdi Ruzsa should be persuaded to do it again, 'She's simply unable to sing bad. It's hard for a female singer to get so close to my soul, but her voice, aura and meaning are so great that it's rare on this planet'. Hungary have confirmed participation for next years' edition of the Eurovision Song Contest alongside another fifteen countries, including Malta. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news.
Source: eurovision.tv
Malta: Claudia Faniello Shooting Music Video
Written by Marc Calleja BaylissClaudia Faniello, first runner-up at the Malta Eurovision Song Contest in 2008 with the track Caravaggio written by Ray Agius and 2012 with the song Pure composed by Philip Vella and Gerard James Borg is currently working on a brand new set of tracks with Errol Sammut, lead vocalist of the band Airport Impressions. At this years' edition of the renowned competition, Claudia entertained the audience with the song When It's Time which finished in overall seventh place, garnering the support of both the public and the jury. It has now come to the attention of the escflashmalta.com editorial team that a promotional video is currently being shot to support the track and it's sale on digital store, iTunes.
In 2010, Claudia Faniello was a firm favourite to represent Malta at the Eurovision Song Contest and had planned the release of a debut album whatever the result. The first studio set entitled Convincingly Better was met with positive reviews and gave Claudia the opportunity to vent her feelings out through song. She was nominated for Best Female Artist at the Malta Music Awards but ultimately missed out. CAP-Sounds, the company which has aided the release of most of the Eurovision Song Contest entries from Malta is responsible for all of Claudia's releases thus far. The official video of When It's Time is being coordinated by a group of students who are studying the subject of film. You could view the first teaser below as we at escflashmalta.com ask you to stay tuned for all of the latest news.
Russia: Eighth Studio Album by Dima Bilan
Written by Marc Calleja BaylissDima Bilan, winner of the 2008 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest with the track Believe is one of the most popular names in the Russian music industry garnering acclaim abroad following success attributed to the Music Television Awards and the pan-European competition. Signed to Universal Music, he has just released his eighth studio album entitled Dotyanis which would translate to Reach in English. The brand new collection of tracks reveal an autobiographic element noting that Dima Bilan wanted the people who would purchase and listen to the album without possibly knowing him well.
Apart from winning the Eurovision Song Contest for Russia back in 2008, Dima Bilan had also entered in 2006 with the track Never Let You Go finishing in second place. His aim was to make a hat-trick having participated along Julia Volkova in a duet entitled Back to her Future during the national final of 2012, only to miss out to the track Party for Everybody performed by the Buranovskiye Babushki, which eventually finished in the runner-up position. This brand new album reflects the possible states of happiness and sadness at the very same time and holds within it sincere and cordial relationships with people which Dima has encountered throughout his life. In recent days, Dima Bilan was also awarded the prestigious MuzTV Award for the Best Russian Male Singer which solidisfies his place in the music industry. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news.
Source: eurovision.tv
Malta: Successful Beginnings for Planet Seed
Written by Marc Calleja BaylissIn the 2013 edition of the Malta Eurovision Song Contest, escflashmalta.com asked the media to select the best entry in their opinion and there was unanimous agreement amongst them that this was The Remedy performed by Klinsmann. The former runner-up of the local competition is now offering his vocals to the band known as Planet Seed which also features Stefan Farrugia on lead guitars, Liam Spiteri on bass player, Chris Galea on drums and Etienne Scicluna on keyboards. Planet Seed describe themselves as an alternative rock band citing Muse, Lifehouse, U2, Audio Slave, Coldplay, Train and Goo Goo Dolls as their prime music influences.
Since forming back in 2010, they have been performing a string of cover versions across the Maltese Islands but then, in 2012, this change when they released their very first original single entitled It's Gonna Be OK peaking at numbver #1 on Malta's Top Ten with Nathan D on 89.7 Bay. This was definitely the beginning of something beyond their expectation and garnering a nomination for Best Newcomers at the Bay Music Awards was the cherry on the cake. Their latest single entitled Want You To Know has a predominantly different character within the same genre that the group is trying to encompass. It has also peaked at number #1 before being displaced this week by The Crowns and their latest release Home. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news about the local music scene.
Source: 89.7 Bay
Switzerland: Anna Rossinelli Topping the Charts
Written by Marc Calleja BaylissAnna Rossinelli, the artist who represented Switzerland at the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest with the track In Love for a While is somewhat reaping the rewards of her participation. Success at the international competition was not to be unfortunately because despite the first participation in the final since 2006, Anna finished in twenty-fifth place with just nineteen (19) points. Her follow up singles entitled Joker and See What You've Done failed to chart despite coming off a relatively successful debut studio album bearing the name Bon Voyage distributed by Universal Music. This is all in the past though because her latest album entitled Marylou entered the Swiss charts at number #1 with the lead single Let It Go peaking at number #26 thus far.
All of the tracks in the sophomore studio album have been written by Anna Rossinelli alongside bandmates Manuel Meisel who plays the guitar and Georg Dillier who plays bass. In Love for a While was a pleasantly mellow number but it seems that the group have matured since then and are looking to experiment with their sound ever so slightly. The lead single release is being aided by a promotional video which could be seen below. It features Anna Rossinelli and her band members with a supposedly nude top figure and different shades of colours. Switzerland failed to make it through to the final for the second time in a row following their dismal performance of the track You and Me by the group Heilsarmee who finished in thirteenth place with just forty-one (41) points. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news.
United Kingdom: Sophie Set to Support Ciara
Written by Marc Calleja BaylissMalta, the tiny nation in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea saw to the participation of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest for a total of eight years before calling it a day. All of the artists who represented the country have remained in tact within music noting the predominent success of Thea Saliba, Marilena Gauci and Sophie. The latter two in particular have both made it to the Malta Eurovision Song Contest with Sophie now based in the United Kingdom working on her debut album after noticeably releasing some of her material with Universal Music as her distribution company. In recent days, a competition was held to select the next supporting act for r'n'b star, Ciara and our very own Sophie was the one chosen.
