Scream Daisy – Last Goodbye
In preparation for the release of their third album Scream Daisy return with another track featuring a new guitarist. Tony Bartolo from the Retrophytes replaced Jeremy last year and the band are now on their way to return to the same level of public exposure they enjoyed with their previous album in 2007.

Kristina Casolani – Heartless
The queen of Maltese R&B releases her second single this year. Following up on last winter’s Get Out this new song shows her maturing beyond the abilities of many other Maltese wannabes. Surprisingly, this song sees her collaborating with Toby once again, but this is understandable when considering the fact that Kristina will also be releasing an album of all her songs so far (and some more) in the coming months.

Winter Moods – Sun Won’t Shine
One of Malta’s longest standing bands will be staging a mega-concert at The Granaries on Wednesday 28 July 2010. Few other Maltese bands would even dare attempt to host a show of their own on The Granaries and to my knowledge this is indeed a first. They have also recently released their fifth album celebrating their 25 years on the local scene entitled Argento. The song I’ve picked is the opening track from this CD.

Explicit - Daydreaming
Stephanie Chetcuti is one of the better Maltese rock singers. She makes her band sound a cut above most others on the local scene and shines beautifully when singing material that brings out the excellent quality of her voice. This new song may not grab you right away, but make sure you listen to it more than once, especially beyond the first minute or so. If you like what you hear, remember that you can also catch them live at the Farsons Beer Festival at Ta’ Qali on Tuesday 27 July 2010.

Skimmed – Napoleon
During my recent visit to Malta I had the good fortune of attending the launch of a new video by Skimmed at Rookies in Bugibba. Their live act is captured splendidly in their recordings and this video takes their quirky punky pop songs to a whole new level verging on the surreal. I’m really looking forward to more material from this band because they have something quite unusual about them and I believe that as time passes they’ll find new ways to make that what they’re remembered for.

The RSS feed for the Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast is available here or you can simply click here to subscribe directly with iTunes. You can also follow each new episode through the MMI Podcast: Facebook Fan Page or on MySpace. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here or listen to the podcast on the player right below this text.

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Show notes for the 196th Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast featuring music by performers in or from Malta:

Cable 35 - Harry
The first music video released in the Maltese music scene for 2010. This is a song from the EP Hygene. This band’s youthful energy is infections and if they keep this up I believe that they will strengthen their fan-base considerably this year. While I imagine they have aspirations to reach new followers outside the Maltese Islands, I would love to see them somehow embrace their national identity. That would give them the edge of difference that can make them stand out from the plethora of other guitar-driven bands like them.

Tea - Guilded Cage
One of the few Malta-related releases from 2009 that almost passed me by comes all the way from Switzerland. Marc Storace’s old band have released a compilation album of their best loved songs. Guilded Cage, originally off the band’s third album Tax Exile from 1976, is possibly one of Marc’s most heart-felt belters with an autobiographic bent. The 13 tracks on Reloaded show that this Swiss band should have done even better then they did in their day. In my opinion, the reason they’re not better known is not because they weren’t any good (quite the contrary, of course!) but because they didn’t play up their difference in a rock scene where being different was greatly appreciated. Almost 35 years after they stopped recording and touring, this compilation will undoubtedly introduce them to new fans who will appreciate what was one of Europe’s better rock bands in the seventies.

Skambomambo - Banana Cake
Speaking of Maltese connections to European bands makes me want to play something by these Polish ska masters. Regular listeners of the MMI podcast will remember that Skambomambo’s singer is Mario Cordina, who was first featured in a special edition in the series in 2007. It would be wonderful to see them live, not only because they sound like a fun band to watch but also seeing Mario sing live would certainly be an opportunity I wouldn’t want to pass up.

Sylvan Borg - Soft as Stone
Sylvan recorded this new song to promote his first gig for the year; appearing ahead of Stalko and British singer Adema the MITP in February 2010. I happen to like his songs, possibly for the same reason that drives radio stations to stay away from them: they sound quite different from anything else on the airwaves these days.

The RSS feed for the Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast is available here or you can simply click here to subscribe directly with iTunes. You can also follow each new episode through the MMI Podcast: Facebook Fan Page or on MySpace. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here or listen to the podcast on the player right below this text.

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V.S.O.P. – Take Control
Vince Leguesse is the man behind Vinnie Skillz Original Production. Those who keep close tabs on the local music scene will undoubtedly know him as part of Sixth Simfoni. This experimental trip hop & electronic fusion is not a great departure for him, but it does showcase his musical skills without having to share the limelight with some crafty words, giving the tunes and beats a whole different shade and meaning. Vinnie is one of the most underrated musicians in Malta. My hope is that more people will take a closer listen to more tracks from V.S.O.P. and come to appreciate him more.

