A world-wide link by the European Broadcasting Union, will provide viewers from China to the US with a panorama of Malta’s Grand Harbour as the celebrations marking Malta’s accession to the EU reach their peak.
Fittingly, Malta’s celebrations will be taking place in Grand Harbour, the scene of the most momentous events in Maltese history, surrounded by the walled cities of Cottonera on the one side and Valletta on the other.
It will be a mix that will be presented to the world come Friday, a mix of history and contemporary entertainment, a mix of Maltese and foreign skills.
Hopefully, the world will see not just the fireworks and the laser show, but also the Maltese people who are being invited to be present in huge numbers to mark the most historic moment of Maltese history since Independence. For all the talk about fees and prices, most of the events will be completely free of charge.
A press conference held yesterday on the ramparts of Fort St Angelo, which on Friday will become the stage for the world vision show, provided details of the events.
The organisers have calculated that at least 80,000 people can be easily accommodated on the Valletta side of Grand Harbour, nowhere more than four metres deep, in places where they can all enjoy the midnight spectacle.
There will be no less than five separate and complementary venues offering music to suit all tastes, from classical to pop, jazz or rock.
This pre-show, as it is being called, will begin at 8.30pm and end at 11.30pm.
That is when the focus will shift to Fort St Angelo for two light and vision shows originating on the fort, one of Malta’s oldest constructions, known before the Knights came to Malta in 1530 as Castrum Maris.
The first show, from 11.40pm to just a few minutes before midnight will be a spectacle of colour by projection artist Ross Ashton, flashed on to the bastions of Fort St Angelo.
Mr Ashton produced shows for Rod Stewart, Pink Floyd and the inauguration of the Manchester stadium, as well as the architectural light show projected on to Buckingham Palace for the Queen’s jubilee.
The final moments of this show will include a new arrangement of the Hymn of Europe, by Maestro Paul Abela, followed by a new recording of the Maltese national anthem sung by Joseph Calleja and Miriam Gauci.
At midnight, just as Malta joins the EU, the second spectacle will take place. This is the much awaited light, laser and fireworks spectacle by German artist Gert Hof, which will erupt from on top of the residence of the Knight in residence at Fort St Angelo, bouncing the laser beams on the sea surface and up into the sky.
This will also include the world premier of Ca Ira, by former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Walters.
Speaking at the launch on the ramparts of Fort St Angelo yesterday, Lou Bondi, for Welcomeurope, said the EBU has chosen the Malta event as the most significant of all the accession celebrations in the 10 acceding countries. It will thus broadcast the Gert Hof spectacle worldwide to an estimated audience of one billion people, possibly more as more television stations ask to join the link-up.
Furthermore, he announced, EBU has also decided to offer the 11.40pm to midnight show to those stations that want it.
Malta never had such a world audience hooked to an event happening here, Mr Bondi said.
Tourism and Culture minister Francis Zammit Dimech highlighted the mix which is being offered on Friday, a mix of Maltese and international talent, of classical and pop music, a feast where all Maltese can take part, now that all Malta is in favour of joining the EU. This is a unique moment in Malta’s history, Dr Zammit Dimech said and there is no better place to celebrate it than in Grand Harbour, the core of Maltese history.
Suiting all tastes
Mediterranean Conference Centre
Concert given by Joseph Calleja and Miriam Gauci. Fully booked.
Ta’ Liesse
Jazz with
Quadrophonic
Mike Spiteri and Claudette Pace for a special one-hour joint session
Renzo Spiteri.
Pinto Wharf 1
Pop music
Chiara
Lynn Chircop
Miriam Christine
Ali & Lis
Kristina Casolani
William Mangion
Nadine Axisa (with guest appearance by Roger Tirazona)
Olivia Lewis
Fabrizio Faniello
Ira Losco
Julie & Ludwig
Pinto Wharf 2
(in front of Viset)
Rock Music
Scar
Stonefall (formerly known as Filletti & Friends)
Winter Moods
Corkscrew
Senglea Point
Traditional and folk music
William Dance Co.
