Pressed to explain what went wrong in his performance of Malta’s Eurovision Song Contest entry, I Do, singer Fabrizio Faniello said that he was at a loss to provide a solution as according to him, the preparations for the final night were completely professional.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Fabrizio said he received fantastic support from all the Maltasong board, adding that he would change nothing from the final product. He said that the song had received extensive radio and TV play in several countries and was currently placed ninth in the Romanian charts.

However he admitted that there were some sore points in his overall performance on the night and he also acknowledged that the backing vocal sang at a slightly higher pitch and that there were some technical problems. Faniello was also disappointed that countries such as Greece, Cyprus and Denmark did not give us any points.

Maltasong chairman Robert Abela said that although it was clear that there was huge disappointment in the Maltese clan, when one analyses the results with the usual cross-voting, it is clear that one needs not get too overexcited. He said that the board was very happy with Fabrizio’s performance although in the light of how this year’s Eurovision developed, it was not the right type of song.

Mr Abela said that other countries which had good songs such as Belgium, Ireland and Greece also suffered as Finland ran away with the contest. He also lamented the usual cross-voting strategy where Malta is at a severe disadvantage as always.

Asked whether the board was ready to resign after such a disastrous result, Mr Abela said that every member worked as hard as they could and as such, were not at all ready to relinquish their posts. He said that a committee meeting will be held as soon as possible and as per protocol, the board had to offer its resignation in June.

Responding to questions on Fabrizio’s performance, the Maltasong chairman defended the choice of a backing vocal, which was a decision of the singer’s company, Cap sounds, adding that the board had also engaged one of the best sound engineers in the businesses.

Responding to a question by The Malta Independent on why the singer had to change costume, Mr Abela revealed that on the Sunday before the performance, he had fired the Greek designer Thakis as no work had yet been done with regards to Fabrizio’s costume. He said that the board had then engaged Anna Vissi’s designer who produced a costume on Thursday, which was in the end changed to one without a jacket as it was decided that like this, the costume looked better on screen.

In a separate press conference, Grace Borg, who is currently an advisor to Maltese singer Keith Camilleri, said that there was a systematic campaign against Keith by some sections of the local media but notwithstanding this, the Maltese still gave Switzerland 12 points.

Responding to Mr Abela’s comment that there was no campaign in Switzerland to get some points for Malta, Ms Borg said that she did not make up part of the Swiss delegation but was only advising Keith in her personal capacity.