Nath Inder – Metropolis
It’s been a while since I last played something by Nathan Inder on my podcast. He made a comment about Stalko on my Facebook wall last week and that triggered my move towards playing this new track from him on this week’s MMI podcast. I really like the cool laid back electronic grooves that he produces. Whenever I listen to a short burst such as the one you can hear here, I gladly dive into one of his longer mixes, which he has now also released via SoundCloud.

Spriggan Mist – Dragut’s Eye
Whenever I say the words Spriggan Mist at home, my wife starts singing Indigo Child by this band. They have now released a CD album called Caught in A Spell featuring that song and others they had uploaded to the MySpace page earlier, along with some new tracks that we had never heard before. Dragut’s Eye features the Marsa parish church bells, the legendary 17th century character from the failed Ottoman invasion of Malta, and a casual phone conversation between Baz Cilia and his mate Anglu Fenech. Spriggan Mist is essentially a British band, but these elements make it more than worthy of inclusion on the MMI podcast whenever possible.

Malcolm Pisani – Gone Again
When I introduced this song on this 218th MMI podcast I mistakenly said that I hadn’t played anything else by Malcolm Pisani on the series before. I actually played a song called Press Play in the 129th MMI podcast. This new song is nowhere near as good as that other one, so this is probably why I had forgotten the initial inclusion in the series. Then again, you can’t really expect me to remember every single track I’ve played since 2005 now do you? Still, Pisani can’t go unnoticed since he has managed to attract considerable mainstream media attention to the video, which is the second one he has independently produced in as many years.

The RSS feed for the Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast is available here or you can simply click here to subscribe directly with iTunes. You can also follow each new episode through the MMI Podcast: Facebook Fan Page or on MySpace. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here or listen to the podcast on the player right below this text.

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Manwel T feat. Mind’s Eye Dub – Umtha Welanga (Vuvuzelas Mix)
Following on from last week’s nod at the 2010 FIFA World Cup on the MMI podcast, this week I’m opening the show with the sound that is dominating this summer: the vuvuzelas. Life millions of others, at first I found the sound of these plastic horns to be very obnoxious but like so many people around the world I have grown accustomed to it. It has undoubtedly become the sound of this World Cup. I honestly doubt that they’ll still be all that within four years time, cause these things then to come and go as fads. Still, whenever I hear that sound again, I will be brought back to this lovely summer and the international tournament for the beautiful game.

Stalko – Lady Laundry
I first heard of this band several months ago when they played a gig in Valletta, which I was unable to attend. A video clip shot by one of their friends/fans on what seems to me like a mobile phone has made me want to get my hands on a decent recording by this trio. Tim Ellis, Mike Stivala and Chris Cini have recorded some of their songs in a proper studio just recently and they’ve now released Lady Laundry through their MySpace page. I’m sure that many MMI podcast listeners will like what they hear just as much as I do.

Marilyn Mifsud – Where My Head’s Been (acoustic version)
Marilyn is one of the hardest working singers in Malta and yet she is not a household name like so many of the wannabes that are paraded on the pop scene through one of the annual misguided song contests that take place in the Maltese Islands. Her debut single come to my attention in a new acoustic version a few days ago and I thought it would be a good track to include on this week’s podcast.

Angelcrypt – Depopulate
Few Maltese metal bands have been around since 1997. Angelcrypt has, even though they have gone through several personnel changes. The current line-up has now released a single to capture the sound of the new formation. Some of their old fans may prefer the way their sounded on one of their previous albums, but I have a feeling that they won’t be too disappointed with the new single. Longevity is a quality I appreciate greatly in bands, especially when they believe they still have something to give their audience. Just for their longevity, Anglecrypt probably deserve a greater following than they actually have in the Maltese islands and this new single will certainly help them reach new followers locally and abroad.

The RSS feed for the Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast is available here or you can simply click here to subscribe directly with iTunes. You can also follow each new episode through the MMI Podcast: Facebook Fan Page or on MySpace. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here or listen to the podcast on the player right below this text.

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Airport Impressions – Walk With Me
Errol Sammut and the rest of his band have slowly but surely established themselves as one of the foremost alternative rock acts in Malta over the past couple of years. Their new single showcases them in full force and as you would imagine it’s also managed to acquire a fair amount of radio airplay in the Maltese islands. The band is now planning to release their debut album later this year.

