Ebonique with the song Heatwave and Arwin Kluft with the song Turiddu will proceed to the final of the Dutch Nationaal Songfestival 2003, which will take place in Rotterdam at March 1st. Ebonique got most of the votes from the jury, Arwin Kluft is the winner selected by the televoters.
The atmosphere was good and more journalists came to Nijkerk, where the third preselection took place again.
The Soullisticks entered the stage as first participants with We can't stop the music. Their vocal capacities seemed to be disappointed at the venue, although it was better on television. After all, the jury was pleased.
Julia West, performing Talking angels, reminded the jury to Nathalie Imbruglia. On the jury vote she ended up third.
Nananana, performed by the Mazzel boys, reminded many to carnaval, but also to Never ever let you go. They brought their own fanclub and although they ended up sixth on the jury vote, the televoters gave them their second place.
The boyband Brothers performed Stand as one. One jury member called it a Take That imitation, while jury member Nance suggested to “offer this song to the United States as new national anthem if they win the war against Iraq”.
Sandra Abbink's Beatiful life reminded several jury members to the song Life, a former hit of Des'ree. The jury was pleased with the performance and the song was tipped for the victory. After all, it didn't win.
Jeffrey performed Waar en wanneer (which means Where and when). His live performance was pretty good, but the jury was not very amused.
Arwin Kluft's Turiddu was “ready for Riga”, according one of the jury members. After the show, during the press conference, he and his team told us how they came on the story of the song. It appeared that the composer of the song also worked with Petra Berger and her CD Eternal women. During that period he also read about Salvatore Giuliano (his nickname was Turiddu), who was the Robin Hood of Italy around Second World War. Arwin won the televoting with a big majority.
Ebonique won the jury vote with Heatwave, composed by the Philip Vella and written by Gerard James Borg, both from Malta. They were not present at the preselection, but Ebonique announced they will be present at the final on March 1st.
Next Saturday, the last (fourth) preselection will take place, ending up with eight winners for the final. Mary Amora, Zoom, Esther Hart and the Mango Nuts have been selected for the final in previous selection rounds.
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