Keep up to date with all the News about Eurovision, Junior Eurovision up and coming artists from Malta
Destiny Chukunyere won the 2015 Junior Eurovision Song Contest for Malta with Not My Soul. She had a big part to play in the 2016 Junior Eurovision where she performed two songs.
Destiny also originally recorded the theme to the 2016 Junior Eurovision, Embrace. She performed the song at the Red Carpet Opening Party event at the Manoel Theatre in Valletta, Malta.
You can see Destiny performing Embrace below.
Source: ESC Covers
The popular Maltese singer Claudia Faniello attended the OGAE Party in St. Julians, Malta and Roy van der Merwe presented her with a unique CD of covers by South African artists of Maltese songs including covers of her brother, Fabrizio Faniello‘s songs from Eurovision.
Claudia has performed several times at the Malta Song For Europe and had been very close to winning. Some of her songs in the festival include Pure, Caravaggio and Sunrise.
Source: ESC Covers
The charming Christina Magrin, who will represent Malta at the 2016 Junior Eurovision Song Contest, advised at her press conference today that the promotional video for Parachute was filmed right outside British Hotel where the writers of ESC Covers are located in Malta.
The CD cover for the sleeve was shot at the hotel door of the British Hotel. This makes us feel right at home here in Malta.
Christina revealed she can sing songs in eight different languages including Molitva by Marija Serofovic (Eurovision winner for Serbia in 2007) and Crno I Belo by Kaliopi (ESC 2012 FYR Macedonia).
Source: ESC Covers
Since a lot of Malta songs have been covered in South Africa, I have decided to make a second compilation.
Here is the track listing
01 – Believe ‘n peace – Times three covered in Afrikaans as EK GLO by Paola Donadio
02 – Desire – Claudette Pace covered in Afrikaans as VERLANGE by Riana van Wyk
03 – Tomorrow – Gianluca covered in Afrikaans as SY’S SOOS MORE by Jay Schoeman
04 – Let me fly – Debbie Scerri covered in Afrikaans as MY KITAAR by George Meiring
05 – The angels are tired – Manuel covered in Afrikaans as SEWE DUISEND ENGELE by George Meiring
06 – He – Eleonor Cassar covered in Afrikaans as FREEVERHAAL by George Meiring
07 – Vertigo – Olivia Lewis covered in Afrikaans as DUISELIG by Leandie Lombaard
08 – Love is the reason – Charlene & Natasha in Afrikaans as IS DIT NOU DIE LIEFDE by Moniqe Foxx
09 – Don’t stop the party – Ali & Lis in Afrikaans as ONS VOEL DIE RITME by Moniqe Foxx
Here is the track listing of the first Malta compilation CD
01 – Angel – Chiara covered in English as Angel by Amor Vittone
02 – Angel -Chiara covered in Afrikaans as Engel by Tobi Jooste
03 – The one that I love – Chiara covered in Afrikaans as Helder skyn die maan by Nedine Blom
04 – I do – Fabrizio covered in Afrikaans as Vergewe my weer by Hi 5
05 – I do – Fabrizio covered in Afrikaans as I do by Tobi Jooste
06 – I do – Fabrizio covered in English as I do by Tobi Jooste
07 – Another summer night – Fabrizio Faniello covered in Afrikaans as Ons somersaand by Dominec
08 – What if we – Chiara covered in Afrikaans as Vandag by Lee Scott
09 – My dream – Thea Garrett covered in Afrikaans as My droom by Steven Sterling
Christina Magrin has released her song and official video that will represent the home team, Malta, at the 2016 Junior Eurovision Song Contest. It is titled Parachute and it is composed by Kosivar Florent Boshnajku and the words are by Matt Muxu Mercieca with Christina herself.
The song is about offering a message of hope for young people who are having a difficult time. The video is beautifully shot in Malta and Christina showcases her amazing vocal talents. Parachute begins slowly and builds in to an anthemic and energetic song with a strong production. Malta should do very well again at Junior Eurovision this year.
Source: tvm.com.mt; ESC Covers
Sephora Bonsfield is a promising model, actress and singer from Malta. She also likes to dance and tries to incorporate this in to her singing activities.
Sephora earlier this year performed One Step Away (a song that finished third in the Malta Song For Europe for Ira Losco in 2002). She performed it on her mission in a special charity show Maratona B’Risq Il-Missjoni 2016.
Sephora has also performed many pop songs including Valerie, Someone’s Watching Over Me, Man I Feel Like A Woman, Warwick Avenue and others.
You can see Sephora sing One Step Away below.
Source: ESC Covers
Gaia Cauchi won the 2013 Junior Eurovision Song Contest for Malta with The Start. Her stunning vocals and charming performance was admired all around Europe and the world. Gaia is maturing all the time as an artist and top vocalist and has since appeared on tv and festivals around Europe including Russia.
Gaia has just recorded her interpretation of the Lana Del Ray song, Young and Beautiful. She has filmed a beautiful video that also features the dancing of Victoria Pavlova. Victoria is 15 year old girl from Russia who visited Malta for a vacation. She met Gaia and wanted Gaia to sing for her whilst she danced.
The production of the video is by Three Wise Men Media with choreography by Dorian Mallia. The sound engineer is Cyprian Cassar. Credit for makeup is to Marygrace Scicluna and hair is by Clinton Attard.
