Sixteen songs have made it to the final night of this year’s L-Għanja tal-Poplu – Festival tal-Kanzunetta Maltija, which will be held on August 7 at Pjazza Teatru Rjal in Valletta. Their running order has been announced this week.

A total of 178 songs entered the 45th edition of the contest, out of which 40 were selected as semi-finalists. Sixteen songs were then chosen for the final night which will see them being performed live and accompanied by the Malta Concert Orchestra, under the direction of Joe Brown.

Emphasis on having good lyrics in Maltese

This year, organisers put an emphasis on the importance of having good lyrics in Maltese and are satisfied with the level achieved by the songwriters.

The festival is being organised in collaboration with Pjazza Teatru Rjal, and the support of Arts Council Malta and the Valletta Cultural Agency.

COVID-19 health measures will be in place.

L-Għanja tal-Poplu will be broadcast live on TVM at 9pm. For more information, visit http://www.ghanjafest.com/.

The running order of the 16 finalist songs

1. Kunċert Impromptu – Thea Gauci and Nedved Galea

2. Logħba tal-Kaxxi – Karm Debattista

3. Nann! – Marija Bellia 4. Meta l-Lupu Jkun Bil-Ġuħ – Tiziana Calleja

5. Attakki Virtwali – Mark Cachia

6. Uman – Nicole Hammett

7. Għada Jisbaħ Ukoll – Philip Vella and Maria Spiteri

8. Se Nirranġaw – Dominic Cini and Anna Azzopardi

9. Logħba Ċess – JAMM Band

10. Is-Sirena Li Welldet it-Tama – Haley Azzopardi

11. L-Għeneb il-Qares – Daniel Muscat Caruana

12. Niftakar – MeadowStrings

13. Il-Bajtar Sar – Dario and Grecia Bezzina

14. Fuq L-Ixkaffa – Sean Borg

15. Min Bagħtu Dan L-Għannej – David Joseph Sammut

16. Ħarstek – Rachel Lowell