Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/981272
| SUNDAY • 13 MAY 2018 maltatoday 5 NEWS EUROVISION 799 799 32 | COMM-REP-MT@ec.europa.eu SPECIAL SCREENING F SHORT FILMS SHORT FILMS SHORT FILMS by 5 European Directors 5 St James Cavalier Tuesday 15 th May | 7.30pm Entrance is free A reception will follow RESERVE YOUR SEAT ON 'Malta deserved to be in the final' says Losco producer TIA RELJIC LACK of relatability to a wider audience might be one of the reasons Malta fails to qualify for the Eurovision final despite the national effort on the side of the contestant, musician and Ira Losco's manager How- ard Keith Debono (pictured with singer) has said on Face- book. He said that staging, a pow- erful voice, a great song, and a current production are "only 50%" of what is required for a Eurovision song to qualify. In a long, insightful Facebook post, Debono explained that in order to be successful, a per- formance requires "an added value, whatever that is". Added value, accord- ing to Debono, could be the artist's star quality, the music in- dustry interests, in- ternational media and "fan buzz", stage pres- ence, stand- out factor, unique sell- ing proposi- tion, or con- fidence. He said what con- tributes to qualifying and poor ranking varies, but that one thing he pri- oritises is "relatable quality." "One can be shy, cool, quirky, or have a powerful stage pres- ence which is felt instantly," he said, but added that the entry must be relatable and identifi- able – and must be marketed in a way which is relatable to the target audience – that is, voters in other countries – and not to Malta. "Breaking an artist with mu- sic in any market requires a strategy, and nothing falls from the sky. Music is a profession but unlike other professions, it doesn't require a licence to practise it," Debono wrote, adding that this attributed to the "deluded bubble filled with assumptions" and a "whole lot of noise to filter through". Debono was involved in the ESC in 2005, 2013, and 2016. In 2005, he r e c o r d - ed and m i x e d the song A n g e l a n d was in- v o l v e d in Chi- a r a ' s manage- m e n t . H e w r o t e that in 2013, he was asked to "rope in Sony UK and a music marketing team to improve Malta's chances tar- geting specific countries and music charts" for Gianluca's Tomorrow. In 2016, he was heavily involved since he had already managed Ira Losco for many years. "In my opinion, there were four years following the world- wide success of Euphoria (2012) where the Eurovision started to align to music indus- try standards," he said, explain- ing that the years prior to 2012, as well as last year and this year, the majority of countries offered "mediocre standards" and yet Malta did not qualify or ranked poorly. Debono had good things to say about the staging of Christabelle's number, but felt that vocals "required more at- tention". But he said Malta deserved to at least qualify for the staging, even if it would have "placed 20th" in the finals – he said at least ten performances by oth- er countries were off and even "unbearable" at times. The essential point of the problem could be down to Debono's concluding lines, however: "Music is not meant to be in competition with one another," he said. "I always encourage 'live and let live' but I also encourage knowing the subject and facts before shooting from the hip."