It has to be noted that the competition was no easy feat having to compete with some aspiring singers from the United Kingdom through social networking website, Facebook. The aim was simple, to garner the most votes from the public and following a promotional campaign led by her management which saw spots on 89.7 Bay, Television Malta and escflashmalta.com amongst others, it was confirmed that she had been the one chosen for the gig which will be taking place at the O2 Arena in London. Ciara had a string of hits in the beginning of the millennium including Goodies featuring Peter Pablo, 1,2 Step featuring Missy Elliot, Oh featuring Ludacris and Get Up featuring Chamillionaire with her most notable in recent years being Ride featuring Ludacris as released in 2010. We would like to congratulate Sophie on this achievement. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news as soon as it becomes available.
Source: Sophie on Twitter
Malta: Sarah Harrison on BBC One This Evening
Written by Marc Calleja BaylissSarah Harrison, representative on behalf of Malta at the inaugural edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest back in 2003 has sought a different career path since then despite achieving the nations' second most successful result with her entry Like a Star which amassed 56 points and a seventh place finish. Becoming a Disc Jockey (DJ) is no mean feat and it seems that the local artist who is now based in the United Kingdom is making a name for herself at the moment having the opportunity to mix tracks with the likes of Snoop Lion, formerly known as Snoop Dog.
This evening, Sarah Harrison will be making an appearance on The Graham Norton Show on BBC One at around 22:30 local time which means that it would be at around 23:30 CET. Graham Norton is known to the readers of escflashmalta.com as the commentator for the British Broadcasting Corporation during the final of the Eurovision Song Contest having taken over Sir Terry Wogan back in 2009. Harrison's appearance will be during the performance of Robin Thicke and Parrell Williams who are currently topping the charts in several countries with their song Blurred Lines. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news.
United Kingdom: 'Without You' Release by Blue
Written by Marc Calleja BaylissIn 2001, Innocent Records, a sub-division of the EMI Music Group emerged with a brand new boyband known as Blue whose success took the music market in Great Britain by storm. Three studio albums entitled All Rise, One Love and Guilty managed to peak at number #1 in the United Kingdom whilst also hitting the top ten in several other European markets including Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan and New Zealand. In 2003, it all came to an end but nobody was expecting them to return in 2011 as the British Broadcasting Corporation announced that they would be representing the country at the Eurovision Song Contest with the track I Can.
The support of the public was clearly identifiable noting that on public votes only, the United Kingdom would have achieved fifth place but the juries thought otherwise and pushed them down to eleventh place with a hundred points. Nevertheless, they have used the Eurovision Song Contest as a platform to relaunch their career, releasing the album Roulette through Island Records. Their fourth studio album has been a modest success peaking at number #14 in Germany and number #13 in the United Kingdom apart from other top #100 positions in Austria, Ireland, Italy and Switzerland. Their latest cut from the collection is entitled Without You and it is co-written by the group themselves alongside Cutfather, Wayne Hector and Jason Gill. The latter two were responsible for two entries at the Eurovision Song Contest in recent years, Wayne for Standing Still (Germany 2012) and Jason for La Noche Es Para Mi (Spain 2009). Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for more of the latest news.
Source: Blue Official Twitter
Malta: The Crowns Notch Another Number #1
Written by Marc Calleja BaylissSomeone Else, the debut album by The Crowns, one of the most formidable groups to feature in the local music scene at the moment. Prior to the release of their first collection, the group made sure to put out their fourth single, Home which in turn is a pop/rock effort with a hint of indie, a soung which is extremely en vogue at the moment. All of the material released by The Crowns is recorded and produced at Temple Studios and one could easily see that their relationship is professional and yielding positive results as the music is getting better whilst the fanbase keeps growing at a steady pace.
89.7 Bay, the most popular radio station on the Maltese Islands airplayed the song upon it's release and the group are proud to denote another successful single noting that it has managed to peak at number #1 in the latest update this week as revealed by Nathan D. With the summer months around the corner, the music released in Malta becomes quite intriguing and as a matter of fact, with another band, Planet Seed at number #2 following weeks in the top position, it comes as no surprise that the pop/rock genre may dominate the season. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest about the local music scene as soon as it becomes available.
Source: 89.7 Bay
Malta: Davinia Planning New Single Release
Written by Marc Calleja BaylissBetrayed, composed by Elton Zarb and penned by Matt Mercieca with vocals provided by Davinia was the second runner-up entry at this years' edition of the Malta Eurovision Song Contest. Despite being a relative newcomer to the competition, Davinia has been working on a number of tracks in recent years including a duet entitled Feel Good Song with her singer/songwriter Muxu and also a solo track entitled Sail Away.
The long standing collaboration between the trio will continue as the upcoming artist plans the release of a brand new single entitled You're My Home which escflashmalta.com had the pleasure of listening to in the past couple of days. The percussion of the song is softened by a beautiful piano melody as everything is stripped down to let the vocals of Davinia shine through the track. This is an extremely different song to the one offered within the Malta Eurovision Song Contest showing how versatile the artist is.
Whilst the music literally screams beauty, the lyrics are event more stunning, echoing 'I promise you full honestly' and 'I won't go'. Those who tend to fall in love with lyrics for their sentimental value will definitely be swept away once more. We are pleased to announce that You're My Home composed by Elton Zarb to the lyrics of Matt Mercieca will also get an official video which escflashmalta.com will be unveiling exclusively in the next couple of weeks, so make sure to stay tuned.
Source: escflashmalta.com