Esctoday.com caught up with the Maltese representative in the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest, Gianluca Bezzina, for a quick interview.

Welcome Gianluca!

Thank you. Thank you very much for the interview.

It’s been two months since you won the right to represent Malta. What have you done for these past two months?

Since I won the Maltese selection, I’ve been preparing for Malmö, for this big festival I will be taking part in! Obviously, I’ve been rehearsing with my band and also with my studio team, the delegation who are responsible for what I look like on stage and the lighting.  It’s not changing much, but obviously we need to rehearse and prepare.  I have also been to lots of countries.  We’ve been to Armenia, Amsterdam, Bulgaria and Hungary.

Quite a journey then!

Yes, it was, but I really enjoyed the experience! It’s been an exciting two months, and now we are closer to the event with the last weeks to go so of course the excitement is rising.

Do you think about performing in front of over 15,000 people in Malmö Arena?

And the millions and millions of viewers!  Yes, I do think about it and try to prepare myself psychologically for this.  It’s going to be quite hard, because I’ve never been in front of such an audience.  So yes, it scares me a little, but it’s a positive excitement.  I’m looking forward to entertaining to millions of viewers, and to expose my talent there.

It’s good to have a bit of excitement!  You’re doing quite in the betting odds – you’re currently sixth favourite to qualify from the second semi-final.  Do you think about this at all, or do you just focus on your performance?

To be honest, I’ve never followed betting, “my top ten” lists, or anything like that.  I don’t really want to get too much confidence or too little confidence in advance [inaudible]. I know that people do, but I don’t care very much about these things, as I will just do my best on 16 May for Malta, for my team and for all these people who have been working so hard these past few months.  So irrespectable of what people predict, I will just try and do my best.

Can you tell us a little bit about your profession? You’re actually a doctor, not just a singer – how do you balance your profession and your musical career?

Well, I work as a doctor in the morning, and then later I meet with people from my delegation in the evening.  It impacts on my time as I have less time to go to my friends’, but it’s just a little sacrifice.  I am on leave since last week and fully committed to Eurovision until 18 May [inaudible] and only after that I have to get back to work. 

Yesterday, you were in a blood donation campaign.  Can you tell us a little more about this?

Well yes, it was quite a success this campaign, because of this campaign, 280 people gave blood, many for the first time.  I guess it’s one of the nicest things about being popular.  It’s nice because you can encourage people to believe in causes you believe in much more easily – it’s easier to spread the message. One of the messages I want to give is the joy of giving, basically, do good without much effort.  It was a nice day, and we had all these people coming together and media attention. I look forward to doing it again [inaudible] because it really is a nice thing.

What are you expecting from Malmö? As in making friend with artists, exploring the city, rehearsals, Eurovision parties? What are you expecting from these two weeks?

Well, I’ve never been to Sweden before, so I do hope to see Malmö and explore the city.  I will be focussing on rehearsals and enjoying myself with my band and my team.  I am expecting to meet a lot of the other artists; it will be a nice experience meeting people with whom I share common ground.  I am a fan on this contest, even before competing in it myself, so it’s such a nice experience to be part of this competition.  Obviously my main target is to honour Malta and give Malta a good name in this competition, and to honour myself.

Who are your favourites in this competition this year?

My absolute favourite is Iceland, I really love the song and his voice, and I am sure he will do well.  I haven’t heard all the songs, but I like Armenia and Denmark.

Denmark is the favourite, actually, so if they win they just have a short journey to bring the trophy back with them!

Just a bridge!

Thanks a lot for this interview, good luck, bon voyage for Malmö! Hope you give a good performance and give Malta a good name.

Thank you so much, thanks, see you soon.

Malta will compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 on Thursday 16 May.

The full interview with Edward Montebello