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Eurovision 2012 | Sweden takes crown, but Kurt takes honours
Disappointment reigned across the island tonight as Malta’s Kurt Calleja placed 21st in this year’s Eurovision song contest held in Baku, Azerbaijan.
27 May 2012, 12:00am
Karl Stagno-Navarra
Karl Stagno-Navarra
1 min read
Kurt Calleja performing in Baku tonight
Despite yet another spectacular performance by Kurt Calleja, who performed 'This is the night', Sweden were crowned Eurovision 2012 winners, taking the contest to Stockholm next year with Loreen's 'Euphoria'.
A powerful visual performance accompanied by an energetic and confident Malta-team led by Kurt Calleja, stunned Baku's Chrystal Hall, as he faced tough competition in the Eurovision Song Contest final.
Perfectly in tune and with a radiant smile, Kurt performed excellently and blended well with his energetic band.
But faced with widespread cross-voting with Scandinavians, Baltic and Eastern European nations sharing the spoils between them.
Malta garnered a total of 41 votes from Azerbaijan 8; Ukraine 7; Lithuania 7; Serbia 6, UK 5; Belarus 3; San Marino 2; Turkey 2 and FYR Macedonia 1.
'This is the night' was written and composed by Swedish Johan Jamtberg, Mikael Gunneras together with Kurt Calleja.
The Maltese tele-vote rated Turkey with 8 votes; Italy 10 and Azerbaijan 12 points.
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Malta hi gzira fit tarf t'isfel ta' l-Europa bla ebda fruntieri imissu u ghaldaqstant qed ingibu dawn il-ftit voti, meta l-Azerbaijan, Ukraijna, Litwanja u s-Serbja tawna bejn 6 u 8 voti u dawn huma l-boghod hafna minn Malta jidher li l-kanzunetta intogbot. Fil-fatt dan jikkonferma li l-votazzjoni kienet, ghada u tibqa mhux jekk hiex tajba jew le izda lill min taf u minn ghandu l-fruntiera tmiss mal pajjiz, kif stqarru hafna pajjizi waqt li kienu qedin jivvutaw. Konferma ohra ta dan hi li l-voti 8, 10, u 12 kwazi kollha pajjizi li ghandom fruntiera ma dak il-pajjiz. Hafna minn dawn ipprevalejtom waqt il-votazzjoni. Prosit lill Kurt u t-team Malti. Kelli xetticizmu qawwi kontra l-Eurovision izda illum napprezza li Malta ghanda talent.
Rita Pizzuto •
I agree with those who believed that Kurt was not at his best on the finals night. He and his band we much better in the semi finals.
Rita Pizzuto •
Let us be fair. Malta's song was good, but nothing special. Victory went to the right singer, not because it was it's neighbours that vot for it. If we keep expecting to win in this jungle, forget it. We know what we are in for. In such contest, could anyone expect neighbors not to vote for neighbors? Isn't that what we expect? When we do the lobbying, why do we do it, because we have the best song or to get votes in a bartering situation? When the Maltese threw in their vote, did they do it because we believed the song we were voting for was the best, or because promised support.
Let us not kid ourselves and say that we are whiter than white. How could anyone expect a neighbour, example Spain not to vote for Portugal, and vice versatile. What if we Had Gozo voting, would we expect them to give the vote to some other singer than Malta's?
We just need to grow and call a spade a spade. This is just a show and not a truly song contest although honestly I believe that most ofth time it is the best song that wins.
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It was not a "spectacular" performance and Kurt Calleja did not perform "excellently". His performance was fine, that is all. And the winner, miles ahead in style, standard and performance when compared to Malta's contribution, deserved to win. That is all there is to it. Kurt doesn't get any "honours". What for?
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We managed only to get votes from 8 countries out of 42. This is a very bad PR for Malta. Kurt had a fantastic performance altough the song was not a wow. but we deserved better. I totally agree with Jason Micallef, this is all PR and lobby.We are failing doing this. We are seeing same people going for a 15 day holiday and dont know how many trips in between. It is a totally Ameature system. We eitgher pull our socks or get out.
Jareth Grima •
@ mica jien ma noqodx nara "spettakli" bhal dawn, allura m'ghandix opinjoni personali x'naghti :)
Jareth Grima •
@ mica jien ma noqodx nara "spettakli" bhal dawn, allura m'ghandix opinjoni personali x'naghti :)
Jareth Grima •
@ mica jien ma noqodx nara "spettakli" bhal dawn, allura m'ghandix opinjoni personali x'naghti :)
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@ acm1899
Int ghandek mohh u ghajnejn jew,ghax ma tghidx x'tahseb int mela tikteb dak li qal haddiehor.
Proset Kurt kontu kollha fantastici,il voti insijhom Kurt ghaliex dik il problema ila s snin u qatt ma huma ha jirrangawa.
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Let's learn a couple of lessons. Firstly, there were much worse songs. Most of them were utter rubbish. so to hell with this stupid contest. Secondly, the place that the contest was held in, was constructed in just 7 months. Here even a 1 Km road will take 2 years to finish!!! Do we ever learn????
Jareth Grima •
erm, what honors exactly? Twitter was flooded yesterday ridiculing his 'foot dance' and sole fingerless yellow glove
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Its not a Eurovision Contest with fair play but a politacal jungle where neighbours and personal interest comes first.
Another thing is why there are the BIG 5? Aren't we suppoded to be ALL EQUAL?
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Great song and performance but same old story regarding the voting. I don't know why we even bother entering such events.
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If anything this shows that engaging foreigners to write our songs does nothing to improve our chances. Stick with all-Maltese composers, lyricists and singers.
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But faced with widespread cross-voting with Scandinavians, Baltic and Eastern European nations sharing the spoils between them. IT'S TRUE BUT IT IS ALSO TRUE THAT AT LEAST MOST OF THE POINTS MALTA GOT ARE FROM THOSE NATIONS.
