Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Claudia Faniello was... err... 9th time lucky when she finally won the ticket to Eurovision with Breathlessly , following her brother Fabrizio's footsteps, but this blogger thinks she will outshadow his performances in the contest and finally step out to the spotlight big time! It's also a return to the contest for songwriting team Philip Vella and Gerard James Borg, with added Sean Vella.  Claudia (29) needs no presentation. This was already her 9th Malta Eurovision entry and 8th year she was taking part. Previously she has scored two second places and one third so it was about the time, too! She has released one album so far and a string of singles since 2006, when she won Festival Kanzunetta Indipendenza.  Just for the fun here's Claudia's Eurovision journey to this point: 2007 L-imhabba ghamja (7th) 2008 Caravaggio (2nd)           Sunrise (3rd) 2009 Blue sonata (4th) 2010 Samsara (8th) 2011 Movie in my mind (9th) ...

Malta started its semifinals last night with the first six songs. Televoters have all week to vote for them. Nothing extraordinary and fabulous came out yet but I did like Richard Edward's piano driven Change . The other songs were Raquela's Here I am , Ally's Curiosity , Foxy Federation's Fired up , Klinsmann's Her name was Anne and J.Anvil's very Joksimovic inspired Mirage . Philip Vella penned two of these songs, and Gerard James Borg three... .

Fourth semifinal in Malta tonight and. Ladies are here to give her some battle: Claudia Faniello, Eleanor Cassar and Natasha & Charlene. The we have less known Maria, Ruth, Calire and Dario with his sister Grecia. What comes to song writers, uncle Ralph is in, so is Paul Giordimaina and Paul Paelinck and 2 Philip Vellas and 2 Natashas. 01. Ruth Portelli - Innocent Heart 02. Eleanor Cassar - Someday 03. Dario & Grecia Bezzina - Fjamma tas-Sliem 04. Claire Caruana - Harmony 05. Maria Mallia - Love in the Sahara 06. Natasha & Charlene - Alchemy 07. Claudia Faniello - Midas Touch

The 56 songs in the Maltese selection have been made public and the list is filled with the usual familiar names: Ray Agius, Paul Giordimaina, Paul Abela, Rita Pace and so on and it's nice to see even Claudia Faniello has got two songs in as a writer! Also Eurovision veteran, Mr Schlager from Germany, uncle Ralph Siegel is in the running with three entries at this point. Then the usual, multi winning couple Gerard James Borg-Philip Vella: Gerard with 9 entries and Philip.... 16 entries!! That's 28,6% folks! Here are the Vella-Borg-Faniello-Siegel entries - 22 in total: Smoke-screen - Jessica Muscat - (Philip Vella, Gerard J. Borg) Midas Touch - Claudia Faniello - (Sean Vella, Philip Vella) For a moment - Derrick Schembri & Yanika Fava - (Philip Vella, Rita Pace) Crossroads - Raquela - (Philip Vella, Gerard J. Borg) Typical Me - Alison Ellul - (Philip Vella, Gerard J. Borg) Earth & Sky - Talitha Dimech - (Philip Vella, Gerard J. Borg) Another side of me - Corazon Mizzi -...