Next Saturday Malta will hold the national final and selects its 23rd representative in the Eurovision Song Contest. esctoday.com caught up with all the finalists during the rehearsals held in the venue at Ta' Qali.

It all started in the begining of last December when the first phase of the Malta Eurosong took place. Ahead of next Saturday’s Maltese national final all participants that will compete for the ticket to Oslo spoke on esctoday.com.

They all showed excitement since the national selection is a hot topic discussed on the island. This year’s Maltese selection presents a number of newcomers and some familiar faces who competed in the past. esctoday.com also caught up with PBS producer of the show Reuben Zammit who spoke about the preparations towards the Malta Eurosong 2010. He confirmed the agreement reached with eurovision.tv and thus this year’s Maltese national final will be shown on webcast through the official website of the Eurovision Song Contest.

The Maltese entry for the next Eurovision Song Contest will be judged by a 50% professional jury and 50% televoting. A scoreboard will be used for this year’s final and points will be given in the Eurovision format. The hosts of the show will be Keith Demicoli and Pauline Agius while Owen Bonnici is expected to provide live links from the green room.

The guests of the show will be the Maltese representative in 1992, Mary Spiteri and Chiara who won last year’s national final. As revealed by esctoday.com, Sirusho will appear as special guest in the final. The Armenian singer is expected to arrive in Malta next Friday. Last year Malta qualified to the final after an absence of three years but failed to reach a respectable place ranking 22nd in the final held in Moscow.

Watch the interviews with the 20 finalists below

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG8-i3OzkSA

Watch the interview with Reuben Zammit (PBS Producer)

All interviews were filmed by Jonathan Bondin during the first rehearsals of the Malta Eurosong 2010.