Sophia Patsalides {from the live recording of ‘Into You’ video}
Sophia Patsalides represented Cyprus at the 2014 Junior Eurovision Song Contest with her upbeat song I pio omorfi mera. She won a lot of praise for her performance and the song is a fan favourite.
Sophia has just recorded a live version of the Ariana Grande hit Into You. It is a stripped back piano version that showcases Sophia’s strong and clear vocals.
Into You was recorded live at the Soundscape Studios.
Sara Dall’Olio {copyright: Sara Dall’Olio/Facebook}
Sara Dall’Olio has won the top prize in the senior section of the 2016 Stelline d’Italia competition in Italy. It is a unique contest where participants are singers, dancers and models. The contest is a ‘new star production’ of Paola Abile
There is a fashion competition involved in the Stelline d’Italia also where everybody has to wear sportswear, beachwear and smart clothes. Sara won prizes in some of the other sections too and also won the competition in 2014. She has participated each year since 2012 but was a special guest in 2015 having won the previous year. Sara is a very talented all round artist as not only a singer but a beautiful model.
Sara will sing in Romania in November this year where she will represent Italy again. She been successful in may competition in Italy and other countries.
Sara was a member of The Peppermints who represented San Marino at the 2014 Junior Eurovision Song Contest with Breaking My Heart.
Matt Muxu Mercieca has dedicated a special song to his late father who passed away 10 years ago and it is also poignant to anyone who last someone special. The song is called Pray and features a lot of familiar Maltese singers with Muxu. He thanks Cyprian Cassar & Elton Zarb, who helped with the production, and also Rodney and Alexia from Three Wise Media for the filming and editing.
Some of the artists featured include Gaia Cauchi, Federica Falzon, Destiny Chukunyere, Amber, Maxine Pace, Christabelle, Deborah C, Franklin and other fine performers. Lots of these artists are familiar to the Malta Eurosong or Maltese Junior Eurovision singers.
Muxu is a singer/songwriter and has been involved in writing the winning Junior Eurovision songs for Gaia Cauchi (2013 – The Start) and Destiny (2015 – Not My Soul). He also wrote Warrior for Amber (2015 ESC Malta) and has written many songs for other singers.
Federica Falzon represented Malta the 2014 Junior Eurovision Song Contest with her pop/opera style song Diamonds. She mesmerized audiences with her astonishing and mature vocals. Now Federica returns with a new song entitled O Madonna tal-Gilju Hanina.
The song is a prayer tribute for the feast of Our Lady of Lilies, in Mqabba in Malta, where the patron saint is the Assumption of St Mary. It is an upbeat pop song that once again showcases Federica’s unique and charming vocals. O Madonna tal-Gilju Hanina is composed by Elton Zarb, who wrote Diamonds for Federica, and Sunny Aquilina, who wrote The One That I Love for Chiara (1998 ESC Malta) and My Dream for Thea Garrett (2010 ESC Malta).d
O Madonna tal-Gilju Hanina was written especially to celebrate the 140 year anniversary of the band club in Mqabba and Federica was happy to give a special performance of the song at the village feast.
Sara Dall’Olio is a 17 years old talented singer from Italy. She was a member of the Peppermints, who represented San Marino at the 2014 Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Malta, with the song Breaking My Heart. Sara has recently enjoyed big success at two international music festivals.
Sara won a music award in Malta in April where she was representing Italy. In May she followed this success with another first prize in a festival in Bulgaria. Sara will participate in an international festival in Romania later this year and next year she has big plans and will perform in an important contest in St. Petersburg in Russia and will also return to compete again in the festivals in Malta and Bulgaria.
Sara is no longer a member of the Peppermints and in 2015 recorded a couple of songs by Luca Medri and Alberto Pepoli. One song was a duet with Manuel Zamagni, Insieme a me, and also a solo artist the song Dimenticarmi di te, produced by Angelo Valsiglio. In February of 2016 Sara won an award in Monte Carlo, Monaco for Dimenticarmi di te.
Next up for Sara is a new song that she is working on with Luca Medri and Alberto Pepoli. So Sara is a busy girl and I am sure we will see a lot more of her in the future maybe on the Eurovision stage.
