An Argentinian song called 'Y Para Qué' was the winning entry in the Gibraltar Song Festival . Performer Nestor Rivero, a lawyer by profession, with the second and third placed winners, Giles Ramirez and Rico, alias Henry Valerga. Giles came second with the song 'Another Sleepless Night' and Henry Valerga third with his reggae composition 'Jamaica- I Hear You Calling'.
Joe Carseni, chairman of the Gibraltar Song Festival, expressed his wish to revive the Gibraltar Song Festival and make it a truly international festival.
This year's judges included Gibraltar Chronicle Features Editor Alice Mascarenhas, broadcaster Richard Cartwright and local singer songwriter Nigel Palmer.
The chairman of the judges is Guy Fletcher well known for writing songs jointly with Doug Flett for Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, Tom Jones, the Hollies, and Cliff Richard's Eurovision entry in 1973 placed third 'Power to All Our Friends'. In total there will be seven judges including Sandra Cabrera who won the festival in 2007 and has become well known through the Cana Sur programme 'Se Llama Copla', Pablo Pinilla is one of Spain's top record producers with a catalogue of artists to his name, including Bustamante, Malú, Pastora Soler, and David Demaría. Another judge is David Santisteban another Spanish songwriter.
There are 14 finalists from Gibraltar, UK, Spain, Argentina, Australia and Peru.
Joe Carseni said the festival was a way of promoting Gibraltar abroad but was also a window of opportunity for both singers and songwriters, and it also helped to raise funds for local charities on this occasion for the Alzheimer's and Dementia Support Group.
John Dawes, who won the festival in 2007 with a song he penned with Denis Valerga, pointed out that this year's festival originally attracted close to 200 entries from all over the world which is why the final 10 eventually became 14. The exposure of the internet was tremendous, he said, which meant the festival website could be viewed all over the world and this had secured the entries.
"The quality of the songs is of a high standard and the judges will have a hard time selecting the winners. They will have a tough time," commented Mr Carseni reiterating the importance of supporting the festival and the need of an audience to make it a complete success.
Johnny Jones explained they wanted to ensure that the festival became an annual event, and the organisers had invited senior citizens to the show, and had also encouraged school children to attend so that it becomes a community and family event. He said the festival had the potential of becoming an international event of the greatest magnitude.
This year the Radio 700 from Germany will be showing the festival on live streaming with both pictures and sound. It has been broadcasting it live on the internet since its second edition. Their website is www.radio700.eu
Joe Carseni, chairman of the Gibraltar Song Festival, Board of Directors, John Jones Secretary, John Dawes Director Gareth Jones Technical Support, Gerald Rodriguez Producer and Productions Stage, Sound and Lights by James Gomez Planet Project Events. www.planetprojectevents.com
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