Support for Ira Losco, Chiara

The OGA Eurovision Malta Association has expressed unreserved solidarity with Ira Losco and Chiara for their "courageous statements" about the treatment of Maltese Eurovision singers by a German record company. OGA is the Organisation Generale des Eurovision.

Ira and Chiara both complained in the media in the past days about their dealings with Cap Sounds, which they said had failed to support them.

Cap Sounds, which has signed up Malta's Eurovision Song Contest representative since 1996, released both singers from their contracts and said on Saturday that it had fulfilled all its contractual obligations.

However, the OGA Eurovision Malta Association said: "The central committee unanimously condemns the statements and tactics used by the German recording studio Cap Sounds to justify its position that, after many years of exclusively handling our Maltese artistes, it (Cap Sounds) has failed to deliver tangible results on an international scale...

"It is indeed shameful that a foreign company, which has made money from its relationships with the Maltese Eurovision participants, justifies its position by attacking our artistes and accusing them of manipulating the Cap Sounds story in order to get newspaper headlines."

The OGA Eurovision Malta Association also urged the authorities, specifically the Malta Song for Europe committee, to put its foot down on this "controversial" Eurovision issue and to take the necessary steps in order to fully safeguard the singers' interests in the immediate and near future.

The association also urged all artistes, composers and authors to unite to form a common front.