Greta Doveri was part of the Peppermints group that represented San Marino in the 2014 Junior Eurovision Song Contest with the song Breaking My Heart. Greta is now a solo artist and is achieved a lot of success already at 16 years old. She is also a talented musician and play the electric guitar and piano. As a vocalist she has a talent for Soul, Blues, Jazz (scat) and even opera singing.
She has an impressive list of achievements including first prize at Oltrevoce Pontedera (2011), San Genesio (2011), Internazionale Tour Music Fest Piper Roma (2011), Cantabimbo Italia Giuria (2012), Stasera Canto Io (2012), Canta Beach (2012), Talent Busters 2013 (televisione: TVL e tour notti bianche), Grand Prix Sanremo Junior National (Casinò Sanremo) 2014, Fornaci in Canto (2014), Bibbona in Musica (2014), 23° Festivalmare Dicembre 2015 (borsa di studio + ospite in vari eventi), Una Canzone dal Cuore, Città di Scandicci Concorso Internazionale (2016).
Greta was also proud to take to the stage with the Peppermints at Notte Bianca Pontedera 2015 in Italy with Deborah Iurato and also Luca Barbarossa (1988 ESC Italy).
We will see if Greta will eventually take to the Eurovision stage again with Italy or even San Marino again in the future.
You can see Greta perform Io Domani at Da Serata Bigazzi below.
Betty {from the official music video of ‘New Generation’}
Betty represented Armenia at the 2014 Junior Eurovision Song Contest with her song People Of The Sun. Betty (full name Elizabeth Danielyan) finished in third place that year in Malta.
Now Betty returns with her brand new single and video. The song is called New Generation. It is a lively and upbeat fun song with a catchy melody. The song is composed by Vahram Petrosyan, Avet Barsaghyan and Alis Darbinyan. The arrangement is by Martin Mirzoyan. The video is directed by Aren Bayadyan.
You can see the official video for New Generation below.
The Peppermints represented San Marino at the 2014 Junior Eurovision Song Contest with their song Breaking My Heart. The group has now relaunched with original member Arianna Ulivi. She is joined by two new girls. They are Alixia Mistral and Sofia Casieri.
ESC Covers caught up with Arianna in Stockholm, where she was working in the Press Area at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest. She is excited that the Peppermints will continue and is looking forward to working with Alixia and Sofia on new material. Arianna said she would also love the opportunity to sing at the Eurovision Song Contest in the future with the Peppermints for San Marino if and when the opportunity would arise.
Arianna said she still keeps in touch with the original members of the Peppermints – Rafaella Perniola, Sara Dall’Olio, Greta Doveri and Anita Simoncini. She said it is difficult to see them a lot because they all live in various parts of Italy. The girls are all working on solo activities just now. Of course, Anita represented San Marino at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest with Michele Perniola with the song Chain Of Lights.
Arianna also told ESC Covers that she enjoyed interviewing Francesca Michielin (2016 ESC Italy) at this year’s Eurovision. She said she a charming personality and had a great song in No Degree of Separation.
In the meantime we await the Peppermints brand new music very soon.
Lizi Pop (Lizi Japaridze) represented Georgia at the 2014 Junior Eurovision Song Contest with her song, Happy Day. Now she has released her brand new single with the title of Good Friend.
Good Friend is Lizi’s follow up to her recent single An Unloved Childs Pain. It is a song that begins slowly and builds in to an upbeat and happy pop song. Giga Kukhiandze and the Bzikebistudio are behind the composition and production.
Federica & Ludwig {copyright: Produzzjoni Viżiva Fade In Media u Ivan Productions}
Federica Falzon and Ludwig Galea have got together to record a special charity song for Christmas in aid of Id-Dar tal-Providenza. It is entitled Alla Jberikna. It is a cover of the Andrea Bocelli song Dio ci benedirà (God will bless us). The Maltese words are by Fr. George Ocar Buttigieg.
Federica represented Malta at the 2014 Junior Eurovision Song Contest with her sensational performance of Diamonds and Ludwig sang for Malta at the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest (Julie & Ludwig with On Again…Off Again). The combination of their beautiful operatic tones make this a perfect song to listen to this Christmas and beyond.
You can see the official video for Alla Jberikna below.
