On Tuesday Malta will be brought to a halt, waiting for Thea Garrett to perform in Oslo in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. In a special edition of Xarabank tonight, past Eurovision representatives wish good luck to Thea and perform with her in a show that promises loads of entertainment.
Thea Garrett has just celebrated her 18th birthday but she is ready to take on one of the biggest challenges of a singer’s lifetime, that of representing her country in front of millions of people in the Eurovision Song Contest that will kick off next Tuesday with the first semi-final. In tonight’s Xarabank, Thea, her family and the Maltese team coordinated by PBS, speak about the prospects of Thea getting through to the final night and placing in a good position. But this programme promises also lots of entertainment and surprises.
Tonight’s programme will show Thea performing with some of the past representatives of Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest. Xarabank’s Maestro, Joe Brown, who has been rehearsing with Thea for the past weeks, said that the different songs that Thea will be performing show the vast repertoire of this young singer who he describes as a “versatile natural talent”.
Xarabank’s host Peppi Azzopardi describes Thea as a person full of life and enthusiasm. “The only thing I wish for her is to enjoy this adventure to the full, to have loads of fun and to keep on smiling. That is the only important thing. All the rest is irrelevant”. Peppi also spoke about Thea’s talents, but what hit us most was his comment about her hairstyle. “I simply love it” he said. He also told us that in tonight’s Xarabank we will watch a candid camera in which Thea is the victim.
We want to know more about this candid, so we speak to Elaine Bugeja, the producer of this programme. “We had two main actors, a Russian lady who was playing the part of a journalist of a Russian music channel and a Maltese interpreter. Thea was asked to reply in Maltese to the question posed to her in Russian. They told her that this interview would be aired just a few hours before the semi-final and that it will definitely influence the Russian vote. Thea took it very seriously but the questions where not serious at all! And surprise, surprise, the ‘Russian journalist’ understands Maltese very well.”
Xarabank’s coverage of the Eurovision Song Contest has become synonymous with the programme in this time of the year. Xarabank’s Manager, Norman Vella, tells us that as they do every year a Xarabank crew will be flying to Oslo with Thea to follow everything that will happen over there. “You will definitely enjoy tonight’s programme and I promise that you will enjoy it also today week with lots of exclusive behind-the-scenes footage from Oslo.”
This special edition of Xarabank will be aired tonight on TVM at 20.40. We at The Malta Independent join the Xarabank team and all the Maltese people in wishing Thea loads of good luck.