Tea – Surfer
When Marc Storace left the Malta in search of a rock career some 40 years ago, the main band he worked with before making it big with Krokus was Tea. They performed a memorable concert at the Plaza Cinema in Sliema sometime before they broke up in the late 1970s. Last year they started planning a reunion and produced a compilation CD with some of the best tracks from the albums they originally released over 30 years ago. And now Marc and his old Swiss pals return to Malta for a gig at Sky in Paceville on Friday 25 June. Marc is also appearing at a couple of other gigs in Malta before and after this date, but the show with Tea will undoubtedly be a highlight for both old and new fans.

Various Artists – Festa ta’ Kuluri
Music and sport and strange bedfellows but from time to time they combine to produce a memorable moment of popular entertainment. Such is the case with the official 2010 FIFA World Cup anthem, which is making the rounds in a large number of languages right now. The Maltese version is produced by the Xarabank team under the direction of Joe Brown. The singers include Freddie Portelli, Thea Garrett, Mary Rose Mallia, Wayne Micallef, Glen Vella, Claudia Faniello, Tiziana, Ludwig Galea and Mike Spiteri. The video is very colourful and has a subtle message pro-diversity. However, the whole thing masks the distressing reality that Malta will most probably never play in the FIFA World Cup, so Maltese football fans can only really support a foreign team, perpetuating the cultural subservience that plagues post-colonial nations unable to embrace their own unique national identity. Then again, it seems that hybridity has been an element of Maltese culture since pre-historic times.

Mike Spiteri – 20,000 Leagues
It would be a shame if subsequent generations of Maltese music fans only remembered Mike Spiteri for singing Malta’s entry at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1995. Along with Marc Storace, he was one of the first heavy rock singers the country produced and sang with some of the best underground bands in the 70s and early 80s. He has always dared to be different and, to my mind, has probably never really been appreciated for his true worth. The song I’ve picked as the final track for this week’s podcast was written for him by Ray Agius and Alfred C. Sant for the 2010 Malta EuroSong festival but it didn’t make it to the final 20. Although it’s not an outstanding song, it certainly deserved to be heard from the stage in Ta’ Qali much more than at least half a dozen songs that actually made it to the EuroSong final.

The RSS feed for the Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast is available here or you can simply click here to subscribe directly with iTunes. You can also follow each new episode through the MMI Podcast: Facebook Fan Page or on MySpace. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here or listen to the podcast on the player right below this text.

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Eve Ransom – Escaped
Brendan Jackson returns along with the rest of the band with this new single. It’s the sounds exactly like the sort of thing you’d expect from Eve Ransom if you’ve heard them before.

Heartbeat – Reach
Dorienne Cachia’s voice is one of the most appealing on the Maltese music scene. This new song from Heartbeat sees them going from strength to strength. Although this is one of the most non-assuming bands in Malta, I they really deserve a second (and a third) listen.

Cygna – Wooden Little People
Mario Sammut is on of the most listener friendly electronica artists to ever emerge from the Maltese Islands. Gig goers in Malta may have spotted him at the recent Earth Garden weekend in Ta’ Qali. Other can look out from him at Glastonbury towards the end of this month.

Jo Micali feat. U-Bahn – Beautiful Eyes (remix)
Jo Micali is not someone I’d heard of before but he comes highly recommended. I doubt U-Bahn would have been as pleased as they are with his remix of their hit song from last year if he wasn’t as good as they say he is. Apparently bigwigs like Paul van Dyk and Armin Van Buren seem to think so too. Who am I to disagree? What’s more: I really like the U-Bahn song because it makes me feel positive about life in general, even though it’s not really as deep as all that.

The RSS feed for the Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast is available here or you can simply click here to subscribe directly with iTunes. You can also follow each new episode through the MMI Podcast: Facebook Fan Page or on MySpace. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here or listen to the podcast on the player right below this text.

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Bitterside – Left Alone
I don’t think if seen as much Twitter saturation as I’ve seen for this new single from Bitterside. It comes with an accompanying video produced by A Butterfly Effect Productions. When the time for nominations on the 2010 MMI Listeners’ Picks poll comes around at the end of this summer, I’m sure this will be one of the ones that will attract some attention in the video category.

Victoria Osborne – Counting Butterflies
Regular listeners of the MMI podcast will have heard me play other songs by this wonderful Maltese singer-songwriter with a strong London connection. I’m very fond of her sophisticated yet simple songs. I’d love to hear her play live one of these days, but I’m not sure if she is really interested in that sort of thing. If that’s the case I should really start working on a way to help her change her mind.

