It was not to be, but we got very near: On Saturday, at the Eurovision finals at Ta’ Qali, the huge crowd sensed something historic was taking place.

When Janice Mangion stepped up and began to sing IN MALTESE, a tremor coursed through the crowd. The words in Maltese adapted to music never sounded so beautiful.

It reminded many of Ruzar Briffa’s famous poem, Jum ir-Rebh, which used to be known and recited by all school children.

The background is known: on 2 March 1945, a football game was about to be played at the Empire Stadium in Gzira between the Maltese team and the famous Hayduks Split. The King’s Own Band played first the Yugoslav national anthem and then the God Save the King. But not the Maltese national anthem.

At which the crowd spontaneously stood up and sang the Maltese national anthem.

This inspired Ruzar Briffa, one of Malta’s best poets, to write his famous poem which begins:

U l-Kotra qamet f’daqqa – u għajtet: “Jien Maltija!

Miskin min ikasbarni, - miskin min jidħak bija!”

(And the crowd stood up and shouted I am Maltese

Woe betide whoever scorns me; woe betide who makes fun of me!)

One was reminded of this on Saturday as Janice Mangion sang her song in Maltese. It was electrifying and the crowd sensed this. At the end, people spontaneously stood up and applauded.

Think of it: had this song won, the whole Europe, actually the whole world, would have heard the Maltese language sung and adapted to music.

For far too many years, we had lived in the pious delusion that if we sang in English, our song would be more acceptable. We had our ups and our downs but we never won the Eurovision. And anyway, even if English is our national language along with Maltese, there was this preconceived idea that Maltese was somehow a secondary language, something to be kept hidden, and, if used, to be prefaced with an apology.

But no, on Saturday the Maltese words of the song rang out high and loud.

It was not to be: the song in Maltese did not win the contest. (Good luck to the winner, who will represent us all in Kiev in May). But once the ice has been broken there will be another time. And we know that sooner or later there will be a song in Maltese that will be heard all over Europe.