You can see the video for Young and Beautiful below.
Source: Three Wise Men Media; Facebook.com/Gaia Cauchi; ESC Covers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwFW97k66ew
1994 – KEEP ME IN MIND – MIKE SPITERI = 1 CD
1995 – MORE THAN LOVE – CHRIS & MOIRA = 1 CD
1996 – IN A WOMAN’S HEART – MIRIAM CHRISTINE = 1 CD
1997 – LET ME FLY – DEBBIE SCERRI = 1 CD
1998 – THE ONE THAT I LOVE – CHIARA = 2 CD’S
1999 – BELIEVE ‘N PEACE – TIMES THREE = 1 CD
2000 – DESIRE – CLAUDETTE = 1 CD
2001 – ANOTHER SATURDAY NIGHT – FABRIZIO FANIELLO = 1 CD
2002 – 7TH WONDER – IRA LOSCO = 1 CD
2003 – TO DREAM AGAIN – LYNN = 1 CD
2004 – ON AGAIN … OFF AGAIN – JULIE & LUDWIG = 2 CD’S
2005 – ANGEL – CHIARA = 1 CD
2006 – I DO – FABRIZIO FANIELLO = 1 CD
2007 – VERTIGO – OLIVIA LEWIS = 1 CD
2008 – VODKA – MORENA = 1 CD
2009 – WHAT IF WE – CHIARA = 1 CD
2010 – MY DREAM – THEA GARRETT = 2 CD’S
2011 – ONE LIFE – GLEN VELLA = 1 CD
2012 – THIS IS THE NIGHT – KURT CALLEJA = 1 CD
2013 – TOMORROW – GIANLUCA = 1 CD
2014 – COMING HOME – FIRELIGHT = 1 CD
2015 – WARRIOR – AMBER = 1 CD
2016 – WALK ON WATER – IRA LOSCO = 1 CD
Sebastian Calleja is a promising young singer from Malta and he recently won the 2016 OGAEvision Song Contest in Berlin, Germany. Here he talks to ESC Covers about that experience and his music.
Hello Sebastian. Congratulations on winning the OGAEvision Song Contest. Could you tell us how you got involved in this contest and what song you performed?
First of all thanks for this interview and for your praise I really appreciate. Well I got involved in this contest since the organizers contacted my mentor Glen Vella and told him about this contest and the organizers suggested me to represent Malta. I accepted this challenge and we really worked hard as a team. The song that I had represented my country Malta with was ‘Golden Boy’ originally sang by Nadav Guedj. We had chosen this song as my entry since it is an energetic song and we were looking for something different and the best song was ‘Golden Boy’.
Can you tell us a little about yourself and about any songs you have recorded?
I am 18 years old from the village of Hal Qormi in Malta. Currently I am a student of the Financial Services within MCAST college. Back in 2014 I had the privilege to represent my country in Sanremo Junior with the song ‘If Tomorrow Never Comes’ by Ronan Keating and also in the same year I had took part in Microfono D’Oro in Italy which I placed 2nd, one point away from of the first place, with another Eurovision entry ‘Era Stupendo’.
This year I was a resident singer on one of the most popular Maltese game shows called Hadd Ghalik presented by the talented Angie Laus, where I had record a lot of songs like ‘Karma Chameleon’, ‘Shake It’ and ‘Chasing The Sun’ performed with Glen Vella. Maybe those who would like to see and listen to some of my songs they are all uploaded on YouTube.
Are you a fan of Eurovision music? If so, what are your favourite Eurovision songs from the past?
Yes, I am a big Eurovision music fan There are a lot of songs which are my favourites but if I had to choose three songs;
Do you have plans to submit a song for the Maltese Eurovision selection in the future?
Yes, currently there are plans for the future for me to submit a song for the Maltese selection but we are still discussing it, so yes in the nearby future I will be submitting songs and hopefully they will pass for the Maltese Selection.
What do think of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest? Did you ever consider entering this when you were younger?
Junior Eurovision helps a lot of children to establish their talents on stage and this will help them for the future and to get more professional in their career.
If I had the chance yes I wanted to take part but unfortunately when I was younger and when I started my career Malta had stopped taking part for two years and then PBS had started to choose our entry by Internal Selection.
Have you participated in any other song festivals either in Malta or abroad?
Yes, as mentioned before I represented my country twice more abroad apart from the OGAEvision Song Contest in Germany.
I took part in Sanremo Junior where I had the privilege to perform with the live orchestra of Sanremo which was an unforgettable experience. I had performed the song originally sung by my idol Roan Keating where I had placed in fourth place among all the countries taking part.
Also in the same year 2014 I had been chosen to represent my country in Microfono d’oro in Mirandola Italy. Where I placed in second place with the song ‘Era stupendo’ one of the Eurovision entries back in 2008 which had represented Switzerland by the famous singer Paolo Meneguzzi.
Who are your musical influences?
So, my individual preferences which had left an impact on me in my singing career are Whitney Houston and Ronan Keating.
Anyway we wish you good luck with your career. Keep ESC Covers informed of your news about singing.
You can see Sebastian perform the OGAEvision Song contest song, Golden Boy, on Hadd Ghalik show in Malta below.
Source: ESC Covers