Andre Camilleri – Southern Star Travelling Music Band
Moving to Australia has proved to be a good move for Andre Camilleri’s music output. He has recently released his third album. This one is called Heaven & Hell and features a bunch of seemingly more thoughtful songs than the ones he has released in recent years with the Broken Hearts Band. I really like how consistant Camilleri manages to be without repeating himself too much. If he keeps it up (and I have no reason to think otherwise) he’ll most certainly be remembered for many years to come.

Għanafest 2010 – Żaqq u Tambur
When folklorist Ġorġ Mifsud-Chircop passed away a couple of years ago, many wondered if anyone could really pick up where he left off with the successful Għana Festival he established. With the more recently established GħanaFest, composer and musicologist Ruben Zahra has managed to reinvent this annual celebration of traditional Maltese folk music, augmenting it with a contemporary twist featuring bands like Brikkuni and No Bling Show, not to mention some remarkable performers from around the Mediterranean basin. Zahra has managed to demonstrate with some ease what Mifsud-Chircop had always maintained: folk music is alive and pertinent to modern lifestyles. If you read this in time and happen to be in Malta this week, see if you can catch one of the many performances on this year’s bill.

Fredu Abela il-Bamboċċu + George Azzopardi l-Makk – Maxi u Mini-Skirt
To follow up on plugging GħanaFest, I thought it would be a good idea to play you one of my favourite Maltese folk singers of all time. Taxi Mary was the big hit from il-Bamboċċu way back in 1970/71, but there are other songs that deserve equal attention even though they never received the same amount of airtime. I think it’s time that a new generation discovers il-Bamboċċcu and some of his contemporaries, especially as there now seems to be a new wave of improvised rhymed folk song, championed by the likes of Jon Mallia (aka Pan Demonium). I’d love to hear some of this old stuff sampled in new work that a younger generation can appreciate.

The RSS feed for the Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast is available here or you can simply click here to subscribe directly with iTunes. You can also follow each new episode through the MMI Podcast: Facebook Fan Page or on MySpace. If you have no idea what any of this means, just click here or listen to the podcast on the player right below this text.

Mużika Mod Ieħor podcasts are brought to you by Vodafone.

PBS must radically rethink the way it selects the songs it sends to Eurovision as well as how the selected performers are presented on the international stage. The long-standing way of doing things clearly doesn’t work and is indeed a waste of money. Worse still, it’s a wasted opportunity to promote some of the excellent musical talent emanating from the Maltese islands. To really get its value for money from the Eurovision Song Contest, Malta must spend more than €400,000 a year, not less.

The real problem right now is that there is no ROI (return on investment) analysis on the process. No strategic plan. No accountability. And no continuity or development on long-term experience gained from entering acts in the contest year after year. Then again, PBS has a remit to do public broadcasting and the Eurovision Song Contest is strictly a public broadcasting service, rather than a commercial concern. Done right, there is plenty of milage to be had from the Eurovision Song Contest, even for acts/countries that don’t win the contest.

The alternative is to spend a lot less and still take part just to be there. After all, there’s a great game element in the whole thing anyway. Regardless of placing, the Eurovision Song Contest is an incredibly interesting event for performance scholars like me to study.

Now that Malta no longer offers a distraction at this year’s contest, I can fully focus on the upcoming activities of the Eurovision Research Network. My next blog entry will most likely be a personal reflection on one of both events we’ve planned for the next two days.

So, without too much prejudice towards anyone’s taste in music, here are my pick for semi-final 1, in order of appearance:

Russia
Just because the Russians clearly aren’t taking Eurovision seriously this year, it doesn’t mean they can’t make it to the final.

Slovakia
The interesting staging, if nothing else, will make this a memorable entry on the night. Will that be enough to get Kristina Pelakova to the final?

Finland
What a country of extremes! It’s one of the most kitschy songs in this year’s contest but it’ also horribly infectious. Traditional Eurovision fans will love this. I’d also make a special note of the fact that they’re all dressed in white.

Bosnia & Herzegovina
I have it from someone who knows these things well that this is one to watch, for a particular group of Eurovision fans. However, he may be overlooking the fact that they’re also the same fans who don’t really like rock guitars.

Poland
Most Maltese people who bother voting on the Eurovision semi-final will probably like the staging of Legenda but they’ll possibly also take into account the fact that Malta’s own Thea Garrett seems to have found a soul mate in Marcin Mroziński. If they both make it to the final, she may very well be joining him on the cast of Les Miserables when it opens in Warsaw in September.

