Claws and effect

The Song for Europe festival has left many noses out of joint, and many people sick to the back teeth; those of us who are not aficionados are left wondering what the fuss is all about.

After clinching the Malta International TV Song Festival title, singer Morena triumphed in what has been earmarked as the most prestigious local contest. I spoke to this fine young lady about this and several other things, and she came across as a worthy ambassador for us... not because of her talent, voice or looks - these are a mere accident of genes - but because of something with which I set great store; how beautiful she is inside.

My two cents' worth is that with all the fuss that is made about how 'the people' get to choose the winning song, we are only allowed to do so after the [foreign] judges have sifted through the entries. So one does not get the whole spectrum of songs to select the best one.

Meanwhile, Maltasong is trying to perpetuate the Eurovision myth even more; this year it instituted the Malta Song for Europe 2008 DJs' Choice, "primarily to bring the contest to as wide a spectrum of radio listeners as possible, and not only the avid 'Eurovision' follower. It will also give added exposure to artists, motivate the singers and further promote their talent. On the other hand, this award will finally give DJs the chance to voice their choice as to which song they feel deserves the most airplay on their station."

Now there were a couple of snags to this - obvious to most people but not to Maltasong, apparently: the award involved nominating a DJ and guest to Thursday's semi-final night. To be eligible to vote, these poor wretches would have had to sit through the 17 songs, and vote. However, the invitations were sent out at short notice and some people's timetables may not be that elastic.

I would have thought that all DJs, even those attached to community stations, and those on whose stations pop music is not played, and whose favourite song would therefore not get air-time, had their own personal opinion. It was therefore unfair to leave them out of the running. This means the results were skewed, and I am not going into whether or not all the stations' representatives cast their votes, and whether or not all the votes were collected.

Meanwhile, allegations of plagiarism are doing the rounds, sometimes with attachments that 'prove' a point or two - however far-fetched.

And while on the subject of music plagiarism, one notes that Avril Lavigne has reached a settlement in the lawsuit wherein she had been accused of bootlegging her summer hit single, Girlfriend, from the 1979 Rubinoos hit, I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend. Songwriters Tommy Dunbar and James Gangwer, and their lawyer Nicholas Carlin said in a press release that a confidential settlement had been reached, and the Canadian press was quick to point out that a settlement does not necessarily indicate an admission of copyright infringement.

Those of us who have heard both tracks would not necessarily agree with this statement. But Lavigne's manager Terry McBride said that although a musicologist had found no similarities between the songs, he wanted to avoid a costly legal battle. The mind boggles.

The way our audio-visual media personalities murder the Maltese and English languages, and their pronunciation, sets my teeth on edge.

This week, Morena's voice was described as unika ħafna; and that, moreover, intlaqtet sew mill-pubbliku.

The practice of motley pronunciation of personal and place names, sometimes by the newscaster and the person doing the presentation of the item, is still rife. These days, however, our personalities have a new challenge; they have to decide whether they will be calling the new coinage by its English, Maltese, Anglicised or bastardised pronunciation - as well as whether any of their selections has a plural form.

I also found it utterly ridiculous that the hostess of a particular programme was half-naked, and her female guests did not even feel the need to remove their Alaska-style jackets and woollen scarves.

The introduction of traditional games and recipes in Ġrajjiet Għawdex is the icing on the cake; Sarah Vella Haber's programme is one of the best on local television.

It is ironic that some of those who were baying about the potential Sit. Vac. position of PBS news editor and manager found themselves drawn up short when Natalino Fenech was recruited to this position at such short notice. So they had to find something else about which to complain - in this case, the fact that the position was filled without the time-honoured call for applications.

We cannot judge Dr Fenech without having seen what he can do with what he has been given.

And inevitably, the question begs itself; I wonder why the vacancy left by John Camilleri's resignation was not handled with similar promptness. Surely it is expedient to have an editorial board chairman at PBS?

This week's quote comes from Pope Benedict XVI: "Rather than reporting on reality, mass media sometimes create reality, thus wielding tremendous power over all dimensions of human life. In view of their meteoric technological evolution, the media have acquired extraordinary potential, while raising new and hitherto unimaginable questions and problems."

television@timesofmalta.com