Enzo Gusman
Young Talent Team
EnKor Choir (a 30-piece choir)
The Greenfields
Freddie Portelli (To be confirmed)
The only worry is the weather
Sitting out the press conference in the wind and darkening clouds on the ramparts of Fort St Angelo yesterday, it was easy to see that the biggest worry in the organisers’ minds is what will the weather be like come Friday night.
One would perhaps think that with Malta’s luck, as shown in the shipwreck of St Paul and the Bush-Gorbachev summit, it will be stormy and rainy on Friday.
A look at the long-term weather forecasts on the Internet did not prove to be very enlightening: most have five-day forecasts which run until Thursday. And most of these said that Thursday will be a cloudy day. The only exception is the weather site linked to CNN which said Thursday will be sunny.
Mr Bondi said that regardless of the weather, the show will go on, although cold and rainy weather will most probably keep people away.
MIA to be closed during the show
It has also been learnt that while the laser show is going on, Malta International Airport will be closed to aircraft.
This is taken as a precautionary measure, due to fears that the very potent laser beams aimed upwards may damage aircraft passing overhead.
Traffic and parking concerns
One other worry in the organisers’ minds is the possible congestion of cars and people converging on the Valletta seafront.
People were yesterday urged to pool cars and use the least cars possible to avoid the usual jampacked roads whenever there is any national festivity.
People were also urged to park as far away as possible and to use public transport and cooperate with police directions.
It is understood that many people who live on the Grand Harbour side of Valletta, as well as people who live in Vittoriosa and Senglea, are holding parties on rooftops and balconies to enjoy the event.
People who roam the quaysides will not have to worry about eating and drinking: there will be enough stalls to selling drinks and food as well as a tent for more organised dining.
One of the controversies on the coming accession show concerns the use of some of the gardens on the bastions for corporate clients. Mr Bondi was asked about this at yesterday’s press conference, but he chose to emphasise that people can enjoy the whole spectacle without paying anything.
Brisk sale of Joseph Calleja tickets
The two world-level classical music concerts to be held this week – one on Tuesday at the Manoel Theatre and the other on Friday at the Mediterranean Conference Centre – have long been sold out.
But now, it seems, people who bought the tickets are out to make a killing.
Phone calls are being made, it is reported, selling a ticket for the Tuesday concert at the Manoel Theatre for Lm25 instead of the original Lm15.
People have also commented that the Manoel Theatre concert is the more full one, since it has not just world-famous tenor Joseph Calleja but also world-famous director Brian Schembri. It also includes a full symphony and will be substantially longer than the MCC concert, which has Miriam Gauci, a world class opera singer, along with Joseph Calleja. However, a section of the media chose to focus more on the MCC concert than on the Manoel Theatre one, making it seem, at the end, as almost hinting that the MCC concert is ‘the concert’ while the other is ‘an afterthought’.
Only 32 yachts allowed in
Another controversy these days regards the decision to allow only a small number of yachts to enter Grand Harbour and watch the show.
Mr Bondi explained that there is only a very small area in Grand Harbour where yachts will be allowed to stay and this can only hold that number of yachts.
He gave two reasons:
There will be two barges full of fireworks in the centre of Grand Harbour. And the laser beams will be bounced off the sea surface.
In either case, he emphasised, the spectacle could be ruined if a boat sailed through the laser beams during the spectacle, or if people got hurt by the fireworks.
Still, people, who remember the wonderful welcome given by hundreds of boats to Pope John Paul II when he visited Malta for the first time in 1990, or when the British sovereigns used to come to Malta in colonial times, grumbled that Grand Harbour will look very empty and deserted on the night.
The Turks did not block the Grand Harbour, they said, nor the French, not even Lorry Sant in 1988. It had to be the EU and Lou Bondi to do so! Others complained about the high cost of the few permits that were issued, some Lm30 per yacht, and at the fact that the tickets were issued by Welcomeurope and not by the Malta Maritime Authority. But others argued that owners of yachts costing thousands and holding anything from 10 to 50 persons, should not grumble at having to spend Lm30 for the privilege.