Morena celebrates with Vodka

With her sultry looks and incredible stage presence, Morena toasted her success with Vodka, the title of her winning song, at last night's Go Malta Song for Europe Festival.

The 23-year-old Gozitan, a relatively new face on this scene, emerged as the clear favourite with 78 points from the jury (20 per cent) and 16,979 votes through televoting (80 per cent) for the catchy song composed by Philip Vella and penned by Gerard James Borg.

Claudia Faniello clinched both second and third place. Her song Caravaggio, composed by Ray Agius and penned by Godwin Sant, got 68 points from the jury and 12,714 votes from the public, while the ballad Sunrise, composed and penned by Ray Agius, garnered 64 points from the jury and 4,518 votes through televoting.

By last night's interval it was clear who the favourites from the eight finalists were. An impromptu survey by www.escmalta.com placed Morena as the clear winner, followed by Claudia Faniello with Caravaggio, and Eleonor Cassar, with Give Me A Chance.

Dressed in black with a sparkly bustier and matching knee-length stilettos, Morena, whose real name is Margaret Camilleri (Morena means dark in Spanish), had a supportive fan base in the audience who gave her a standing ovation at the Malta Fairs and Convention Centre in Ta' Qali.

"I'm thrilled that Vodka passed. Though I liked both songs, I preferred Vodka because it's frenetic and catchy. Now let's hope for the best and leave it in God's hands - I hope it does well abroad and goes down well with eastern Europeans," she enthused.

The song is actually not about the drink, but about espionage and Morena sings about how she has "deciphered the code, got a rush to the head... Vodka, a transparent word."

She first participated in the local contest in 2006, performing in a duet with Paul Giordimaina - the song, Time, did not fare so well and it had crawled in at ninth place.

Dubbed the second Ruslana for her infectious energy and striking looks - at one point during her performance she even lets out a Ruslana-type "Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey" - the young woman actually forms part of the band Spectrum and is now in the process of creating her own rock/pop band.

However, this project may be shelved while she gets into gear to promote her song before the Eurovision Song Contest in Serbia in May, starting off at the semi-final stage.

Due to changes approved by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) in late September, every country, except the winner and the Big Four - Germany, the UK, Spain and France - has to first compete in a semi-final.

The EBU accepted the proposal to introduce the concept of hosting two semi-finals - which will be held on May 20 and 22, preceding the final night on May 24. The draw to determine who will compete in which semi-final will be held tomorrow, while the running order will be announced during the heads of delegation meeting in March.

The show, in the hands of executive producer Peter Busuttil, ran smoothly overall with ample entertainment from former winners Chiara and Mike Spiteri, as well as a live performance by the star guest Natalie Gauci, the winner of Australian Idol 2007.

Gauci was flown over to Malta especially for the occasion with the help of the National Good Causes Fund, timesofmalta.com, and the Maltasong board.

Towards the end Gauci and Chiara teamed up to sing the latter's winning song Angel, which the crowd loved.

Compered by Chiara, soprano Ruth Casingena and John Demanuele, the festival was attended by around 1,000 people. Thousands of others opted to watch it from the comfort of their homes, though some joked that sub-titles should have been added because the diction was not coming across clearly on television.