Last night in Amsterdam, Robert had the chance
to ask some questions to the Maltese singer KURT CALLEJA before he would move
on to Milan for another promotional activity tonight, in London Live 2.0 Tv programme.
Could you please tell the readers a bit
more about yourself, your experience in music and when you got known in Malta?
Kurt:I am a 23 year old guy and the eldest
of 3 boys. My youngest brother Kevin plays the guitar in my band. He is going
to be on stage with me on Eurovision. Originally, I was studying to be a chef
in the kitchen and actually did that a couple of years. And during that time I
was also taking some singing lessons and working on getting to know the music
better. That was the reason to stop in the kitchen because I was getting some
good work in the music business so i decided to get a day job and do that in
the evenings. About a year later I moved to London and full time I was working
as a flight attendant. In the evenings, I was playing in bars, restaurants and
clubs. It was a great experience. After that year, I returned to Malta and
started to do television there 3 weeks later. We are speaking now of the year
2009. At first and until now I mostly sing covers but recently I started
writing my own songs. Because the thing is, I can write some good lyrics but my
music melodies are very cartoon/ 8 year old melodies that does not sound very
modern. So, what I'm doing now is that I write lyrics and collaborate with
Johan from Sweden who is my composer. He also composed my Eurovision song “This
is the night “ and my preselection song from last year in the Maltese
selection. I never had a training in writing lyrics but I remember doing this
already at a young age. Writing lyrics on my Eurovision song “This is the night
“only took me 25 minutes.
Could you please explain how you got in
contact with a Swedish composer and how a Swedish song reached you?
Kurt: I was invited to sing in Venice by
the Ministry of Culture. Johan, a vocal coach from Sweden was there also with
his students. Meeting Johan was just coincidental and was my destiny. We were having
lunch, chatting and what started as a joke turned out in something nice. Last
year, he sent a song to me that I really liked. We did well with it in the
Maltese preselection of 2011. We got a 3rd place out of 160
applicants so that was not bad at all. We decided to work on the same recipe
this year with a difference in style.. Last year, we made a soft rock ballad.
This year, its more of a dancy song which I think is more appropriate for
Eurovision. We use the same team, the same recipe but just the things we made
mistakes in, we did not do them.
Will you release a full album soon after
Eurovision?
Yes, in fact as soon as I get back from
Eurovision I have only week free. Because I will fly to Sweden to work with
Johan on another 3 tracks. I will include last years preselection song also on
the album and I got a track written by my guitarist and another song will be
written by a famous Maltese singer/songwriter. All together the album will have
8 tracks. I will launch the new album after the summer no matter what the
outcome of Eurovision will be. I will be going all around Europe to the places
where I did my Eurovision promotion to promote the new album.
Malta is a small country. For
professionals in the music business it's
quite difficult nowadays. Can you do this as a full time living?
You have to be versatile. You have to be
very ready to work at the moment's notice. But yes, you can. I can play the
piano a bit and I can do that for the whole night. If they need me in a club, I
need my club repertoire or I can do a traditional Maltese night. I love to do
coverversions and give my own colour to it. In the future I hope to do more of
my own and would love if others would cover my songs.
We are one month away from Eurovision.
This coming month, how will your agenda look like?
I'm sure this month will pass by very
quickly. The next 2 days I will be in Milan where I
will be singing on a very popular tv programme. Then I will go back to Malta
where I will have a show everyday for about 1,5 weeks. In the meantime I have
to squeeze in rehearsals with the band, vocal training and physical training.
The act for Eurovision is done. We just have to rehearse it constantly
to be able to do it with more confidence.
The 5th of May is my birthday and that will be my only free weekend
before Eurovision. I will treat myself to a nice massage. Monday the 14th
of May, I will already arrive in Baku. There the time will also be full with
rehearsals and promotion activities.
Do you know any of the former Maltese
Eurovision singers?
I'm very lucky to be the nephew of the
Maltese singer of Eurovision 1993: William Mangion. I know Fabrizio Faniello ( ESC 2001, 2006 ) who is doing a promotion in Indonesia right now.
Are you hoping for an International career with
the help of Eurovision and your new cd?
I'm lucky. I think, I have a quite open
mind. I met people that helped me to think outside the box. My plan is, I do
not know if it will work or not, to be able to use Eurovision as a platform to
launch an international career. I have been a Eurovision fan all of my life and
I see it already as a big achievement to participate in it. It was always a
dream of me and an ambition to mark this on my checklist of things to do in my
career. Since the winning of the Maltese preselection especially ESC countries
like Azerbaijan, Turkey and Spain showed great interest. Outside Europe, there
are 2 countries interested to launch my cd: Malaysia and Australia.
Have you listened to all the other songs
of this year's Eurovision? What you think of it?
I did not have the time to listen to all of
them. It's a shame. I did listen to the Spanish song and I think Pastora Soler
has an amazing voice. She has a lot of potential. The song transmits so much
emotion. My personal style is closer to the German song: Roman Lob's Standing
Still. My preselection song from last year is a bit similar to the German song.
So, when I heard the German song for the 1st time I was a bit
surprised.
Do you have a special message to
Blogilkar's readers?
I guess this is my motto, I really enjoy to
share this with other people, My motto is: Believe and achieve! I lived by that
these last couple of years. Believe in your dreams. We live in a world where
our friends, for reasons to protect you, say that certain plans are very
unlikely to be achieved. The truth is yes, it's very unlikely that I will be
the next Bruno Mars but in my mind, I want to be there. I want to reach for the
stars and might hit the moon. Participating in Eurovision was already very
unlikely a few years ago and look where I am now!
Blogilkar thanks Kurt and Robert for this interview and wishes May 26th will be Kurt's night.
Blogilkar thanks Kurt and Robert for this interview and wishes May 26th will be Kurt's night.
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