The responsibilities of the Malta Song Board will now be handed over to the PBS, as a new Board of Directors, headed by Dr. Clare Thake Vassallo has been appointed.Dr. Vassallo, who has already served on the Board for several years, is a senior lecturer at the Department of Translation and Interpretation within the Faculty of Arts.
She joined the Board in the year 2000, where she served for four years, after joining again in 2005 and was in charge of the restructuring of children’s programs on TVM.
Other members of the board include Joseph Bonello, Lara Tonna, Josef N. Grech and Isabelle Gatt.
Meanwhile, it was also announced, that the Malta Song Board will not be re-appointed.
Instead, the Board’s responsibility will fall under the remit of the PBS.
OGAEMALTA.com contacted Claudia Faniello's manager Trevor Fenech of Bubbles Entertainment to follow the story about a possible collaboration between the Romanian singer and composer, Mihai Traistariu and the local singer, Claudia Faniello.
Claudia, who is currently on a cruise as part of a realtiy show produced by Where's Everybody, is still awaiting an official invitation by the Romanian composer to finalise the deal proposed by Mihai himself.
In a recent press release, Mihai informed the international media that he has set his eyes on the Maltese singer, Claudia Faniello for whom he would like to write Malta's winning song for Eurovision 2009. "Claudia can win Eurovision with such a song", had commented a very optimistic Mihai.
"We are still waiting for the deal to start", confirmed Mr Fenech, "This is not the first time that Mihai has proposed us such a collaboration, however some 'interferences' from third parties set obstacles along the way. We are hoping that this time Mihai will keep his promise and come forward with his proposal", stated Claudia's manager.
On speaking with OGAEMALTA.com, Mr Fenech explained that Claudia is considering all possible options for her participation in next year's Malta Song for Europe. "She might not even participate! It is still early in the day", concluded Mr Fenech, who is quite aware that Claudia is being tipped as one of the hot favourites to win next year's Malta Song for Europe following her 2nd and 3rd place at the MSFE 2008.
In the meantime, Claudia Faniello's CARAVAGGIO will represent OGAE MALTA at the OGAE SECOND CHANCE CONTEST 2008, following a vote held among the members of OGAE MALTA.
Malta will continue to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest, Culture Minister Dolores Cristina said tonight.
There had been many calls for Malta to withdraw from the contest after its disappointing results in the last three years. Just over 57% of respondents to a timesofmalta.com poll also said they were against Malta's continued participation.
But Mrs Cristina told Parliament that it was the view of the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts that Malta should continue to participate.
