Saturday, 11th July 2009 - 17:51CET

Maltese singer wins international contest

Local singer Marilena has won the Alexandria Song & Music Festival 2009 held in Egypt with her song, "Unforgettable" penned by Gerard James Borg to the music of Philip Vella. Marilena faced a tough competition from the other 41 competitors but managed to convince the international jury and emerged as the winner. This was the seventh edition of the festival.

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Comments

Jonathan Mercieca (on 13/7/09)

Well Done! :-)

M. Vella (on 13/7/09)

@P Debono

with all due respect - Joseph Calleja stands on a league of his own - you cannot compare him to Kevin Borg - although he might be talented and popular in Sweden

Raymond Sammut (on 11/7/09)

One can checkout Marilena Gauci here: http://www.myspace.com/marilenasinger

She can sing equally splendidly both in Maltese and in English. I imagine she can have a go at it even in Italian, having been coached in SLS by a Rita Signorini.

Raymond Sammut (on 11/7/09)

@ Martin Holloway Aguis

The ESC, unfortunately, does not use an international jury, which is vitally needed for these type of contests. The ESC, and the EBU in general, have by now won an international notorious reputation in so far as "judging" the best song is concerned. It should be fairly obvious that genuinely good talent will keep shunning the ESC. I would suggest that the Maltese ministry for the Arts start treating the ESC for what it is, and simply and casually send a representative by invitation only, and at minimal cost to taxpayers -- a type of approach I believe is already being taken by other countries such as Hungary. The ESC is simply not worth the effort.

Martin Holloway Aguis (on 11/7/09)

Had we chosen this particular singer, maybe we could have stood a better chance of winning the ESC,instead of spending unnecassary tax payers money, instead of bosting how good we are better then most. The europeans proved the last entry rong thats for sure, had it been me i would have bured my head under the sand for months on end and probably die of embarressment. Still at last we got something worth bosting about., Well done Marilena, she is not only young and a talented but also a very beautiful Maltese singer.

martin saliba (on 11/7/09)

All of these individual sucsesses point to only one thing. We don't need to spend tax payers money for the ESC.

Roberta Lauri (on 11/7/09)

Well done! Congratulations to Marilena for this result. Gerard J Borg and Philip Vella are truly amazing.

P Debono (on 11/7/09)

Malta has some amazing talent, especially Kevin Borg.

Other notable mentions are Joseph Calleja, Chasing Pandora, Winter Moods and The Characters.

Dr. John Zammit (on 11/7/09)

Congratulations to Marilena. It was pleasant to meet you on Favourite TV just recently! You are a marvelous singer. If I remember well you sang the song you won with in Egypt!

A Attard (on 11/7/09)

Truly unforgettable for Marilena! Prosit also to Gerard James Borg and Philip Vella.

Jose' Esteva' (on 11/7/09)

Well done to you Marilena, now this is what i call real talent. She is also a pretty girl and i hope she do well in the future and if there is a next time represent your country.

D Fenech (on 11/7/09)

Yes and singer Nevil was recently voted the best international Singer in the Canary islands.

Malta has some excellent young talent!