Belgium
One of the very few songs that don’t conform to the mainstream Eurovision genres and sub-genres. Will a good looking young man strumming an acoustic guitar and singing about, well, his guitar, appeal to the mostly middle aged female voting audience? Watch this one closely: it will either soar above the schlagers or sink majestically.

Malta
Malta has one of the most alluring entries in years. I’m saying Thea will take My Dream to the final. The backing singers are divine but perhaps our young singer is hampered by two of the handicaps that kept Jade Ewen from achieving a higher placing for the UK at last year’s final: (a) the song doesn’t grab you in the first 30 seconds, and (b) a young dynamic singer is made to perform like an aging diva.

Albania
If Juliana Pasha manages to make it to the final, it will prove that the new voting system has eliminated the possibility of bloc voting from excluding entries from countries without friendly neighbours.

Greece
Combing kitsch, ethnic stereotypes, and a catchy chant will ensure that Opa takes the Greeks to the final to provide what many will consider the most entertaining of this year’s entries. I’d also make a special note of the fact that they’re all dressed in white.

Iceland
In spite of giving us all that volcanic ash this spring, Iceland shines at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest with a singer that will not only take the northern-most island nation in the contest to the final but can most likely also secure it a top 10 placing (or better) in the final voting round.

Keep in mind that the top two acts tipped to win the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest are not taking part in the first semifinal along with Malta and the rest of the songs presented on Tuesday.

Depending on the kind of feedback I get from you, gentle readers, I’ll do this again for Thursday’s semifinal too, or simply skip to Saturday’s final.

DISCLAIMER: The “predictions” made in this blog post are for your amusement only. I’m pretty sure that these will not be the 10 countries whose songs will actually qualify for Saturday’s final.

CLAIMER: I’ll be greatly amused to see how many of my 10 picks are also the ones that will be seen/heard again on Saturday.

The main reason I’m in Oslo this year is for the inaugural events of the Eurovision Research Network (ERN). This is a new organization I co-founded with two other UK-based media performance scholars interested in taking a closer look at the Eurovision Song Contest. ERN already has 40 members from 20 countries. The first event is a panel discussion at the Litteraturhuset in downtown Oslo on Eurovision and the “New” Europe on Thursday. On Friday we’ll be having our inaugural symposium at the University of Oslo, around the theme Setting an Agenda for Eurovision Studies. If nothing else, I can now confidently say that Eurovision is something that is attracting a solid body of scholarship and professional research around it, which contrasts nicely with the impression of frivolity many people associate with the Eurovision Song Contest.

Riding the bus to a wonderful party (I try to avoid using superlatives whenever I can, but this party was really a highlight among all the many Eurovision events I’ve attended over the years) thrown by the Georgian delegation at the amazing Oslo Opera House I had a very interesting conversation with an EBU staffer about the amount of money some countries spend on their Eurovision entry. Azerbaijan has clearly gone overboard this year, spending millions of euros on promotional ideas. They are very intent on winning the contest this time. Apparently, Malta still thinks that winning Eurovision is about having a great 3 minutes on stage during the contest broadcast. Still, from my conversation on the way to the Georgian party (how much did that cost?) I gathered that most countries are equally oblivious of actual ROI (return on investment) when it comes to Eurovision spending.

An ROI analysis, possibly including a comparative study, is the third on my areas of research interest around Eurovision. The first starts being articulated with the inaugural ERN symposium on Friday. Once that’s established, my next topic of research will be a performance studies approach to understanding Malta’s love-hate relationship with Eurovision, through an analysis of the songs Malta has entered in the contest since 1971, and how they compare to the songs that won and/or endured over the years.

While I was at the fabulous Oslo Opera House for the Georgian party, little Thea Garrett was singing a duet with Marcin Mroziński (this year’s singer from Polish) from The Phantom of the Opera at another venue where a smaller party by the Polish delegation was organized. I’m sure she enjoyed every minute of it but I wonder how many votes from Poland that will win her. I haven’t really buckled down to give the Maltese entry the attention it deserves yet. I’ll probably do that later today when I get ready for my first report for SBS radio in Australia. I’ll blog about that tomorrow, once attention on Malta’s 2010 entry starts approaching fever pitch in preparation for Tuesday’s do or die semifinal show. Die-hard Eurovision fans at the Telenor Arena in Oslo don’t think Malta will qualify to the final…but apparently the Google worm tells a different story. We’ll obviously know what’s what by Tuesday night.