union also issued a warning to anyone who planned to enter a song, declaring such a move akin to ‘professional suicide’.
UKAM has clashed with Eurovision organisers, Maltasong, over a clause in the rules for the 2005 preselection contest. The clause permitted foreign songwriters and composers to submit songs to the national final, something the union are keen to avoid.
The two parties met last Friday, though each announced contrasting agreements to the media afterwards,. Maltasong insisted that an agreement had been reached to look into the matter again prior to the 2006 festival and to keep to the present regulations this year. UKAM insisted this was not the case. With neither party willing to give ground, UKAM suggested it would instruct its members to boycott the contest.
Grace Borg, head of Maltasong, announced that her committee did not recognise UKAM, as according to the Registrar of Trade Unions it ceased to exist in June 2001. She made a show of this by providing those at a press conference with evidence to this effect, in the form of copies taken from the Register. Her final word was clear, “This clause is there and will remain there no matter what and the festival will still take place in February 2005.”
UKAM president John Vassallo called a meeting for composers, authors, singers and recording engineers interested in participating in the ‘Song for Europe’ Festival. He admitted that certain documents had to be put in order to regain legal recognition as a union and this situation was being tackled. “Borg’s comment regarding UKAM’s current status is a weak ploy to deviate from the actual core of the matter being disputed,” he stated.
He said the demand to remove the regulation was not a result of fear of foreigners but was based on the fact that only three out of 40 countries allowed it. One of the three was Malta. The Netherlands, which had allowed the regulation for a while, had removed it.
Mr Vassallo warned composers, singers, authors and other related parties not signing a declaration supporting the call for the regulation’s removal, that UKAM might withdraw their support for artistes, making their professional lives difficult.
Those present were informed that Ms Borg had already voiced the possibility of selecting one singer to represent Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest after one song by invited composers and authors is chosen. Mr Vassallo said this would be to the detriment of all involved. If this happened, they would be “on their way out”, he cautioned.
With no signs of a truce in place, the next likely flashpoint will be a discussion promised by Maltasong around who should be allowed to select the winning song in February. There is pressure to allow televoters to make the decision.
The ‘Song For Europe’ festival has for many years been regarded as tainted in some quarters, with suggestions that the winner is a ‘done deed’ long before a single note is heard. UKAM plans to bring pressure on the Maltasong committee to allow the Maltese people alone to decide the winning song in 2005.
This hot subject promises to provide enough fire to lighten up next Tuesday’s Bondiplus on TVM. Present in the studios will be Grace Borg, John Vassallo (UKAM president), Philip Vella, Fleur Balzan, Ivan Grech (the Wintermoods singer who became famous without Eurovision), Aldo Busuttil (singer in disagreement with UKAM), and Steve Aquilina (who also disagrees with UKAM).
There will also be exclusive shots of the UKAM’s meeting.