Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/682623
17 Feature erpool. We still need to get there and that takes time and a lot of money." The sentiment is shared by singer Brooke Borg (pic- tured, right), who was in direct competition with Losco this year with her song 'Golden', and who strongly believed that a sizeable investment in the Eu- rovision is "necessary". "Other countries have a set budget of millions every single year, in order to promote, publish and market the singer and song, normally also backed up by a distribution deal from record companies. Nowadays, participating is simply not enough. Marketing and PR go hand in hand with the whole package. In order to compete with these other countries we need to invest the same amount of time, money and energy." Calibrating our priorities However, not everyone was so enthusiastic about the over- bearing attention – and subsequent angst – that the Contest has been getting over the years, and especially this year. Malta- born, Paris-based jazz musician Oliver Degabriele (pictured, left) initiatied a civil but extensive Facebook discussion with Ira Losco her- self, in response to the singer imploring Maltese musicians not to 'snub' the Eu- rovision, and somewhat dismissively re- ferring to efforts by colleagues to spread their wings abroad as "busking". Speaking to this newspaper, Degabriele stressed that apart from everything else – and fully conced- i n g that as a televised event, the Eurovision is great "for a night of silliness" – the most damaging effect of the festival is that it creates the impression that musical success is equated with the 'one big break', as opposed to a rigorous application of discipline. "There is no magic wand for success in music. Just like an- ything else, you need to work for it, tirelessly, endlessly. It's a hard industry, sure, but whoever said that rewards only come from stardom and huge stages with fancy lights, very expensive dresses and millions of waving fans?" Degabriele added that apart from the fact that the Eurovision "is considered as a bit of a joke by most musicians (at least the ones I have met and read about), the irony of the matter is that the only exposure the Eurovision gives in local exposure. "The participant returns to Malta as a hero, a figurehead for at least a year. That can bring about a few slots on TV, a few endorsements, maybe a quick album. I'm not even sure what kind of international successes people associate the Eurovision with…" Brikkuni frontman Mario Vella (pictured, above) also believes that the festival is more about television spectacle than about music, and that it only propagates the toxic notion that, "musi- cal careers are exclusively the result of a single lucky break". But unlike the former Eurovision participants we spoke to, Vella does find overspending on the festival as something of a cause for concern, and even suggests that the blinkered cynicism of this tendency is damaging to the local cultural infrastructure. "Granted, being the biggest televised event on the isle I'd expect it to swallow a fair chunk of our broadcaster's budget. What I wouldn't expect is the lack of artistic (be it musical or otherwise) diversity on state television and a complete absence of a solid legal structure protecting artist's rights. Nobody seems willing enough to get to the bottom of such elementary require- ments. There doesn't seem be enough political mileage to be gained from sensible undertakings. Splashing on the Eurovision on the other hand…" Additional reporting by Martina Borg treljic@mediatoday.com.mt maltatoday, SUNDAY, 22 MAY 2016 "There is no magic wand for success in music. Just like anything else, you need to work for it, tirelessly, endlessly" – Oliver Degabriele post-mortem...