Chiara's Saturday night

"It is not what one has experienced but what one does with what one experienced that matters." So wrote the English literary genius Iris Murdoch in her 30s.

So Chiara is having another go at the Eurovision Song Festival. Never mind that she was nationally berated because of her weight the first time around, never mind that she didn't place first because one country (as most of them do) as usual just favoured its neighbours. Chiara has made a powerful return, with a better song and an even happier and developed personality.

Whether that will be enough for Malta will be seen tonight, based on the "nationalistic" voting. But I honestly want Chiara to win this edition and this mainly for Chiara's sake rather than for Malta's. After all many in Malta didn't want her when she didn't fit into the Ira/Anastasia/Britney image all girls love to emulate. It was only when this remarkable voice (as one English journalist called her) did well in spite of her weight that she became everyone's heroine.

Is anyone else getting tired of petty nationalistic tendencies and streaks of late? I attended an opening of an exhibition at the Casino Maltese last Saturday night where two very good Maltese artists, Debbie Caruana Dingli and Andrew Diacono, were displaying works so different to what the mainstream artistic community is producing. And, yet, in one of the opening speeches we hear again that the quality of these two artists proves we Maltese are as good as anyone else! I cringe when I hear such things. When we do finally feel as good as anyone else we won't need to be screaming about it from the rooftops, or even saying it. It is self-evident after all!

When we are truly confident we are just as good as anybody else it will almost be seen as embarrassing to be nationalist. These two artists are just good. The fact that their gene pool is similar to ours is really neither here nor there. I would love to have some of their works hanging or displayed in my home because they are so good and not because they are Maltese! And the Murdoch quote applies just as aptly to these two artists as it does to Chiara because, clearly, they are not just letting life bake at the back of their brains but are displaying and analysing it all as fully and as frontally as few do in this claustrophobic community.

Same with Chiara. She sings with such feeling because she uses all her life experiences, including the bad ones, in order to transform her songs into artistic experiences. I hope she manages to sing her heart out because when she does you cannot but be moved. Even when she talks she has that effect on you. So few of us are natural and unspoilt anymore that her goodness really shines through. And when she sings at her best it's another thing altogether. She makes you feel very emotional; she makes you feel what all good music and singing should do - moved by the experience.

It's the first time I have felt moved by a song and a singer at the Eurovision Song festival. Ira Losco was an absolute show stopper but the song was pretty crappy in my view, yet, that young woman is such a star she turned a sow's ear into a silk purse!

Like many I find the whole Eurovision Song Festival experience very naff but somehow you find yourself drawn in by all the enthusiasm every time it comes around.

Chiara's song is very good though. Furthermore, it must be noted that it is written by the singer herself, which gives her even more credit and kudos. I had basically forgotten about it after she won the Maltese song festival and then heard it on the radio a couple of weeks ago and thought "What an incredible voice!", before realising this was Chiara singing her heart out.

So will her looks or, more specifically, her weight keep her back? It didn't stop people voting for her in their droves on her first experience at the Eurovision Song Festival and, hopefully, people will respond with just as much enthusiasm tonight.

I was very pleased with her images we saw over the past days. She looked great in a simple black dress with her straight hair and a pretty face. I was horrified by the convoluted hairdo she wore when she appeared on Xarabank and hope tonight we will not go for that showy Maltese look. We must be careful to ensure that her good song and voice are not marred by gimmicky or flashy clothing or by "wonderful" weird hairdos.

Those who still were not wowed by Chiara would certainly have been had they watched her on Xarabank. I thought it was incredibly brave of her to sit there and relive all the pain and the questions put to her about her weight again. One of the best moments in the show came when she said that when she looks into the mirror she just sees an ordinary girl. She doesn't see a problem.

It really is the best answer to all of us who quite stupidly live our lives by our looks and judge ourselves and others by those same looks. No wonder women are meant to be statistically happier when they are young and get less so as they get older when looks fade and, often, their whole raison d'etre, their reason for feeling better than anyone else, disappears completely.

Chiara appears to be a lovely women with a big heart and an extraordinary voice. I do hope that, for her own sake, she does very well and that she moves Europe as much as she moved us with her simple song and her beautiful voice...