To say I was as mad as a raging bull would be putting it mildly. On a Saturday I am usually cool, calm and collected, due to the fact that I don’t work on that day. David Camilleri’ letter (Just a song, TMID 19 May) changed the “climate” of my temper in a few seconds.
From the title of the gentleman’s letter, I expected to read that “Just a song” meant that, although Olivia Lewis deserved a standing ovation, plus obviously qualification to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest with her song Vertigo, we were making much ado about nothing because sometimes the best is just not good enough. But boy oh boy, was I sadly mistaken.
This “gentleman” had the gall to say that, as a representative of our country, Olivia Lewis turned out to be a disappointment and indirectly said that the song should not have been selected to represent Malta in the first place.
Talk about hitting below the belt! Talk about writing letters that hurt others. Why in heaven’s name do we have to blame ourselves or anyone concerned with the song that we didn’t make it to the finals? Why should the competent and able Robert Abela and his friends on the board be blamed for the doom and gloom in which Vertigo found itself?
Isn’t it quite obvious that with just three out of 42 countries voting for us, this was a ploy so that Malta would not make it to the finals? For God’s sake, we all heard the songs that participated in the contest; let’s not be biased, but admit that Olivia’s performance, plus her charisma, far surpassed many of the other songs, yet the audience (politics, here we go again) all seemed to have bumble bees in their ears when Olivia was singing.
Olivia Lewis was, is and always will be one of the best singers on our island. Unlike some people I could mention, she has never let success go to her head. It was neither the singer, nor the song that was mercilessly declared a major faux pas by 42 countries. It was politics raising its ugly head, with neighbours voting for neighbours. Gone are the days of Mary Spiteri’s success, Ira Losco’s or Chiara.
The day of reckoning has come, and it started with Fabrizio Faniello last year and went one further this year by not even letting Olivia make it to the finals.
My God, some of the songs were tedious and boring! Olivia was vibrant, alive and attractive, and she outclassed most of the musical notes called “songs” that some “singers” mumbled, yet was outrageously voted out by “the friends of friends”.
We should do precisely what the Italians did – actually give the Eurovision Song Contest a miss altogether. Who wants to compete with countries that do their best to treat us like outcasts, the same way they seem to have treated the Italians? Don’t we have enough pride and dignity to remain detached from those who don’t want us to compete in the contest?
With all respect to those who did not deem it fit to vote for the Maltese song, could it be that they were not really listening to Olivia?
People like Mr Camilleri from Sliema give me “vertigo”.
Valerie Borg
MLP councillor
Valletta