Maltese musician Chris Dingli, has qualified through to the penultimate stage of the ‘BusKing’ competition on the London Under-

ground.

Dingli, who lives in London and plays the viola at different places on the Underground, got through the first phase of the competition, in which members of the public were invited to vote for their favourite busker on the London Underground.

Only the top 10 buskers, as voted by the public on www.buskear.com, made it through to the next round. Dingli is currently ranked at number five.

Yesterday marked the beginning of a new round of voting in which the public can vote for the 10 remaining buskers, including Dingli. The top two buskers with the most votes this coming Friday will get through to the final round, and go head-to-head in a competition next week.

In preparation for the week ahead, Dingli has visited the studios of London’s Capital radio to record a jingle of himself playing, while booking as many busking pitches on the Underground as possible, thus giving himself as much exposure as possible.

Contrary to popular belief, buskers on the London Underground must first audition in front of a judging panel, then gain a special licence to be able to play at specific sites at certain Tube Stations.

Maltese visiting London this week can catch Dingli at a number of London Underground stations including South Kensington and Marble Arch.

Competition fever heats up as Dingli moves closer to possibly becoming Malta’s first ever “BusKING” of the London Underground. To fly the flag for Malta in the popular London Underground, log on to www.buskear.com and vote for Chris Dingli. In the website, scroll down to the pink box with the title “Who is the BusKing or Queen of London?” and follow the instructions.

Users of Facebook can also join the increasingly popular group “Make Chris Dingli the BusKING of London!” where there is an instructional video on how to vote, as well as more information about the competition.