Rehearsals start for Eurovision Song Contest

The lull in Latvia's capital Riga belies the activity going on in Skonto Hall where all 26 countries taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest today start warming up for this Saturday's most anticipated contest.

Malta's ambassador for the contest, 22-year-old Lynn Chircop, arrived in Latvia yesterday afternoon exhausted after the three-hour flight chartered by Air Malta.

She spent most of the afternoon in her hotel room catching up on her beauty sleep before today's busy schedule.

Today Lynn will have her first technical rehearsal in front of journalists and a number of spectators followed by a press conference.

On the night, Lynn will be singing in fifth place with five Maltese backing vocals - Anna Abela, Justine Bezzina, Marvic Lewis, Leontine Spiteri and Louiseann Tate.

So far, Malta's entry To Dream Again, composed by Alfred Zammit and penned by Cynthia Sammut, is not faring so well in the polls and a recent survey by Norwegian media placed Malta close to the bottom.

In line with a long-standing tradition, the Norwegian media were invited to watch videos of all the songs and these were rated accordingly - their favourite was the Netherlands, which received 14 points. Malta was given a mere five points.

However, according to the Norwegians, the worst outlook is faced by Austria, Portugal and Ukraine.

Of course, the actual winner will be determined by television viewers in the 26 different countries on Saturday, so it is up to Lynn to excel in her three-minute performance and woo the hearts of over 200 million viewers who are expected to tune in to watch the contest.

Accompanying Lynn in Latvia is the Maltasong organising committee headed by Charlò Bonnici, Norman Hamilton, vice-president of the International Federation of Festival Organisers, and two camera crews from Public Broadcasting Services and Super 1 TV who will be broadcasting daily reports from Latvia at 7.45 p.m. and 8.30 p.m. respectively.

A number of Maltese flew to Latvia as part of a one-week tour organised by Hamilton Travel. The company is next year planning to tap this market with a summer tour combining Latvia, Estonia and Finland.